| Gāthā | Sentence Translation | Sentence Structure |
| Vocabulary&Grammar | Commentary | Pronunciation |
Just like a cowherd drives cows to pasture with a stick,
so old age and death drive the life of living beings.
yathā daṇḍena
gopālo gāvo
pājeti
go+caraṃ
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Rel.Adv. N.m. N.m.
N.m. V.act.caus. N.m. N.m.
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Ins.Sg. Nom.Sg. Acc.Pl. 3.Sg.pres. |
Acc.Sg.
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List of Abbreviations
evaṃ jarā
ca maccu ca
āyuṃ
pājenti pāṇinaṃ
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Adv. N.f. conj.
N.m. conj. N.n. V.act.caus.
N.m.
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Nom.Sg. | Acc.Sg. 3.Pl.pres.
Gen.Pl.
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yathā, Rel.Adv.: as, just like.
daṇḍena: daṇḍa-, N.m.: stick, club, punishment. Ins.Sg. = daṇḍena.
gopālo: gopāla-, N.m.: cowherd. Nom.Sg. = gopālo.
gāvo: go-, N.m.: cow. Acc.Pl. = gāvo.
pājeti, V.: drives. It is a causative of the verb root aj- (to throw, to cast) with the prefix pa- (strengthening). 3.Sg.act.caus.pres. = pājeti.
gocaraṃ: gocara-,
N.m.: pasture, sphere. This can be further analyzed as:
go-, N.m.: cow
cara-, N.m.: going, walking.
Derived from the verb car- (to walk, to roam).
Acc.Sg. = gocaraṃ.
List of Abbreviations
evaṃ, Adv.: thus, in this way.
jarā: jarā-, N.f.: old age. Nom.Sg. = jarā.
ca, conj.: and.
maccu: maccu-, N.m.: death. Nom.Sg. = maccu.
ca, conj.: and.
āyuṃ: āyu-, N.n.: life, life-span. Nom.Sg. = āyuṃ.
pājenti, V.: drive. See above under pājeti. 3.Pl.act.caus.pres. = pājenti.
pāṇinaṃ: pāṇin-, Adj.: having breath, having life. As an N.m.: living being. It is the word pāṇa-, N.m.: breath, life, with the possessive suffix -in. Gen.Pl. = pāṇinaṃ.
List of Abbreviations
There are two dependent sentences in
this verse. They are:
1) yathā
daṇḍena gopālo
gāvo pājeti gocaraṃ
(just like a cowherd drives cows to pasture with a stick). The subject
is the noun gopālo (cowherd, nominative
singular). The verb is pājeti (drives,
3rd person, singular, active, causative, present tense). It
has two attributes, the nouns gocaraṃ
(to pasture, accusative singular) and daṇḍena
(with a stick, instrumental singular). The object is the noun gāvo
(cows, accusative plural). The relative adverb yathā
(just like) introduces the sentence and connects it to the following one.
2) evaṃ
jarā ca maccu ca āyuṃ
pājenti pāṇinaṃ
(so old age and death drive the life of living beings). There is a double
subject in this sentence. It contains the two nouns jarā
(old age, nominative singular) and maccu (death, nominative singular).
They are connected by two conjunctions ca (and) in a common Pali
phrase X ca Y ca (X and Y). The verb is pājenti
(drive, 3rd person, plural, active, causative, present tense).
The object is the noun āyuṃ
(life, life-force; accusative singular) with its attribute, the noun pāṇinaṃ
(of living beings, genitive plural). The adverb evaṃ
(thus, in this way) introduces the sentence and connects it to the previous
one.
A large group of women came to the
Pubbārāma monastery
to observe the precepts for one day. Visākhā,
the woman who built that monastery, asked them for what purpose did they
come to observe the precepts. Different women gave her different answers.
Old women did so in order to have
a good rebirth, middle aged women wanted to have peaceful and prosperous
lives with their families, young women came in order to give birth to a
son and unmarried girls wanted to find a good husband.
Visākhā
took them to see the Buddha. He told her this verse, saying that although
we are all constantly driven by birth, old age and death, there are still
so few people who realize this and strive for Awakenment and release from
this never-ending cycle. Most people still pursue only earthly goals and
do not care about overcoming them.
Word pronunciation:
yathā
daṇḍena
gopālo
gāvo
pājeti
gocaraṃ
evaṃ
jarā
ca
maccu
āyuṃ
pājenti
pāṇinaṃ