Re: about appamaadasuttam(2)

Tzungkuen wrote:

>Dear Dhamma friends
>
>I have another question about a sentence in appamaadasuttam:
>
>'hatthipadam. tesam. aggam. akkhaayati- yadidam.mahantattena'
>
>which is translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu as
>
>'the elephant's footprint is declared to be supreme among them in terms of
>its great size'
>
>What I don't understand is the way in which the instrumental case of the
>term 'mahanttattena' is used.

When comparing things in Pali, the quality with respect to which you
compare them (size, strength, goodness etc.) is often expressed in what
grammarians call the instrumental of reason (hetu-tatiyaa). That is to say,
it is by reason of its size that the elephant's footprint is supreme.

Best wishes,

Robert