Gatha | Sentence Translation | Sentence Structure
Vocabulary&Grammar | Commentary | Pronunciation

List of Abbreviations

# yatha pi ruciraj pupphaj vannavantaj sagandhakaj

# evaj subhasita vaca saphala hoti sakubbato

# (DhP 52)

Sentence Translation:

Just like a beautiful flower, colorful and with smell,
is a well said speech of somebody, who does act accordingly.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

yatha pi ruciraj pupphaj vannavantaj sa+gandhakaj
| | | | | | |
Rel.Adv. conj. Adj.n. N.n. N.n. Pref. Adj.n.
|_________| Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. | Nom.Sg.
| | | | |______|
| |________|_________|__________|
| |____|
|_________________|
|_____________________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

evaj subhasita vaca sa+phala hoti sa+kubbato
| | | | | | | |
Adv. Adj.f. N.f. Pref. Adj.f. V.act.in. Pref. Adj.m.
| Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. | Nom.Sg. 3.Sg.pres. | Gen.Sg.
| |________| |_____| | |_____|
| | |___________| |
| |___________________|______________|
| |_______|
|___________________________|
____________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

yatha, Rel.Adv.: just as.

pi, conj.: also, too.

ruciraj: rucira-, Adj.: beautiful, pleasant. Nom.Sg.n. = ruciraj.

pupphaj: puppha-, N.n.: flower. Nom.Sg. = pupphaj.

List of Abbreviations

vannavantaj: vannavant-, Adj.: having color, colorful. It is the word vanna-, N.m.: color, with the possessive suffix -vant-. Nom.Sg.n. = vannavantaj (the more usual is vannavaj, but for the sake of the meter, this form was used here).

sagandhakaj: sagandhaka-, Adj.: smelling. The word gandhaka-, Adj.: smelling. This word is derived from the word gandha-, N.m.: smell by adding the adjective suffix -ka-. To the word gandhaka-, the prefix sa- (with-) is added.
Nom.Sg.n. = sagandhakaj.

evaj, Adv.: thus, so.

List of Abbreviations

subhasita: subhasita-, Adj.: well said. It is the word bhasita (well said, the p.p. of the verb bhas-, to speak) with the prefix su- (good, well). Nom.Sg.f. = subhasita.

vaca: vaca-, N.f.: speech (derived from the verb root vac-, to speak). Nom.Sg. = vaca.

saphala: saphala-, Adj.: fruitful. It is the word phala-, N.n.: fruit, with the prefix sa- (with). Nom.Sg.f. = saphala.

hoti, V. is. The verb root is bhu- (to be). 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = bhavati or hoti.

sakubbato: sakubbant-, Adj.: with doing. It is the word kubbant-, Adj.: doing, which is an a.pr.p. of the verb root kar- (to do), with the prefix sa- (with). Gen.Sg.m.= sakubbato.

List of Abbreviations

The two lines of this verse form two sentences. In the first one, the subject is pupphaj (flower, nominative singular) with three attributes: 1) ruciraj (beautiful, nominative singular), 2) vannavantaj (colorful, nominative singular) and 3) sagandhakaj (with smell, nominative singular). The verb is omitted, implying the verb "to be" (hoti from the second line). The relative adverb yatha (just as), which forms a quite common phrase yatha pi (same meaning) with the conjunction pi (also), connects this sentence to the next one.
In the second sentence, the subject is the word vaca (speech, nominative singular), with two attributes, the adjective subhasita (well said, nominative singular) and the active present participle sakubbato (of the doing one, genitive singular). The verb is hoti (is, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). The object is the adjective aphala (fruitful, nominative singular). The adverb evaj (thus, so) connects this sentence to the previous one.

Commentary:

The story for this verse is the same as for the previous one.
One who speaks well, who often admonishes others, but does not act according to one’s own speech speaks in vain. His words are just as a beautiful flower that does not smell. Only when one acts as well as one speak, one's speech can be considered well said, like a nice flower that also smells nicely.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

yatha
pi
ruciraj
pupphaj
vannavantaj
sagandhakaj
evaj
subhasita
vaca
saphala
hoti
sakubbato