Dhammapada verse 329
Chapter 23, Elephants (Nāgavagga) · verses 320–333
“If you find no alert companion, no attentive friend to live happily together, then, like a king who flees his conquered realm, wander alone like a tusker in the wilds.”
No ce labhetha nipakaṁ sahāyaṁ, Saddhiṁ caraṁ sādhuvihāridhīraṁ; Rājāva raṭṭhaṁ vijitaṁ pahāya, Eko care mātaṅgaraññeva nāgo.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 329 mean?
Verse 329 belongs to chapter 23, Elephants (Nāgavagga), which gathers verses 320–333 on the elephant, and companionship. It is filed under happiness. Read it with the verses around it: the Dhammapada arranges chapters as short runs, not as isolated lines, so verse 328 and verse 330 are part of the same passage.
Fourteen verses that use the elephant as their figure — the elephant in battle, the untamed elephant, the elephant that carries its own load. It is also the chapter about companionship: it contains the verses on finding an alert friend to travel with and on walking alone when no such friend can be found.
More verses on this