What use is your matted hair, fool? What use is your garment from antelope skin?
Inside you is a jungle, you touch only the outside.

kiṃ             te     jaṭāhi dummedha  kiṃ          te      ajina+sāṭiyā
|                   |          |            |            |             |           |        |
Pron.n.   Pron.m.  N.f.    Adj.m.   Pron.n.   Pron.m.  N.n.  N.f.
Nom.Sg. Gen.Sg. Ins.Pl. Voc.Sg.  Nom.Sg.  Gen.Sg.    |    Ins.Sg.
|                   |______|           |             |             |          |_____|
|______________|                |             |             |________|
           |_________________|             |____________|

List of Abbreviations

abbhantaraṃ  te     gahanaṃ bāhiraṃ parimajjasi
|                     |            |             |              |
N.n.         Pron.m.    N.n.      Adj.n.   V.act.in.
Nom.Sg.   Gen.Sg. Nom.Sg. Acc.Sg. 2.Sg.pres.
|____________|            |            |________|
                                   |___________|

kiṃ: kim-, Inter.Pron.: what. Nom.Sg.n. = kiṃ.

te: tvaṃ, Pron.: you. Gen.Sg. = te (your).

jaṭāhi: jaṭā-, N.f.: matted hair (worn by ascetics). Ins.Pl. = jaṭāhi.

dummedha: dummedha-, Adj.: stupid. Derived from the word medhā-, N.f.: wisdom, intelligence, by adding the prefix du- (lacking something, away from). The double m is due to the euphonic combination (du- + medha- = dummedha-). Voc.Sg.m. = dummedha.

kiṃ: see above.

te: see above.

List of Abbreviations

ajinasāṭiyā: ajinasāṭī-, N.f.: clothes made of the hide of the black antelope. It is a compound of:
    ajina-, N.n.: the hide of the black antelope, worn by ascetics.
    sāṭī-, N.f.: cloth, garment.
Ins.Sg. = ajinasāṭiyā.

abbhantaraṃ: N.n.: interior, the inner part. It is derived from the word abbhantara-, Adj.: internal, inner. Nom.Sg. = abbhantaraṃ.

te: see above.

gahanaṃ: gahana-, N.n.: jungle, thicket, impenetrable place. Nom.Sg. = gahanaṃ.

bāhiraṃ: bāhira-, Adj.: external, outside. Acc.Sg.n. = bāhiraṃ.

parimajjasi, V.: [you] touch, stroke, wipe. The verb root is majj- (to submerge) with the prefix pari- (around). 2.Sg.act.in.pres. = parimajjasi.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse consists of four syntactically separate sentences. They are:
    1) kiṃ te jaṭāhi dummedha (what use is your matted hair, fool?). The subject is the adjective dummedha (fool, vocative singular). The object is the pronoun kiṃ (what, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the noun jaṭāhi (with matted hair, instrumental plural) with its attribute, the pronoun te (your, genitive singular).
    2) kiṃ te ajinasāṭiyā (what use is your garment from antelope skin?). The object is the pronoun kiṃ (what, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the compound ajinasāṭiyā (with the garment from antelope skin, instrumental singular) with its attribute, the pronoun te (your, genitive singular).
    3) abbhantaraṃ te gahanaṃ (inside you is a jungle). The subject is the noun abbhantaraṃ (interior, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the pronoun te (your, genitive singular). The verb is omitted, implying the verb "to be". The object is the noun gahanaṃ (jungle, nominative singular).
    4) bāhiraṃ parimajjasi (you touch only the outside). The subject is omitted; the verb implies the second person singular pronoun. The verb is parimajjasi (you touch, 2^nd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). The object is the adjective bāhiraṃ (outside, accusative singular).

    There was a Brahmin, who climbed a tree near the city of Vesāli. He hanged down from it and told the people to bring him gifts - otherwise the city will suffer. Ignorant people indeed brought him many gifts, because they were superstitious and feared the powers of the Brahmin.
    When the Buddha heard about it, he spoke this verse, saying that such "Brahmins" could fool only ignorant people.

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

kiṃ
te
jaṭāhi
dummedha
ajinasāṭiyā
ajina
sāṭiyā
abbhantaraṃ
gahanaṃ
bāhiraṃ
parimajjasi