Who does not perform any evil deeds by body, speech or mind,
who is restrained in three ways - him do I call a Brahmin.

yassa           kāyena vācāya manasā na     atthi      dukkaṭaṃ
|                       |           |           |        |          |              |
Rel.Pron.m.   N.m.    N.f.     N.n.   neg.  V.act.in.     N.n.
Gen.Sg.        Ins.Sg. Ins.Sg. Ins.Sg.    |   3.Sg.pres.  Nom.Sg.
|                       |______|______|         |_____|               |
|                                        |___________|___________|
|                                                 |______|
|_______________________________|
                          |________________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

saṃvutaṃ tīhi    ṭhānehi  tam       ahaṃ       brūmi brāhmaṇaṃ
|                  |           |         |             |               |             |
Adj.m.    Num.n.  N.n.  Pron.m.   Pron.     V.act.in.    N.m.
Acc.Sg.    Ins.Pl. Ins.Pl. Acc.Sg. Nom.Sg.  1.Sg.pres. Acc.Sg.
|                  |______|         |             |               |              |
|_____________|               |             |               |              |
            |_______________|             |               |              |
                          |_______________|________|________|
                                                      |      |____|
                                                      |______|
_________________________________|

yassa: yat-, Rel.Pron.: that, which. Gen.Sg.m. = yassa (whose).

kāyena: kāya-, N.m.: body. Ins.Sg. = kāyena.

vācāya: vācā-, N.f.: speech, voice. Ins.Sg. = vācāya.

manasā: manas-, N.n.: mind. Inst.Sg. = manāsa.

na, neg.: not.

atthi, V.: is. The verb root is as- (to be). 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = atthi.
Euphonic combination: na + atthi = natthi.

dukkataṃ: dukkata-, N.n.: bad deed, evil deed. It is the word kata-, Adj. (done, it is a p.p. of the verb kar-, to do) with the prefix du- (bad, wrong). Nom.Sg. = dukkataṃ.

List of Abbreviations

saṃvutaṃ: saṃvuta-, Adj.: restrained, governed, guarded. It is a p.p. of the verb var- (to obstruct) with the prefix saṃ- (together, completely). Acc.Sg.m. = saṃvutaṃ.

tīhi: ti-, Num.: three. Ins.Pl. = tīhi.

ṭhānehi.: ṭhāna-, N.n.: place, condition, state. It is derived from the verb root ṭhā- (to stay, to stand). Ins.Pl. = ṭhānehi.

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-, N.m.: Brahmin, a holy man. Acc.Sg. = brāhmaṇaṃ.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse consists of two syntactically related sentences. They are:
    1) yassa kāyena vācāya manasā natthi dukkaṭaṃ (who does not perform any evil deeds by body, speech or mind). The subject is the noun dukkataṃ (evil deed, nominative singular). It has three attributes, the nouns kāyena (by body, instrumental singular), vācāya (by speech, instrumental singular) and manasā (by mind, instrumental singular). The verb is atthi (is, 3^rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). It is negated by the negative particle na (not). The relative pronoun yassa (whose, genitive singular) connects this sentence to the following one.
    2) saṃvutaṃ tīhi ṭhānehi tam ahaṃ brūmi brāhmaṇaṃ (who is restrained in three ways - him do I call a Brahmin). The subject is the pronoun ahaṃ (I, nominative singular). The verb is brūmi ([I] say, 1^st person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). The object is the noun brāhmaṇaṃ (Brahmin, accusative singular). It has two attributes, the pronoun tam (him, accusative singular) and the past participle saṃvutaṃ (restrained). This word has its own attribute, the noun ṭhānehi (by things, instrumental plural) with its attribute, the numeral tīhi (by three, instrumental plural).

    Pajāpati Gotamī was the Buddha's stepmother. When Māyā, his own mother, died, Gotamī raised the young prince Siddhattha, the future Buddha, herself. Later, when her husband, the Buddha's father, died, she became the first nun and established the Sangha of the nuns (bhikkhunī).
    Because she was the first nun, she was not ordained by the Sangha of the nuns, as was the rule. Therefore some nuns began to say that she was actually not nun at all and started to avoid her.
    When the Buddha heard about this, he told them that he himself gave Pajāpati Gotamī her ordination and therefore she was a properly ordained nun. He further said, that Pajāpati Gotamī was an Arahant and added this verse to praise her qualities.

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

yassa
kāyena
vācāya
manasā
na
atthi
dukkataṃ
saṃvutaṃ
tīhi
ṭhānehi
tam
ahaṃ
brūmi
brāhmaṇaṃ