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

na antalikkhe na samuddamajjhe na pabbatānaṃ vivaraṃ pavissa

na vijjatī so jagatippadeso yatthaṭṭhitaṃ nappasaheyya maccu

(DhP 128)




Sentence Translation:

Not in the air, not in the middle of the ocean, not entering the hole in the mountains.
There is no place in the world, where being, one would not be overcome by death.




Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

na antalikkhe na samudda+majjhe   na pabbatānaṃ  vivaraṃ pavissa
|           |          |        |              |        |         |                 |           |
neg.   N.n.    neg.  N.m.      Adj.m. neg.   N.m.          N.n.    V.ger.
|      Loc.Sg.    |         |        Loc.Sg.   |     Gen.Pl.     Acc.Sg.      |
|______|          |         |_______|         |         |_________|            |
                      |_________|               |__________|___________|
                                                               |_____|

List of Abbreviations

na     vijjatī         so      jagati+ppadeso yattha+ṭṭhitaṃ    na ppasaheyya maccu
|            |              |           |          |           |            |          |          |             |
neg. V.act.in.   Pron.m.  N.n.    N.m.   Rel.Adv. Adj.m. neg.   V.act.      N.m.
|      3.Sg.pres. Nom.Sg.    |     Nom.Sg.    |        Acc.Sg.   |    3.Sg.opt.  Nom.Sg.
|______|               |           |______|           |_______|         |           |            |
      |                    |__________|                       |               |______|            |
      |                             |                                 |                    |__________|
      |                             |                                 |_________________|
      |                             |___________________________|
      |_____________________________|




Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

na, neg.: not.

antalikkhe: antalikkha-, N.n.: sky, atmosphere. Loc.Sg. = antalikkhe.

na, neg.: not.

samuddamajjhe: samuddamajjha-, Adj.: middle of the ocean. It is a compound of:
    samudda-, N.m.: sea, ocean.
    majjha-, Adj.: middle.
Loc.Sg.m. = samuddamajjhe.

na, neg.: not.

pabbatānaṃ: pabbata-, N.m.: mountain. Gen.Pl. = pabbatānaṃ.

List of Abbreviations

vivaraṃ: vivara-, N.n.: opening, hole. Acc.Sg. = vivaraṃ.

pavissa, V.ger.: having entered. The verb root is vis- (to enter) with the strengthening prefix pa-.

na, neg.: not.

vijjatī, V.: exists, is found. The verb root is vid- (to find). 3.Sg.pas.in.pres. = vijjati. The form vijjatī is sometimes used in poetry.

so: tad-, Pron.n.: it. Nom.Sg.m. = so.

jagatippadeso: jagatippadesa-, N.m.: a place in the world. It is a compound of:
    jagat-, N.n.: world. Compound form = jagati-.
    padesa-, N.m.: place, spot, location, district.
Euphonic combination: jagati- + padesa- = jagatippadesa-.
Nom.Sg. = jagatippadeso.

List of Abbreviations

yatthaṭṭhitaṃ: yatthaṭṭhita-, Adj.: where being. It is a compound of:
    yattha, Rel.Adv.: where.
    hita-, Adj.: being, lit. standing. It is a p.p. of the verb root ṭhā- (to stand).
Euphonic combination: yattha + ṭhita- = yatthaṭṭhita-.
Acc.Sg.m. = yatthaṭṭhitaṃ.

na, neg.: not.

pasaheyya, V.: would use force, would subdue, would overcome. The verb root is sah- (to conquer) with the emphasizing prefix pa-. 3.Sg.act.opt. = pasaheyya.
Euphonic combination na + pasaheyya = nappasaheyya.

maccu: maccu-, N.m.: death. Nom.Sg. = maccu.

List of Abbreviations

    In the first line of this verse, there are three syntactically isolated incomplete sentences. They are:
    1) na antalikkhe (not in the air). The subject and verb are omitted. The verb "to be" is implied and it is negated by the negative particle na (not). It has an attribute, the noun antalikkhe (in the air, locative singular).
    2) na samuddamajjhe (not in the middle of the ocean). The subject and verb are omitted. The verb "to be" is implied and it is negated by the negative particle na (not). It has an attribute, the compound samuddamajjhe (in the middle of the ocean, locative singular).
    3) na pabbatānaṃ vivaraṃ pavissa (not entering the hole in the mountains). The subject is omitted. The verb is pavissa (having entered, gerundive). It is negated by the negative particle na (not). The object is the noun vivaraṃ (the hole, accusative singular) with its attribute, the noun pabbatānaṃ (of mountains, genitive plural).
    The second line forms the main sentence. It can be further subdivided into two segments:
    1) na vijjatī so jagatippadeso (there is no place in the world). The subject is the compound jagatippadeso (a place in the world, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the personal pronoun so (that, nominative singular). The verb is vijjatī (exists, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). It is negated by the negative particle na (not).
    2) yatthaṭṭhitaṃ nappasaheyya maccu (where being one would not be overcome by death). The subject is the noun maccu (death, nominative singular). The object is the compound yatthaṭṭhitaṃ (standing where, accusative singular). The verb is pasaheyya (would be overcome, 3rd person, singular, active, optative). It is negated by the negative particle na (not).




Commentary:

    Buddha had also some enemies. One of them was his own cousin Devadatta who wanted to take the Buddha's place in the Community. Devadatta's father was king Suppabuddha. He was also an enemy of the Buddha, because the Buddha married Suppabuddha's daughter, Yasodharā, and later left her and became a monk.
    When the Buddha came for almsfood to his place, the king got drunk and blocked the way. He refused to make way for the Buddha. The Buddha turned around and went back, saying to the monks that the king make a bad karma by refusing to make way for a Buddha and would have to face the consequences very soon.
    Suppabuddha wanted to prove the Buddha wrong, so he paid special attention to his deeds and also instructed his servants to protect him very carefully. But on the seventh day he heard his horse neighing loudly and kicking about. He wanted to handle the horse and went down to the stable. He fell down the stairs and died immediately.
    The Buddha remarked that one can not escape death no matter how one tries, no matter where on hides.




Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

na
antalikkhe
samuddamajjhe
samudda
majjhe
pabbatānaṃ
vivaraṃ
pavissa
vijjatī
so
jagatippadeso
jagati
padeso
yatthaṭṭhitaṃ
yattha
ṭhitaṃ
pasaheyya
maccu