--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, "flrobert2000" <flrobert2000@...> wrote:

>
> Dear friends,
>
> Raajaa sa.mviggahadayo hatthena saa.taka.m sa.n.thapento
> turitaturita.m nikkhamitvaa vegena gantvaa bhagavato

purato .thatvaa

> aaha– "ki.m `ettakaana.m bhikkhuuna.m na sakka bhatta.m laddhun'ti
> sañña.m karitthaa"ti. " - Ibid.
> king / agitated heart/ [with] hand / clothe / adjusting / quickly /
> having gone out / speedily / having gone / [of] Buddha / in front

of /

> having stood / said / ???who / [of???] so much / [of] monks / not /
> able / rice / to receive / thought
>
> The king, his heart agitated, adjusted his clothes with his hand,

went

> out quickly, stood in front of the Buddha and said "Who thought of

so

> many monks not able to get rice?"
>
> Is the last part of the translation correct:
>
> "Who thought of so many monks not able to get rice?"
>

Translation of this sentence has gone wrong due to 2 mistakes. (1)
ki.m has been taken as meaning 'who'. Pali for 'who' is either ko
(if masculine) or kaa (if fem.) ki.m is neuter and means 'what'
or 'why'. The latter is suitable in this contect. (2)karittha has
been misunderstood. It is a 2nd person plural aorist form, not a 3rd
p. sg. So the sentence should mean Why have you thought it (would
be) impossible for so many monks to obtain meals (at the palace,
perhaps?). I don't know why the plural verb is used. Perhaps it is
an honorific usage, or it may mean "Why do you all think..." The
long vowel in karitthaa is a sandhi alteration(karittha +iti =
karitthaati).

Mahipaliha