Gatha Sentence Translation Sentence Structure
Vocabulary&Grammar Commentary Pronunciation
                          List of Abbreviations

yo cetaj sahate jammij tanhaj loke duraccayaj

soka tamha papatanti udabindu va pokkhara

(DhP 336)




Sentence Translation:

Who in this world conquers this miserable thirst that is difficult to overcome,
sorrows fall down from him, like a drop of water from a lotus.




Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

yo                ca     etaj      sahate    jammij tanhaj    loke duraccayaj
|                     |         |             |              |           |            |            |
Rel.Pron.m. conj. Pron.f. V.med.in.   Adj.f.     N.f.      N.m.    Adj.f.
Nom.Sg.         |    Acc.Sg. 3.Sg.pres. Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg. Loc.Sg. Acc.Sg.
|                     |         |             |              |______|_______|______|
|                     |         |             |                   |___|             |
|                     |         |             |____________|_________|
|                     |         |____________________|       |
|                     |                        |________________|
|____________|____________________|
                                      |______________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

soka       tamha   papatanti uda+bindu    va pokkhara
|                  |             |          |        |         |         |
N.m.      Pron.m. V.act.in.  N.n. N.m.    part.  N.n.
Nom.Pl. Abl.Sg.  3.Sg.pres.   |  Nom.Sg.   |    Abl.Sg.
|                  |_______|           |____|          |        |
|______________|                      |_______|_____|
            |                                           |___|
            |__________________________|
____________________|




Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

yo: yad-, Rel.Pron.: that which. Nom.Sg.m. = yo.

ca, conj.: and.

etaj: etad-, Pron.: this. Neuter: etaj. Nom.Sg. = etaj.
Euphonic combination: ca + etaj = cetaj.

sahate, V.: overcomes, conquers, defeats. The verb root is sah- (to conquer).
3.Sg.med.in.pres. = sahate.

jammij: jamma-, Adj.: miserable, wretched, contemptible. Acc.Sg.f. = jammij.

tanhaj: tanha-, N.f.: thirst, craving. Acc.Sg. = tanhaj.

loke: loka-, N.m.: world. Loc.Sg. = loke.

List of Abbreviations

duraccayaj: duraccaya-, Adj.: difficult to overcome. It is derived from the verb root i- (to go) with the prefixes dur- (difficult, bad) and ati- (over). Acc.Sg.f. = duraccayaj.

soka: soka-, N.m.: grief, sorrow. Nom.Pl. = soka.

tamha: tad-, Pron.: that. Abl.Sg.m. = tamha.

papatanti, V.: fall off, fall down. The verb root is pat- (to fall) with the strengthening prefix pa-. 3.Pl.act.in.pres. = papatanti.

udabindu: udabindu-, N.m.: drop of water. It is a compound of:
    uda-, N.n.: water.
    bindu-, N.m.: drop.
Nom.Sg. = udabindu.

va, part.: as, like.

pokkhara: pokkhara-, N.n.: lotus. Abl.Sg. = pokkhara.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse consists of two syntactically related sentences. They are:
    1) yo cetaj sahate jammij tanhaj loke duraccayaj (who in this world conquers this miserable thirst that is difficult to overcome). The subject is the relative pronoun yo (who, nominative singular). The verb is sahate (conquers, 3rd person, singular, medium, indicative, present tense). It has an attribute, the noun loke (in this world, locative singular). The object is the noun tanhaj (thirst, accusative singular). It has three attributes, the adjectives jammij (miserable, accusative singular) and duraccayaj (difficult to overcome, accusative singular) and the pronoun etaj (this, accusative singular). The conjunction ca (and) serves mainly for metrical purposes.
    2) soka tamha papatanti udabindu va pokkhara (sorrows fall down from him, like a drop of water from a lotus). This can be further analysed into the main sentence a) and the dependent clause b):
    a) soka tamha papatanti (sorrows fall down from him). The subject is the noun soka (sorrows, nominative plural). The verb is papatanti (fall down, 3rd person, plural, active, indicative, present tense). It has an attribute, the pronoun tamha (from him, ablative plural).
    b) udabindu va pokkhara (like a drop of water from a lotus). The subject is the noun udabindu (water-drop, nominative singular). The verb is omitted, implying the verb papatanti from the main sentence. It has an attribute, the noun pokkhara (from a lotus, ablative singular). The particle va (like) connects the clause to the main sentence.




Commentary:

    The story for this verse is identical with the one for the two previous verses (DhP 334 and DhP 335) and for the following verse (DhP 337).
    To defeat the thirst and craving is to defeat the suffering and sorrow. It equals the attainment of Awakenment. Only after reaching the goal of Arahantship, is the thirst completely eradicated and the mind is free from sorrow and suffering. In order to do that one must practice meditation diligently, as taught by the Buddha.




Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

yo
ca
etaj
sahate
jammij
tanhaj
loke
duraccayaj
soka
tamha
papatanti
udabindu
uda
bindu
va
pokkhara