eva.m me suta.m

Dear members,

The suttantas of the Tipi.taka are usually introduced by the sentence eva.m
me suta.m. It is usually translated "Thus I have heard," and this
translation is seemingly corroborated by Sanskrit sources which invaribly
substitute mayaa (instr.). for me. However, me is genitive, and the use of
the genitive of the agent constructed with a past participle is quite common
in Paali as it is in Vedic Sanskrit. The grammatical problem is the form
suta.m which is neuter. This indicates that suta.m is an action noun meaning
hearing, just as sutta.m means sleaping, and di.t.tha,m seeing and muta.m
thinking. There is a Paa.ninian suutra III 3:114 stating that past
participles in the neuter are used as action nouns. The time reference is
one of generalised present. Consequently we should translate suta.m as
hearing. The only grammatically acceptable translation of this introductory
sentence must therefore be: My hearing is as follows i.e. The following is
what I hear say. This is extremely important from the point of view of the
enunciation of any suttanta introduced by it because it makes any enunciator
present with the events of the narrative.

Ole Holten Pind


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