Bhojājānīya — Book of the Ones · Chapter Three (Kuruṅgavagga) · Poem 3 of 10
Setting
A battlefield, a warhorse pierced by arrows
Speaker
The wounded warhorse itself, addressing its rider
Form
One four-line stanza
Length
Under 1 minute to read
Northern parallel
This reading guide does not assert a specific matching text for this poem in other Buddhist literatures.
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — one short verse of resolute determination
Why this text
This verse begins a matched pair with the next poem, Ja 24 — both give voice to a warhorse's own unbroken resolve under fire, and Sujato's comment on the companion poem explicitly notes the similarity: ‘similar to the previous story, a warhorse declares its determination to go on.’
Reading guide
A wounded horse asking to be sent back into battle
The verse gives the warhorse its own voice: ‘though lying on my side, pierced by many arrows, the king's stallion beats a gelding — harness me now, charioteer.’ Per Sujato's comment, a wounded warhorse urges its rider to take one last stand, confident that even wounded, a thoroughbred outperforms an ordinary horse.
A technical note on an unusual grammatical form
Sujato's comment flags that ‘vaḷavā’ is normally the word for ‘mare’, but here appears in a masculine ablative form, glossed elsewhere with a term for ‘wild colt’ — a grammatical detail that shapes how the comparison between the wounded thoroughbred and an ordinary horse should actually be read.
Key terms
sallalīkato — “pierced by many arrows” — the warhorse's own wounded condition.
vaḷavā bhojjo — “the king's stallion... a gelding” — per Sujato's comment, an unusual grammatical construction comparing the wounded thoroughbred favorably to an ordinary horse.
yuñja maññeva sārathī — “harness me now, charioteer” — the warhorse's own direct request.
Bhojājānīyajātaka — the traditional title of this tale, ‘The King's Thoroughbred’.
Ja 24 — the next poem in this chapter, explicitly noted by Sujato's own comment as similar to this one.
The text
The text in full: a single verse, with a technical grammatical note discussed above. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1Though lying on my side pierced by many arrows, the king’s stallion beats a gelding—harness me now, charioteer.
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Self-check quiz
Ten questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.
Question 1 of 10
What condition is the warhorse in when it speaks this verse?
Correct: C. Yet still requesting to be sent back into battle.
Question 2 of 10
What does the warhorse ask its rider to do?
Correct: D. Confident that even wounded, it outperforms an ordinary horse.
Question 3 of 10
What does Sujato's comment say about this poem's relationship to Ja 24?
Correct: A. A matched pair of warhorse-resolve poems.
Question 4 of 10
What grammatical detail does Sujato's comment flag about 'vaḷavā'?
Correct: B. Shaping how the comparison between the wounded thoroughbred and an ordinary horse should be read.
Question 5 of 10
What comparison does the verse draw about the wounded warhorse?
Correct: C. The basis for its confident request to be sent back into the fight.
Question 6 of 10
What is this poem's traditional title?
Correct: D. The twenty-third poem overall, and the third of the Kuruṅgavagga — not to be confused with the similarly-named next poem.
Question 7 of 10
Who speaks this verse?
Correct: A. Giving voice directly to the wounded animal's own resolve.
Question 8 of 10
Where does this poem sit in the collection's own chapter structure?
Correct: B. Immediately followed by its thematically matched companion, Ja 24.
Question 9 of 10
What quality does this verse's warhorse model?
Correct: C. A quality the next poem, Ja 24, develops further with a different warhorse.
Question 10 of 10
What does 'Bhoja' refer to, per Sujato's comment?
Correct: D. Giving this poem its traditional title, 'The King's Thoroughbred'.
