Iti as quotation marks
Pali Suttas : Written texts vs. oral tradition
We will see a few examples where ‘iti’ or its shortened form ‘ti’ is used in place of quotation marks.
Please note that when we read the Suttas, all the punctuation marks are used as per the prevalent grammatical conventions. None of these aids were available when the Suttas were taught, memorised, and recited in the past. All these punctuation marks were conveyed by the reciter orally.
1. “…. esevanto dukkhassā”ti.
(Eso eva anto dukkhassa)
2. “satthā taṃ, āvuso, āmantetī”ti.
3. …. taṃ suṇātha, sādhukaṃ manasi karotha; bhāsissāmī”ti.
4. svākkhāto bhagavatā dhammo sandiṭṭhiko akāliko ehipassiko opaneyyiko paccattaṃ veditabbo viññūhīti.
5. suppaṭipanno bhagavato sāvakasaṅgho. pe. anuttaraṃ puññakkhettaṃ lokassāti.
6. rūpaṃ aniccaṃ. tāhaṃ, bhante, na kaṅkhāmi. yadaniccaṃ taṃ dukkhanti na vicikicchāmi.
‘yadamiccaṃ taṃ dukkhaṃ’ (i)ti na vicikicchāmi.
dukkhanti = dukkhaṃ + (i)ti
• The nasal consonant ṃ changes into the nasal consonant of ‘ta’-vagga (dentals).
7. idamavoca bhagavā, attamanā te bhikkhū bhagavato bhāsitaṃ abhinandunti.
abhinandunti = abhinanduṃ + (i)ti