Udāna, Exalted Utterances

8: Pāṭaligāmiyavaggo
Atha kho Sunīdha-Vassakārā Magadhamahāmattā
Then the Magadhan chief ministers Sunīdha and Vassakāra
Buddhapamukhaṁ Bhikkhusaṅghaṁ panītena
° with their own hands served and satisfied the Community of monks with the Buddha
at its head
khādanīyena bhojanīyena sahatthā santappesuṁ sampavāresuṁ.
with excellent comestibles and edibles.
Atha kho Sunīdha-Vassakārā Magadhamahāmattā,
Then the Magadhan chief ministers Sunīdha and Vassakāra,
Bhagavantaṁ bhuttāviṁ onītapattapāṇiṁ,
when the Gracious One had eaten and washed his hand and bowl,
aññataraṁ nīcaṁ āsanaṁ gahetvā, ekamantaṁ nisīdiṁsu.
having taken a low seat, sat down on one side.
Ekamantaṁ nisinne kho Sunīdha-Vassakāre Magadhamahāmatte Bhagavā
° While sat on one side the Gracious One rejoiced the Magadhan chief ministers
Sunīdha and Vassakāra
imāhi gāthāhi anumodi:
with these verses:
“Yasmiṁ padese kappeti vāsaṁ, paṇḍitajātiyo
° “In that place where he makes his dwelling, having entertained
Sīlavantettha bhojetvā, saññate brahmacārayo,
The wise and virtuous here, the restrained, who live the spiritual life,
Yā tattha devatā āsuṁ tāsaṁ dakkhiṇam-ādise. 220
He should dedicate a gift to the devatās who are in that place.
Tā pūjitā pūjayanti mānitā mānayanti naṁ.
Honoured, they pay honour, revered, they revere him.
Tato naṁ anukampanti, mātā puttaṁ va orasaṁ,
Thereafter they have compassion on him, as a mother on her own son,
Devatānukampito poso sadā bhadrāni passatī” ti
A man whom the devatās have compassion on always sees what is auspicious.”
220 The pādayuga is the normal syntactical unit in the verses in the Canon, and only occasionally is it
necessary to take two pādayugas together to get a complete sentence. Here, however, very unusually, we
can see from the verbal syntax that we have to take three pādayugas together to make a complete
sentence. This shows that what we have here is 2 verses of 3 pādayugas each, and they should be divided
as such.
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