Trees are like good people
छायामन्यस्य कुर्वन्ति तिष्ठन्ति स्वयमातपे।
फलान्यपि परार्थाय वृक्षाः सत्पुरुषा इव॥
chāyāmanyasya kurvanti tiṣṭhanti svayamātape |
phalānyapi parārthāya vṛkṣāḥ satpuruṣā iva ||
Translation
They make shade for others while they themselves stand in the heat; even their fruits are for others. Trees are like good people.
Meaning
This verse belongs to the anyokti genre, "speaking of something else": a poem that seems to describe trees but is really about people. The anthology Subhāṣitaratnabhāṇḍāgāra files it among the "tree" anyoktis.
The comparison is held back to the very end, vṛkṣāḥ satpuruṣā iva, "trees, like good people", so that the reader first pictures the tree and only then recognises the human ideal.
Word by word · 12 words
| Devanagari | IAST | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| छायाम् | chāyām | shade (acc. sg. f.) |
| अन्यस्य | anyasya | for another (gen. sg.) |
| कुर्वन्ति | kurvanti | they make |
| तिष्ठन्ति | tiṣṭhanti | they stand |
| स्वयम् | svayam | themselves |
| आतपे | ātape | in the heat of the sun (loc. sg. m.) |
| फलानि | phalāni | fruits (nom. pl. n.) |
| अपि | api | also |
| परार्थाय | parārthāya | for the sake of others (dat. sg.) |
| वृक्षाः | vṛkṣāḥ | trees (nom. pl. m.) |
| सत्पुरुषाः | satpuruṣāḥ | good people (nom. pl. m.) |
| इव | iva | like |
Pronunciation
chāyāmanyasya kurvanti tiṣṭhanti svayamātape |
phalānyapi parārthāya vṛkṣāḥ satpuruṣā iva ||
- chāyām: ch is c + breath, chhā-yām.
- vṛkṣāḥ: v + vowel ṛ, then kṣ: vṛk-ṣāḥ.
- ṛ is a vowel, a short syllabic r (like the "ri" in "rhythm" said quickly): mṛ-tyu, not mar-tyu.
- A final visarga ḥ is a soft "h" breath that echoes the vowel before it: namaḥ sounds like "nama-ha" (lightly).