If one should conquer thousands of people in the battle,
and if one should conquer just one thing - himself, he indeed is the victor of the highest battle.

yo          sahassaj sahassena savgame manuse  jine
|                   |               |             |            |           |
Rel.Pron. Num.n.    Num.n.     N.m.     N.m.    V.act.
Nom.Sg.  Acc.Sg.    Ins.Sg.    Loc.Sg. Acc.Pl. 3.Sg.opt.
|                   |________|              |            |           |
|                          |____________|_______|           |
|                                      |          |_____________|
|                                      |____________|
|____________________________|
                      |_______________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

ekaj      ca    jeyyaj  attanaj      sa       ve   savgama+ji+uttamo
|               |          |             |            |          |         |         |        |
Num.m. conj.  V.act.      N.m.    Pron.m. part.  N.m.  Suf.  Adj.m.
Acc.Sg.    |     3.Sg.opt. Acc.Sg.  Nom.Sg.  |         |_____|   Nom.Sg.
|________|______|_______|            |          |              |_______|
               |           |___|                   |______|___________|
               |________|                                 |____|
____________|                                             |
          |_______________________________|

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

sahassaj: sahassa-, Num.n.: thousand. Acc.Sg. = sahassaj.

sahassena: sahassa-, Num.n.: thousand. Ins.Sg. = sahassena.

savgame: savgama-, N.m.: battle, fight. Loc.Sg. = savgame.

manuse: manusa-, N.m.: person, man. Acc.Pl. = manuse.

jine, V.: should conquer. The verb root is ji- (to conquer, to win). 3.Sg.act.opt. = jine. (Note that this word has two possible forms: jine and jeyyaj).

ekaj: eka-, Num.: one. Acc.Sg.m. = ekaj.

ca, conj.: and.

List of Abbreviations

jeyyaj, V.: should conquer. The verb root is ji- (to conquer, to win). 3.Sg.act.opt. = jeyyaj. (Note that this word has two possible forms: jine and jeyyaj).

attanaj: attan-, N.m.: self. Acc.Sg. = attanaj.

sa: tad-, Pron.n.: it. Nom.Sg.m. = sa (the more usual form is so).

ve, part.: indeed.

savgamaj'uttamo: savgamaj'uttama-, Adj.: victor in the highest battle. It is a compound of:
    savgama-, N.m.: battle, fight.
    ji-, Suf.: victor, victorious. It is derived from the verb root ji- (to win, to conquer).
    uttama-, Adj.: highest, noble.
Euphonic combination savgamaji- + uttama- = savgamaj'uttama-.
Nom.Sg.m. = savgamaj'uttamo.

List of Abbreviations

    This sentence consists of two related sentences. They are:
    1) yo sahassaj sahassena savgame manuse jine ekaj ca jeyyaj attanaj (if one should conquer thousands of people in the battle, and if one should conquer just one thing - himself). This can be further subdivided into two parts:
    a) yo sahassaj sahassena savgame manuse jine (if one should conquer thousands of people in the battle). The subject is the relative pronoun yo (who, nominative singular). The verb is jine (should conquer, 3^rd person, singular, active, optative). It has an attribute, the noun savgame (in the battle, locative singular). The object is the noun manuse (people, accusative plural). The numeral sahassaj sahassena (thousand by thousand; first number is in accusative singular, second in instrumental singular) is an attribute to the object.
    b) ekaj ca jeyyaj attanaj (and if one should conquer just one thing - himself). The subject is still the relative pronoun yo from the previous part of the sentence. The verb is jeyyaj (should conquer, 3^rd person, singular, active, optative). The object is the noun attanaj (oneself, accusative singular) with its attribute, the numeral ekaj (one, accusative singular). The conjunction ca (and) connects this sentence to the previous one.
    2) sa ve savgamaj'uttamo (he indeed is the victor of the highest battle). The subject is the pronoun sa (he, nominative singular). The verb is omitted, implying the verb "to be". The object is the compound savgamaj'uttamo ( victor of the highest battle, nominative singular). The particle ve (indeed) strengthens this sentence.

    The story for this verse is the same as for the previous one.
    The highest battle does not take place on the battlefield, or in the political or academic arena, but only in our own minds. The victor of the highest battle is not somebody who conquers millions of enemies, who wins over his opponents, but a person who conquers the most difficult thing - his own mind. In other words, only an Arahant can be truly called a victor, because he won the final battle and he does not have to "fight" any more.

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

yo
sahassam
sahassena
savgame
manuse
jine
ekaj
ca
jeyyaj
attanaj
sa
ve
savgamaj'uttamo
savgamaji
uttamo