The ablative case is used to indicate the meaning – from. It is used to denote separation, origin, cause etc.

Please remember the ablative forms of the noun ‘buddha’ :

Let us learn a few Pali words and then translate a few sentences.

• samaṇa = monk
• sāvaka = disciple
• manussa / nara = man
• ovāda = advice, instruction
• kassaka = farmer
• bhūpāla = king
• pabbata = mountain
• pāsāda = palace
• taḷāka = lake
• oruhati = descends / comes down
• nikkhamati = sets out / leaves
• labhati = receives

Please consider the following sentences.

1. Boys descend / come down from the mountain.
2. A beggar asks for food from the brahmin.
3. The disciple receives instruction from (his) teacher.
4. Lay devotees set out from the village by carts.
5. Merchants bring horses for the king from an island.

Let us translate these sentences into Pali.

1. Boys descend / come down from the mountain.
● Boys (kumāra) being the subject of the sentence, will take up the nominative (plural) case.
● mountain = pabbata. It will take up ablative (singular) case to indicate ‘from’.

Thus the Pali sentence will be : Kumārā pabbatā / pabbatasmā/ pabbatamhā oruhanti.

* Please note that whenever there are multiple variants available for a case, we can use any of these words. Here we have written all the possible options – pabbatā / pabbatasmā / pabbatamhā. Henceforth we will be using any one of these variants.

2. A beggar asks for food from the brahmin.
● A beggar (yācaka) being the subject of the sentence, will take up the nominative (singular) case.
● Food (bhatta) being the object of the sentence, will take up the accusative (singular) case.
● brahmin = brāhmaṇa. It will take up ablative (singular) case to indicate ‘from’.

Thus the Pali sentence will be : Yācako brāhmaṇasmā bhattaṃ yācati.

3. The disciple receives instruction from (his) teacher.
● The disciple (sāvaka) being the subject of the sentence, will take up the nominative (singular) case.
● Instruction (ovāda) being the object of the sentence, will take up the accusative (singular) case.
● teacher = ācariya. It will take up ablative (singular) case to indicate ‘from’.

Thus the Pali sentence will be : Sāvako ācariyamhā ovādaṃ labhati.

4. Lay devotees set out from the village by carts.
● Lay devotees (upāsaka) being the subject of the sentence, will take up the nominative (plural) case.
● cart (sakaṭa) being an instrument / means of transport will take up the instrumental (plural) case.
● village = gāma. It will take up ablative (singular) case to indicate ‘from’.

Thus the Pali sentence will be : Upāsakā sakaṭehi gāmamhā nikkhamanti.

5. Merchants bring horses for the king from an island.
● Merchants (vāṇija) being the subject of the sentence, will take up the nominative (plural) case.
● horses (assa) being the object of the sentence, will take up the accusative (plural) case.
● king = bhūpāla. It will take up dative (singular) case to indicate ‘for’ – ‘āya’ form.
● island = dīpa. It will take up ablative (singular) case to indicate ‘from’.

Thus the Pali sentence will be : Vāṇijā dīpasmā bhūpālāya asse āharanti.

Suffix ‘to’

Apart from the terminations ‘ā’, ‘smā’ and ‘mhā’, the suffix ‘to’ when added to the stem of a noun, makes it an ablative case. Thus we have words like

gāmato = from the village
vihārato = from the monastery
ācariyato = from the teacher

This is a commonly occurring ablative form in the Tipitaka.

Please have a look at the home page of our course. In the introduction to the course, we have quoted a verse from Ven. Ananda :

Dvāsīti buddhato gaṇhiṃ, dve sahassāni bhikkhuto ….

Here Ven. Ananda is referring to the teachings that he heard / received from the Buddha and other senior monks. He says that he received 82,000 (dvāsīti sahassāni) teachings from the Buddha (buddhato) and 2,000 (dve sahassāni) from the monks (bhikkhuto). Please note the suffix ‘to’ added to the words buddha and bhikkhu to indicate ‘from’.

Also note the word ‘gaṇhiṃ’, which is a past tense form of ‘gaṇhāti’, used in the sense of ‘I got / received’

From – to

Many a times we come across sentences which use from – to combination. E.g.

1. The horses run from the lake to the mountain.

2. The lay devotee walks from the village to the monastery.

While translating such ‘from – to’ combination in Pali, we use ablative (indicating ‘from’) and accusative (indicating ‘to’) cases.

Thus the corresponding Pali sentences will be :

1. Assā taḷākasmā pabbataṃ dhāvanti.

2. Upāsako gāmamhā vihāraṃ carati.

Sometimes we may even have duplication of a word. E.g. Consider a vendor (merchant) going from one village to another / going from village to village. The Pali sentence will have construction like :

Vāṇijo gāmā gāmaṃ carati.

(where gāmā is ablative and gāmaṃ is accusative case)

Please revise the words and cases learnt so far and complete the following activity.