Pāli is a middle Prakrit language. It is most famous as the language in which the scriptures of Theravada Buddhism (also known as the Pāli Canon, or in Pāli the Tipitika) were written down. Pāli has been written in a variety of scripts, from devanagari to Lao and other Indic scripts, through to a Romanised (western) form which was devised by T. W. R. Davids of the Pali Text Society.
Some Theravada Buddhists maintain that Pā was the language spoken by the Buddha. However it is uncertain whether Pāli was ever a spoken language. A significant number of scholars maintain that it was a purely literary language devised from a number of Indic dialects, Magadhan being mentioned as one of the most likely ancestors.
Example of Pāli with English translation:
Manopubbangamā dhammā, manosetthā manomayā;
Manasā ce padutthena, bhāsati vā karoti vā,
Tato nam dukkhamanveti, cakkam'va vahato padam.
Mind is the forerunner of all states, mind is chief, mind-made are they;
If one speaks or acts with wicked mind, suffering follows one,
As the cart-wheel pursues the hoof of the draught ox.
- Dhammapada verse 1.
Today Pāli is studied mainly to gain access to Buddhist scriptures, and is thus frequently chanted. The Pali Text Society, based in the United Kingdom, has since its founding in 1881 been a major force in promoting the study of Pāli by Western scholars. The society publishes these scriptures both in Romanised Pāli and in English translation.
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