Ja 59 The Story about the Drummer
(Bherivādajātaka)
In the present the Buddha meets with a disobedient monk and tells him a story of how, through disobedience, he had drummed continuously, and lost all their earnings to thieves in a past life when they were drummers (full story).
1. Dhame dhame nātidhame, atidhantañ-hi pāpakaṁ,
Dhantena hi sataṁ laddhaṁ, atidhantena nāsitan-ti.
Play, play, but don’t play too much, only the bad one plays in excess, through playing a hundred was gained, through playing too much it was lost.
In this connection, play, play means you should play and you should definitely A double negative: not not, something avoided in English, it has emphatic meaning. play, you should beat the drum, definitely beat it, this is the meaning.
Don’t play too much means do not overstep the bounds, beat it endlessly.
What is the reason? Only the bad one plays in excess, the bad one, of inferior birth, now beats the drum endlessly.
Through playing a hundred was gained, through playing the drum in the city one hundred coins Kahāpaṇa was a type of coin, sometimes gold (and therefore more valuable), and sometimes copper. were gained.
Through playing too much it was lost means at this time through my son not doing my bidding, namely, by playing too much in the wilderness, through this playing too much, all was lost.