By conscientiousness did Indra become the chief amongst the gods.
Conscientiousness is praised, negligence is always censured.

a+ppamādena maghavā devānaṃ seṭṭhataṃ gato
|           |              |               |             |           |
neg.   N.m.       N.m.        N.m.      N.n.     Adj.m.
|       Ins.Sg.    Nom.Sg.  Gen.Pl.  Acc.Sg.  Nom.Sg.
|______|              |               |             |           |
      |                   |                |_______|           |
      |                   |                      |__________|
      |                   |__________________|
      |_____________________|

List of Abbreviations

a+ppamādaṃ pasaṃsanti pamādo   garahito  sadā
|           |               |               |              |          |
neg.   N.m.     V.act.in.      N.m.      Adj.m.  Adv.
|      Acc.Sg.   3.Pl.pres.  Nom.Sg.  Nom.Sg.    |
|______|               |               |________|          |
     |____________|                      |__________|

appamādena: appamāda-, N.m.: conscientiousness, non-negligence. A negated (by the negative prefix a-) word pamāda-, N.m.: negligence. Doubled p is due to the euphonic combination (a + pamāda = appamāda). Ins.Sg. = appamādena.

maghavā: maghavan-, N.m.: another name of the Vedic god Indra. Nom.Sg. = maghavā.

devānaṃ: deva-, N.m.: god, deity. Gen.Pl. = devānaṃ.

seṭṭhataṃ: seṭṭhata-, N.n.: a foremost place, "best-ness". An abstract of the word seṭṭha-, Adj.: best. Acc.Sg. = seṭṭhataṃ.

gato: gata-, Adj.: gone. It is a p.p. of the verb gam- (to go). Nom.Sg.m. = gato.

List of Abbreviations

appamādaṃ: appamāda-, N.m. See above. Acc.Sg. = appamādaṃ.

pasaṃsanti, V.: to praise, to commend. The verb saṃs- (to proclaim, to point out) with the strenghtening prefix pa-. 3.Pl.act.in.pres. = pasaṃsanti.

pamādo: pamāda-, N.m.: negligence. Nom.Sg. = pamādo.

garahito: garahita-, Adj.: blamed, censured. It is a p.p. of the verb garah- (to censure, to blame, to scold). Nom.Sg.m. = garahito.

sadā, Adv.: always.

List of Abbreviations

    This gatha consists of three grammatically separated sentences. They are:

1) appamādena maghavā devānaṃ seṭṭhataṃ gato (by conscientiousness did Indra become the chief amongst the gods). Here the subject is the word maghavā (Indra, nominative singular). The past participle gato (gone) serves as a verb in this sentence. It has an attribute, the word appamādena (by conscientiousness, instrumental singular). The object is seṭṭhataṃ (to the foremost place, accusative singular) with its attribute devānaṃ (of the gods, genitive plural).

2) appamādaṃ pasaṃsanti (they praise conscientiousness). The subject is omitted, the personal pronoun "they" is supposed here. The verb is pasaṃsanti (praise, 3rd person, plural, active, indicative, present tense). The object is appamādaṃ (conscientiousness, accusative singular).

3) pamādo garahito sadā (negligence is always censured). The subject here is the word pamādo (negligence, nominative singular). The verb is the past participle garahito (blamed, censured, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the adverb sadā (always).

    A young prince named Mahāli from the Licchavi state came to see the Buddha. He wanted to hear some teachings, so the Buddha told him the Sakkapañha Sutta (The Sutta of Sakka's questions). Mahāli wondered how was it possible, that the Buddha knew so much about Sakka, the king of the gods. Has the Buddha ever met Sakka?
    The Buddha confirmed that he indeed has seen Sakka and further told Mahāli the story of Sakka's previous existence.
    He was a man named Magha. He was very righteous and did a lot of charitable work, building roads and rest houses with his friends. He took seven obligations: to support his parents, to respect elders, to be gentle of speech, to avoid backbiting, to be generous and not avaricious, to speak the truth and to restrain himself from loosing temper. He was always mindful and kept all of them. Thus in his next existence he became Sakka, the king of gods.

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

appamādena
maghavā
devānaṃ
seṭṭhataṃ
gato
appamādaṃ
pasaṃsanti
pamādo
garahito
sadā