As an elephant in the battle endures the arrows shot from bows,
so will I endure abuse. Many people are of bad morality.

ahaṃ        nāgo      va  saṅgāme cāpato  patitaṃ  saraṃ
|                   |          |          |           |            |           |
Pron.        N.m.    part.   N.m.     N.m.    Adj.m.   N.m.
Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg.    |    Loc.Sg.  Abl.Sg. Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg.
|                   |______|_____|            |            |______|
|                              |     |                |__________|
|                              |     |______________|
|                              |__________|
|______________________|
                   |______________________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

ativākyaṃ titikkhissaṃ dussīlo   hi   bahu+jjano
|                        |              |         |       |        |
N.n.             V.med.    Adj.m.  part. Adj.  N.m.
Acc.Sg.       1.Sg.fut.  Nom.Sg.   |       |   Nom.Sg.
|_____________|               |        |       |_____|
_______|                          |_____|______|

ahaṃ, Pron.: I. Nom.Sg. = ahaṃ.

nāgo: nāga-, N.m.: elephant. Nom.Sg. = nāgo.

va, part.: as, like.

saṅgāme: saṅgāma-, N.m.: battle, fight. Loc.Sg. = saṅgāme.

cāpato: cāpa-, N.m.: bow. Abl.Sg. = cāpato.

patitaṃ: patita-, Adj.: fallen, shot, released. It is a p.p. of the verb root pat-. Acc.Sg.m. = patitaṃ.

saraṃ: sara-, N.m.: arrow. Acc.Sg. = saraṃ.

List of Abbreviations

ativākyaṃ: ativākya-, N.n.: abuse, blame, reproach. It is derived from the verb root vac- (to speak) with the prefix ati- (extremely, in excess). Acc.Sg. = ativākyaṃ.

titikkhissaṃ, V.: [I would] endure, bear, tolerate. The verb root is tij- (to sharpen). The desiderative form (expressing a desire to do an action) is titikkhati. 1.Sg.med.fut. = titikkhissaṃ.

dussīlo: dussīla-, Adj.: of bad morality. It is the word sīla-, N.n.: virtue, morality, with a prefix du- (bad). Euphonic combination: du- + sīla- = dussīla-. Nom.Sg.m. = dussīlo.

hi, part.: indeed.

bahujjano: bahujjana-, N.m.: many people, large crowd. It is a compound of:
    bahu-, Adj.: large, much, very.
    jana-, N.m.: person, man.
Euphonic combination: bahu- + jana- = bahujjana-.
Nom.Sg. = bahujjano. The singular here has to be taken collectively.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse consists of two syntactically separate sentences. They are:
    1) ahaṃ nāgo va saṅgāme cāpato patitaṃ saraṃ ativākyaṃ titikkhissaṃ (as an elephant in the battle endures the arrows shot from bows, so will I endure abuse). This can be further analysed into the main sentence a) and the clause b):
    a) ahaṃ ativākyaṃ titikkhissaṃ (I will endure abuse). The subject is the pronoun ahaṃ (I, nominative singular). The verb is titikkhissaṃ (I will endure, 1^st person, singular, medium, future). The object is the noun ativākyaṃ (abuse, accusative singular).
    b) nāgo va saṅgāme cāpato patitaṃ saraṃ (as an elephant in the battle [endures] the arrow shot from a bow). The subject is the noun nāgo (elephant, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the noun saṅgāme (in the battle, locative singular). The object is the noun saraṃ (arrow, accusative singular). It has an attribute, the past participle patitaṃ (shot, accusative singular) with its attribute, the noun cāpato (from a bow, ablative singular). The particle va (as, like) connects the clause to the main sentence.
    2) dussīlo hi bahujjano (many people are of bad morality). The subject is the compound bahujjano (many people, nominative singular). The verb is omitted, implying the verb "to be". The object is the adjective dussīlo (of bad morality, nominative singular). The particle hi (indeed) serves mainly metrical reasons.

    The queen Māgandiya, the wife of the king Udena of Kosambi hated the Buddha. When he came to Kosambi, she hired some villains who followed the Buddha and abused him. Venerable Ānanda suggested that the Buddha should just leave Kosambi and go elsewhere, but the Buddha replied with this verse (and the following two, DhP 321 and Dhp 322), saying that he will endure the abuse patiently.

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

ahaṃ
nāgo
va
saṅgāme
cāpato
patitaṃ
saraṃ
ativākyaṃ
titikkhissaṃ
dussīlo
hi
bahujjano
bahu
jano