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

yodha dīghaṃ va rassaṃ vā aṇuṃ thūlaṃ subhāsubhaṃ

loke adinnaṃ nādiyati tam ahaṃ brūmi brāhmaṇaṃ

(DhP 409)




Sentence Translation:

Who here in this world does not take what was not given, be it long, short,
small, big, pleasant or unpleasant - him do I call a Brahmin.




Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

yo                idha dīghaṃ   va rassaṃ   vā  aṇuṃ   thūlaṃ subha+asubhaṃ
|                      |         |         |       |         |        |           |          |           |
Rel.Pron.m. Adv.  Adj.n.  part. Adj.n. part. Adj.n.   Adj.n.  Adj.     Adj.n.
Nom.Sg.          |   Acc.Sg.    |   Acc.Sg.   |   Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg.   |       Acc.Sg.
|                      |         |_____|       |_____|        |            |         |_______|
|                      |              |_________|_______|_______|_________|
|                      |                                                   |_____________________________I.
|                      |__________________________________________________________II.
|_______________________________________________________________________III.

List of Abbreviations

   loke     adinnaṃ na     ādiyati       tam      ahaṃ      brūmi  brāhmaṇaṃ
      |             |         |           |             |             |             |              |
   N.m.     Adj.n.   neg. V.med.in. Pron.m.   Pron.    V.act.in.     N.m.
  Loc.Sg. Acc.Sg.    |     3.Sg.pres. Acc.Sg. Nom.Sg. 1.Sg.pres. Acc.Sg.
I.___|            |         |______|             |             |             |              |
II._|________|               |                  |             |             |              |
            |_____________|                  |             |             |              |
III.___________|                              |             |             |              |
               |______________________|             |             |              |
                                    |__________________|_______|________|
                                                                     |             |____|
                                                                     |__________|




Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

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

idha, Adv.: here.
Euphonic combination: yo + idha = yodha.

dīghaṃ: dīgha-, Adj.: long. Acc.Sg.n. = dīghaṃ.

va, conj.: or. Usually written as , here shortened for metrical reasons.

rassaṃ: rassa-, Adj.: short. Acc.Sg.n. = rassaṃ.

, conj.: or.

aṇuṃ: aṇu-, Adj.: small, atomic, subtle. Acc.Sg.n. = aṇuṃ.

List of Abbreviations

thūlaṃ: thūla-, Adj.: massive, big, strong. Acc.Sg.n. = thūlaṃ.

subhāsubhaṃ: subhāsubha-, Adj.: pleasant and unpleasant. It is a compound of:
    subha-, Adj.: pleasant.
    asubha-, Adj.: unpleasant, not pleasant.
    Euphonic combination: subha- + asubha- = subhāsubha-.
Acc.Sg.n. = subhāsubhaṃ.

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

adinnam: adinna-, Adj.: what is not given. It is the word dinna-, Adj.: given (it is a p.p. of the verb root dā-, to give) negated by the negative prefix a-. Acc.Sg.n. = adinnam.

List of Abbreviations

na, neg.: not.

ādiyati, V.: takes up, seizes, grasps. The verb root is dā- (to give) with the prefix ā- (towards). 3.Sg.med.in.pres. = ādiyati.
Euphonic combination: na + ādiyati = nādiyati.

tam: tad-, Pron.: it. Masculine form: so-, he. Acc.Sg. = tam (him).

ahaṃ, Pron.: I. Nom.Sg. = ahaṃ.

brūmi, V.: [I] say, proclaim. The verb root is brū-. 1.Sg.act.in.pres. = brūmi.

brāhmaṇaṃ: brāhmaṇa-, Nṃ.: Brahmin, a holy man. Acc.Sg. = brāhmaṇaṃ.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse consists of two related sentences. They are:
    1) yodha dīghaṃ va rassaṃ vā aṇuṃ thūlaṃ subhāsubhaṃ loke adinnaṃ nādiyati (who here in this world does not take what was not given, be it long, short, small, big, pleasant or unpleasant). The subject is the relative pronoun yo (who, nominative singular). The verb is ādiyati (takes, 3rd person, singular, medium, indicative, present tense). It is negated by the negative particle na (not). The verb has an attribute, the noun loke (in the world, locative singular), with its attribute, the adverb idha (here). The object is the adjective adinnaṃ (not given, accusative singular). It has five attributes, the adjectives dīghaṃ (long, accusative singular), rassaṃ (short, accusative singular), aṇuṃ (small, accusative singular), thūlaṃ (big, accusative singular) and subhāsubhaṃ (pleasant or unpleasant, accusative singular). They are connected by two particles va and its variant (or).
    2) tam ahaṃ brūmi brāhmaṇaṃ (him do I call a Brahmin). The subject is the pronoun ahaṃ (I, nominative singular). The verb is brūmi ([I] say, 1st person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). The object is the noun brāhmaṇaṃ (Brahmin, accusative singular). It has an attribute, the pronoun tam (him, accusative singular).




Commentary:

    A certain Brahmin once put his clothes beside his house, in order to air it. A monk who happened to pass by mistook it for a thrown away piece of cloth and he took it. The Brahmin accused him of stealing and the monk then returned the cloth back and went to the monastery.
    There he told the story to other monks. The monks started joking about this incident, asking him to describe the quality of the cloth. The monks only replied that he had no attachment to the clothes at all.
    The Buddha then confirmed that this monk was really an Arahant without attachment and added this verse, saying that Arahants do not take things not given to them.




Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

yo
idha
dīghaṃ
va
rassaṃ

aṇuṃ
thūlaṃ
subhāsubhaṃ
subha
asubhaṃ
loke
adinnaṃ
na
ādiyati
tam
ahaṃ
brūmi
brāhmaṇaṃ