Mahānāma — The Book of the Ones · Chapter Twelve · Poem 5 of 10
Setting
No clear narrative setting; a comparison to a named mountain
Speaker
An unnamed voice, addressing 'you' by way of comparison to Mount Nesādaka
Form
One four-line verse, built entirely from instrumental-case description
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
★★★★☆ — genuinely cryptic, without a clear stated point of comparison
Why this text
This verse names Mount Nesādaka, ‘with its famous covering of abundant shrubs and trees’, and says ‘you're found deficient’ beside it — but never states what quality is actually being compared, or who ‘you’ is.
Reading guide
A mountain, and something surpassed by it
The verse's four lines are built almost entirely from instrumental-case phrases naming the mountain and its features — pabbatena (‘by the mountain’), girinā (‘by the peak’, a second word for mountain), paricchadena (‘by [its] covering’) — all pointing at avahiyyase, ‘you are surpassed, you fall short’. Grammatically, the mountain's natural abundance is what ‘you’ comes up short against; what specific quality is being measured is never named.
A verse whose full context is lost
This is one of the more genuinely cryptic verses in this collection, comparable in kind to Thag 1.64 (Vimalakoṇḍañña) from Chapter Seven, where this reading guide also declined to supply a confident interpretation beyond what the words themselves state. Here, too, ‘you’ is never identified, and the point of the comparison — what about the mountain outstrips the addressee — is left for the reader to guess at, without a surviving comment to settle it.
A name shared with more than one well-known figure
Mahānāma (‘great name’) is also the name of one of the ‘group of five’ ascetics who heard the Buddha's first sermon, already noted in this collection's guide to Thag 1.61 (Vappa) — and, separately, the name of a lay follower and cousin of the Buddha discussed elsewhere in the wider canon. With at least two well-known figures already carrying this name, this reading guide treats any specific identification of this particular elder as more uncertain than most other same-name cases in this collection, not less.
Key terms
avahiyyati — “is surpassed, falls short of” — the verse's central, and only, verb.
pabbata — “mountain” — paired in this verse with giri, a second word for the same thing.
giri — “mountain, peak” — used alongside pabbata, likely for poetic variation.
paricchada — “covering, canopy” — describing the mountain's vegetation.
Mahānāma — “great name” — shared with at least two distinct well-known figures elsewhere in the canon.
The text
The text in full: one verse, with no separate attribution line in this chapter. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1By Mount Nesādaka, with its famous covering of abundant shrubs and trees, you’re found deficient.
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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 does this verse say about 'you', in relation to Mount Nesādaka?
Correct: B. Esāvahiyyase pabbatena, the verse's central claim.
Question 2 of 10
Does the verse state what specific quality is being compared between 'you' and the mountain?
Correct: C. A genuinely open question this reading guide does not resolve.
Question 3 of 10
What earlier poem does this reading guide compare to this verse's cryptic, unresolved quality?
Correct: A. Both verses were left without a confident interpretation beyond their own words.
Question 4 of 10
How many words for 'mountain' does this compact verse use?
Correct: D. Pabbata and giri, likely for poetic variation.
Question 5 of 10
What does 'paricchada' mean?
Correct: A. Describing the mountain's vegetation.
Question 6 of 10
What does the name Mahānāma mean?
Correct: A. Mahā ('great') plus nāma ('name').
Question 7 of 10
What other well-known figures share the name Mahānāma, according to this reading guide?
Correct: C. Making specific identification of this elder more uncertain than most other same-name cases.
Question 8 of 10
Does this reading guide treat this elder's identification as more or less certain than most other same-name cases in this collection?
Correct: D. Two well-known bearers of the name make this case more uncertain, not less.
Question 9 of 10
What grammatical case dominates this verse's structure?
Correct: D. Pabbatena, girinā, paricchadena — all instrumental phrases.
