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buddhavacana

6.6: bahubbīhi (Compounds that name something else)

Some compounds name neither of their members. chinnahattho is chinna (“cut off”) and hattha (“hand”), yet it is not a hand and not a cutting: it is “a man whose hand is cut off”, chinnahattho puriso. Kaccāyana calls a compound made “in the sense of another word” a bahubbīhi {328}; the name is itself one, “much rice”, said of a place that has it. The word named stands outside the compound, which describes it as an adjective does.

So the question to ask when you meet a compound is: does it name one of its own members, or something else? If something else, find the noun it agrees with and unfold the compound with “whose”, “by whom” or “in which”. The compound takes the gender, number and ending of that noun: chinnahattho is 🚹⨀① because puriso is. When the members join, their endings are dropped {317} and each goes back to its lemma form {318}. The Buddha’s epithets are full of such compounds (dasabalo, “who has the ten powers”), and so is the jhāna formula of Bonus: 39, 11.1 (avitakkaṁ avicāraṁ … jhānaṁ).

How to recognise a bahubbīhi

Section titled “How to recognise a bahubbīhi”

The vutti of {328} first shows the outside word in each ending from ② to ⑦:

the outside word is example the phrase it stands for
② the thing reached āgatasamaṇo āgatā samaṇā imaṁ saṅghārāmaṁ: a monastery to which ascetics have come
③ the doer jitindriyo jitāni indriyāni anena samaṇena: an ascetic by whom the senses are conquered
④ the receiver dinnasuṅko dinno suṅko yassa rañño: a king to whom tax is paid
⑤ the starting point niggatajano niggatā janā asmā gāmā: a village from which the people have gone out
⑥ the owner chinnahattho chinno hattho yassa purisassa: a man whose hand is cut off
⑦ the place sampannasasso sampannāni sassāni yasmiṁ janapade: a country in which the crops have ripened

The ⑥ shape, “whose”, is by far the commonest; the vutti’s other examples sort by the first member:

the first member is example what it names
a participle in -ta chinnahattho, jitindriyo see the table above
an adjective, often a- for na {333} anantañāṇo whose knowledge is endless
a numeral catuddiso, pañcacakkhu, dasabalo with the four directions, five eyes, ten powers
a comparison with iva or viya (“like”) suvaṇṇavaṇṇo, brahmassaro whose colour is like gold’s; whose voice is like Brahmā’s
a compound nested inside amitaghanasarīro whose solid body is measureless (ghanasarīra, a kammadhāraya, inside)

The name serves one later rule {167}: a bahubbīhi ending in a pronoun, piyapubbā (“whose former [spouse] was dear”), keeps the ordinary noun endings. Every rule number links to the full rule; the chapter overview tables them all.

Examples

Section titled “Examples”

chinno hattho yassa purisassa so → chinnahattho puriso

🚹⨀①(🔽(ta)(chinno) hattho) *️⃣🤟🚹⨀⑥(yassa) 🚹⨀⑥(purisassa) *️⃣🤟🚹⨀①(so) → 🚹⨀①🆎(chinna+hattha) 🚹⨀①(puriso)
cut off / hand / of whom / of the man / that [one] → whose hand is cut off / man
{328}: not a hand but the man whose hand it is; the compound takes the ending of puriso.

jitāni indriyāni anena samaṇena so → jitindriyo samaṇo

🚻⨂①(🔽(ta)(jitāni) indriyāni) *️⃣🤟🚹⨀③(anena) 🚹⨀③(samaṇena) *️⃣🤟🚹⨀①(so) → 🚹⨀①🆎(jita+indriya) 🚹⨀①(samaṇo)
conquered / senses / by this / by the ascetic / that [one] → by whom the senses have been conquered / ascetic
{328}: the outside word is the doer, ③; jita + indriya gives jitindriya, a dropped before i {12}.

vipariṇāmo dhammo yassa taṁ → yaṁ … vipariṇāmadhammaṁ

🚹⨀①(vipariṇāmo) 🚹⨀①(dhammo) *️⃣🤟🚻⨀⑥(yassa) *️⃣🤟🚻⨀①(taṁ) → *️⃣🤟🚻⨀①(yaṁ) 🚻⨀①🆎(vipariṇāma+dhamma)
change / nature / of which / that → what / subject to change
{328}: -dhamma, “whose nature is …”, as maraṇadhammo below; neuter like the yaṁ (“what”) it describes, the rūpaṁ asked about in 7: 6.5.

Exercises

Section titled “Exercises”

Each of the following is a bahubbīhi from chapters 5 and the bonus chapter, with the word it agrees with where the sentence has one and a link to its sentence. Look each up in a dictionary, name its members, unfold it into a phrase with yassa (“whose”) or yasmiṁ (“in which”), and say what it names.

  1. nirodhadhammaṁ (5: 11.1)
  2. maraṇadhammo (Bonus: 46, 18.1)
  3. avitakkaṁ (jhānaṁ) (Bonus: 39, 11.1)
  4. avicāraṁ (jhānaṁ) (Bonus: 39, 11.1)

Answers

Section titled “Answers”

Note: please do the exercises first before checking the answers.

  1. nirodho dhammo yassa taṁ → nirodhadhammaṁ

🚹⨀①(nirodho) 🚹⨀①(dhammo) *️⃣🤟🚻⨀⑥(yassa) *️⃣🤟🚻⨀①(taṁ) → 🚻⨀①🆎(nirodha+dhamma)
cessation / nature / of which / that → subject to cessation
{328}: -dhamma, “whose nature is …”, as vipariṇāmadhammaṁ; neuter like the taṁ it describes, “whatever is subject to origination” (5: 11.1).

  1. maraṇaṁ dhammo yassa so → maraṇadhammo

🚻⨀①(maraṇaṁ) 🚹⨀①(dhammo) *️⃣🤟🚹⨀⑥(yassa) *️⃣🤟🚹⨀①(so) → 🚹⨀①🆎(maraṇa+dhamma)
death / nature / of whom / that [one] → whose nature is death, subject to death
{328}: -dhammo, “whose nature is”: so too jātidhammo, jarādhammo, byādhidhammo, sokadhammo, saṅkilesadhammo in Bonus: 46, 18.1.

  1. natthi vitakko yasmiṁ taṁ → avitakkaṁ jhānaṁ

🟢⨀🤟▶️(natthi) 🚹⨀①(vitakko) *️⃣🤟🚻⨀⑦(yasmiṁ) *️⃣🤟🚻⨀①(taṁ) → 🚻⨀①🆎(na+vitakka) 🚻⨀①(jhānaṁ)
there is no / thinking / in which / that → without thinking / jhāna
{328}: a- for na {333}, the outside word in the ⑦; neuter like the jhānaṁ it describes (Bonus: 39, 11.1).

  1. natthi vicāro yasmiṁ taṁ → avicāraṁ jhānaṁ

🟢⨀🤟▶️(natthi) 🚹⨀①(vicāro) *️⃣🤟🚻⨀⑦(yasmiṁ) *️⃣🤟🚻⨀①(taṁ) → 🚻⨀①🆎(na+vicāra) 🚻⨀①(jhānaṁ)
there is no / discursive thought / in which / that → free from discursive thought / jhāna
{328}: the twin of avitakkaṁ in the same formula: vicāra (“discursive thought”) is absent from the second jhānaṁ.