| Gatha | Sentence Translation | Sentence Structure |
| Vocabulary&Grammar | Commentary | Pronunciation |
Few are those amongst people, who have gone to the other
shore.
And these other people just follow this shore.
appaka
te manussesu
ye jana
para+gamino
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Adj.m. Pron.m. N.m.
Rel.Pron.m. N.m. N.n. Adj.m.
Nom.Pl. Nom.Pl. Loc.Pl. Nom.Pl.
Nom.Pl. | Nom.Pl.
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List of Abbreviations
atha ayaj
itara
paja tiram
eva anudhavati
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Adv. Pron.f. Adj.f.
N.f. N.n. part. V.act.in.
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Nom.Sg. Acc.Sg. | 3.Pl.pres.
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appaka: appaka-, Adj.: little, few. Nom.Pl.m. = appaka.
te: tat-, Pron.: that. Masculine form sa-. Nom.Pl. = te.
manussesu: manussa-, N.m.: human, person, man. Loc.Pl. = manussesu.
ye: yat-, Rel.Pron.: those, who. Nom.Pl.m. = ye.
jana: jana-, N.m.: person, man. Nom.Pl. = jana.
paragamino:
paragamin-,
Adj.: going to the other shore. It is a compound of:
para-,
N.n.: the opposite shore, the other side.
gamin-,
Adj.: going, leading to. It is derived from the verb gam- (to go).
Nom.Pl.m. = paragamino.
List of Abbreviations
atha, Adv.: and also, and then.
ayaj: idaj,
Pron.: this. Nom.Sg.f. = ayaj.
Euphonic combination: atha + ayaj
= athayaj.
itara: itara-, Adj.: other, different. Nom.Sg.f. = itara.
paja: paja-, N.f.: beings, people, mankind. Nom.Sg. = paja.
tiram: tira-, N.n.: a shore, bank. Acc.Sg. = tiraj.
eva, part.: just.
anudhavati, V.: follow. The verb root is dhav- (to run) with the prefix anu- (following). 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = anudhavati.
List of Abbreviations
This verse consists of two sentences.
They are formed by the first and second lines of this verse respectively.
The first sentence can be subdivided
into two segments:
1) appaka
te manussesu (few are those amongst people). The subject is the personal
pronoun te (they, nominative plural). The verb is omitted, implying
the verb "to be". This verb has an attribute, the adjective appaka
(few, nominative plural). This word has itself an attribute, the noun
manussesu (amongst people, locative plural).
2) ye jana
paragamino
(who have gone to the other shore). The subject is the relative pronoun
ye (who, nominative plural). It has an attribute, the noun jana
(people, nominative plural). This word has itself an attribute, the compound
paragamino
(gone to the other shore, nominative plural).
In the second sentence, the subject
is the noun paja (people, mankind,
nominative singular). It has two attributes, the pronoun ayaj
(this, nominative singular) and the adjective itara
(other, nominative singular). The verb is anudhavati
(follow, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense).
This verb has an attribute, the noun tiram
(shore, accusative singular) that is stressed by the particle eva
(just). The adverb atha (and then) introduces the sentence and connects
it to the previous one.
One day, a group of people came to
the monastery to give offerings to the monks and listen to the discourses.
It was arranged that they could stay the whole night and listen to the
monks explaining the Dharma.
But some of them did not have enough
energy and they returned home early. Some stayed for the night, but were
sleepy and did not pay much attention to what was being said. Only a few
were able to listen attentively to the discourses.
In the morning the Buddha was told
about what happened. He replied by this verse, saying that most people
are too attached to this world, only a few are able to reach the other
shore and attain Nirvana.
He reminded the monks to strive diligently
for the goal; only those who will do se will be able to reach the perfection
of mind.
Word pronunciation:
appaka
te
manussesu
ye
jana
paragamino
para
gamino
atha
ayaj
itara
paja
tiram
eva
anudhavati