Dear Bill, Dimitry and friends,

it is possible to use "now" for the past tense. "now" can mean "then"
to refer to a point in a series of event; e.g. The ship was now
listing to port. http://www.bartleby.com/61/97/N0179700.html

In our case, "now" is used as a conjunction rather than an adverb,
and the sentence means "now that (since) the Blessed have dressed and
taken his bowl and robe, he entered Savatthi for alms".

What do you think?

Metta
Yong Peng

--- Bill Strider wrote:

> >So I would suggest:
> >And now, in the morning, the Blessed One, having dressed
> >and taken his bowl and robe, entered Savatthi for alms.
>
> PTS give several meanings for "atha kho":
>
> [now, and then; but, rather, moreover]
>
> I would prefer "then" instead of "now" since the sentence
> is in the past tense.