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

mataraj pitaraj hantva rajano dve ca khattiye

ratthaj sanucaraj hantva anigho yati brahmano

(DhP 294)




Sentence Translation:

Having killed mother, father and two warrior kings,
having killed the whole country with its followers, undisturbed walks the holy man.




Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

mataraj pitaraj hantva rajano    dve       ca    khattiye
|                  |           |          |           |           |          |
N.f.         N.m.    V.ger.  N.m.   Num.m.  conj.   N.m.
Acc.Sg.  Acc.Sg.      |     Acc.Pl.  Acc.Pl.     |     Acc.Pl.
|__________|           |          |______|           |           |
         |                     |                |_________|______|
         |                     |                         |____|
         |____________|________________|
                    |______|
                          |__________________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

ratthaj sanucaraj hantva anigho      yati     brahmano
|                   |             |          |              |             |
N.n.        Adj.n.     V.ger.   Adj.m.   V.act.in.    N.m.
Acc.Sg.  Acc.Sg.         |     Nom.Sg. 3.Sg.pres. Nom.Sg.
|___________|            |          |________|             |
           |____________|                  |___________|
_____________|                                       |
          |_____________________________|




Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

mataraj: matar-, N.f.: mother. Acc.Sg. = mataraj.

pitaraj pitar-, N.m.: father. Acc.Sg. = pitaraj.

hantva, V.ger.: having killed. The verb root is han-.

rajano: rajan-, N.m.: king. Acc.Pl. = rajano.

dve: dvi-, Num.: two. Acc.Pl.m. = dve.

ca, conj.: and.

khattiye: khattiya-, N.m.: Kshatriya, warior, ruler; the member of the Kshatriya clan.
Acc.Pl. = khattiye.

List of Abbreviations

ratthaj: rattha-, N.n.: country, kingdom. Acc.Sg. = ratthaj.

sanucaraj: sanucara-, Adj.: together with followers. It is derived from the verb anucara-, N.m. (follower; it is derived form the verb root car-, to walk, with the prefix anu-, along, with) with the prefix sa- (with, together). Euphonic combination: sa- + anucara- = sanucara-. Acc.Sg.n. = sanucaraj.

hantva: see above.

anigho: anigha-, Adj.: undisturbed, calm. The etymology of this word is doubtful. Probably it is derived from the verb root igh- (to tremble, to rage) with the negative prefix an-. Nom.Sg.m. = anigho.

yati, V.: goes, pursues. The verb root is ya- (to go). 3.Sg.in.act.pres. = yati.

brahmano: brahmana-, N.m.: Brahmin, a holy man. Nom.Sg. = brahmano.

List of Abbreviations

    The subject is the noun brahmano (holy man, nominative singular). The verb is yati (goes, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). The object is the adjective anigho (undisturbed, nominative singular). There are two clauses dependent on this main sentence:
    1) mataraj pitaraj hantva rajano dve ca khattiye (having killed mother, father and two warrior kings). The subject is omitted, implying the subject of the main sentence, the noun brahmano. The verb is in gerund, hantva (having killed). There are three objects, the nouns mataraj (mother, accusative singular), pitaraj (father, accusative singular) and rajano (kings, accusative plural). This last word has two attributes, the noun khattiye (warrior, accusative plural) and the numeral dve (two, accusative plural). The conjunction ca (and) connects the last object to the two preceding ones.
    2) ratthaj sanucaraj hantva (having killed the whole country with its followers). The subject is omitted, implying the subject of the main sentence, the noun brahmano. The verb is in gerund, hantva (having killed). The object is the noun ratthaj (country, accusative singular). It has an attribute, the adjective sanucaraj (with followers, accusative singular).




Commentary:

    Once a group of monks visited the Buddha. While they were paying their respects, the monk Lakuntaka Bhaddiya, who was an Arahant, passed by. The Buddha told the monks this verse (and the following one, DhP 295). He told the monks to look at Lakuntaka Bhaddiya: he was a monk who has killed his parents, and kings, indeed the whole country; and yet he was walking calmly, without remorse.
    The monks could not understand what the Buddha was talking about! Surely this Arahant had killed nobody! Then the Buddha had to explain: "mother" means craving, "father" is conceit, "two warrior kings" are views of eternalism and nihilism, "the country" are sense-organs and sense-objects and the "followers" are attachment and lust.




Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

mataraj
pitaraj
hantva
rajano
dve
ca
khattiye
ratthaj
sanucaraj
anigho
yati
brahmano