Tzungkuen:

>Could anybody tell me why the term 'yam.' is in the following sentence?
>What does 'yam.' mean here? Thank you in advance.
>
>yam. kho so, mahaaraaja, set.t.hi gahapati taggarasikhim.
>paccekasambuddham. pin.d.apaatena pat.ipaadesi, tassa kammassa vipaakena
>sattakkhattum. sugatim. saggam. lokam. upapajji.
>[Now, sir, by the effect of his action in bestowing alms on the Silent
>Buddha, Tagarasikkhi, he was reborn seven times to a happy destiny in
>heavenly world.]( PTS's translation)

Dear Tzungkuen,

Here ya.m is a special use of the neuter singular of yo. It is functioning
as an adverb or conjunction rather than a relative pronoun. When used in
this way, it can have several different meanings. In the
Abhidhaanappadiipikaa (verse 1145) these are given as:

Ta.m: there, thither (to there), therefore, now, as
Yato: inasmuch as, since, because, from the time when, from the place where
Tato: from that place/time, subsequently
Yena: for which, whereby, because, by the way that, in the place where
Tena: for that, thereby, therefore, in the place there
Iti: thus, so

The commentaries rarely offer any gloss on the word, so usually one just
has to consider all the possibilities and judge which one best fits the
context. It's best to begin with 'now', 'as', 'because' and 'therefore', as
these seem to be the most common meanings.

Childers' dictionary (p 603) has a good collection of sample sentences
showing the use of ya.m in this sense.

Best wishes,

Robert