Posted by Suan.
Nina asked:
"I would like to know what the Saddaniti has to say, ....?"

The following is my quick translation of the verse on the Buddha's
last meal.

"Cundassa bhattam bhuñjitvaa, kammaarassaati me sutam;
aabaadham samphusii dhiiro, pabaa.lham maara.nantikam.
Bhuttassa ca suukaramaddavena,
byaadhippabaa.lho udapaadi satthuno;
virecamaano bhagavaa avoca,
gacchaamaham kusinaaram nagaranti.

"It was heard by me that
the Buddha experienced fatally severe sickness,
After eating Cunda's food, of the son of goldsmith.
And when having eaten his lunch with tender pork cuisine,
Severe disorder occurred to the Teacher of the Universe.
The Mighty One, losing diarrhoeaic blood, said,
"Let's go to the City of Kusinaara".

Section 190, Mahaaparinibbana Suttam, Mahaavaggo, Diighanikaayo

GRAMMAR RULES for the expression " Bhuttassa ca suukaramaddavena"

Bhuttassa- Cha.t.thii vibhatti meaning genitive case.

The equally correct syntax in place of "bhuttassa" is "bhutte" -
Sattamii vibhatti meaning locative case.

Both genitive case and locative case are used to express the sense of
the action of one verb while or when the action of another verb is
taking place or has taken place as in the above verse.

Please see the following rules in Saddaniiti Suttamaalaa.

Suttam 633: Anaadaramhi ca.

Anaadaramhi ca gamyamaane bhaavavataa li`ngamhaa cha.t.thiivibhatti
hoti sattamii ca.

Aphorism 633: And, in the case of the verb showing disrespect *.

"When the case of the verb showing disrespect is to be known, the
sixth case comes after the bare noun having the verb that gets
disrespected or the seventh case does similarly."

One of the examples given is from Section 2169, Vessantara Jaataka,
Jaataka Pali, Volume 2.

"Aako.tayanto te neti Siviraajassa pekkhato"

"While the Sivi King (Vessantaro) watching, the Brahmin beating the
two children lead them away."

In the above example, the verb to lead is the verb showing disrespect
while the verb to watch is the verb getting disrespect.

We can reconstruct the expression "Siviraajassa pekkhato"
as "Siviraajassa pekkhassa".

When we get the term "pekkhassa", that can easily remind us of the
expression "bhuttassa".

Finally we get the expression "Buddhassa bhuttassa".

In the verse on the Buddha's last meal, the verb to eat is the verb
getting disrespect while the verb to occur is the verb to show
disrespect.

Thus, we finally get the following alternative translation.

"Despite having lunch with tender pork cuisine,
Severe disorder occurred to the Teacher of the Universe."

This alternative translation is exactly and literally in line with
the Pali grammar rule.

In my opinion, the commentator commented on that phrase in light of
the Pali grammar rule.

In short, the tender pork cuisine was the food that kept the Buddha
going, rather than something that ruined him.

When we reconstruct the expression "Buddhassa bhuttassa" as the
expression "Buddhe bhutte" using the seventh case, we get a neutral
general while/when syntax under the rule 644: Kaalebhaavesu ca. We
can use the same translations as above for examples.

When we know how the writer of the verse had carefully chosen the
right syntax to convey the correct sense of the event, we do not find
the lines of the verse to be ambiguous. We get the lines of the verse
right.

With regards,

Suan

http://www.bodhiology.org
_________
* disrespect in grammatical sense. This will be explained further in the
next issue.