PALI LANGUAGE

sacred language of the Theravada Buddhist canon, a Middle Indo-Aryan language of north Indian origin. On the whole, Pali seems closely related to the Old Indo-Aryan Vedic and Sanskrit dialects but is apparently not directly descended from either of these. Pali's use as a Buddhist canonical language came about because the Buddha opposed the use of Sanskrit, a learned language, as a vehicle for his teachings and encouraged his followers to use vernacular dialects. In time, his orally transmitted sayings spread through India to Ceylon (c. 3rd century BC), where they were written down in Pali (1st century BC), a literary language of rather mixed vernacular origins. Pali eventually became a revered, standard, and international tongue. The language and the Theravada canon known as Tipitaka (Sanskrit: Tripitaka) were brought to Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. Pali died out as a literary language in mainland India in the 14th century but survived elsewhere until the 18th.