Tagged: Prakrit
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Karpik - Light on Epigraphic Pali - More on the Buddha Teaching in Pali (2023)
1Stefan Karpik argues that the 20th-century scholarly consensus that the Buddha spoke Māgadhī, as reflected in Eastern Aśokan inscriptions, is a myth. He contends, based on computer searches and a re-examination of Pali commentaries, that the term 'Māgadhī' was deliberately avoided and that the Buddha, a Kosalan, most likely spoke Pali. Karpik introduces the concept of 'Epigraphic Pali' to reclassify what others have called 'central-western epigraphic Prakrit', demonstrating through analysis of nine inscriptions from various contexts that this widespread inscriptional language is a later, naturally evolved form of canonical Pali. This evidence suggests Pali was not an artificial, ecclesiastical language but a standard, non-sectarian vernacular used across India for centuries. Consequently, he proposes that all early Buddhist canons were originally composed in Pali, the language of the Buddha, before being transmitted and adapted into other dialects and languages, a hypothesis that resolves questions of linguistic authenticity without privileging any single canon.
Levman - The language the Buddha spoke (2019)
2Bryan Levman argues that the Buddha spoke not Pāli as we know it, but an earlier, related vernacular or *koine* that differed in word form, morphology, and sometimes meaning. Evidence for this earlier linguistic layer is uncovered by applying comparative historical linguistics to the various Pāli recensions and parallel transmissions in other Prakrits, such as Gāndhārī. This method reveals that many variant readings and semantic ambiguities in the canon can be traced back to a common ancestral form in the *koine* which had undergone significant phonetic simplification, such as the weakening of intervocalic consonants into glides or the reduction of various aspirated stops to a simple aspirate. Later redactors, transmitting the teachings into their own dialects, reinterpreted these simplified sounds, resulting in the multiple cognate forms found today, a process further complicated by influences from prestigious northwestern dialects and the assimilation of non-Aryan words. Levman concludes that this linguistic evolution is consistent with the Buddhist doctrine of impermanence and supports the Buddha's historicity.
Norman - The origin of Pāli and its position among the Indo-European languages (1988)
3Pāli is a Middle Indo-Aryan language that originated not as a specific regional tongue but as a composite literary dialect used for the Buddhist canon. Descending from the Indo-European language family, it developed from the various Prakrits spoken in North India following the migration of Indo-Aryan peoples and their interaction with indigenous Dravidian and Munda populations. The Buddha and his followers preached in these local vernaculars, and Pāli emerged from the subsequent effort to standardize these diverse teachings into a single language for the Theravādin tradition. While primarily based on a Western Prakrit, Pāli retains features from other dialects, such as Māgadhī, reflecting its mixed origins and the process of translation and compilation. The language was largely fixed when the canon was committed to writing in the first century B.C., after which it underwent further editorial standardization, including significant Sanskritization and, in later periods, minor influences from Sinhalese and the work of medieval Pāli grammarians.
Norman - Pāli Literature - A History Of Indian Literature (1983)
4K.R. Norman's *Pāli Literature* provides a comprehensive overview of the literary tradition of Theravāda Buddhism, also encompassing the canonical works of other Hīnayāna schools in Prakrit and Sanskrit. The literature is centered on the Pāli Canon or Tipiṭaka, which is divided into the Vinaya-piṭaka (monastic rules), the Sutta-piṭaka (discourses of the Buddha, organized into five nikāyas), and the Abhidhamma-piṭaka (systematic philosophical analysis). The text details the history of the Pāli language as a standardized Middle Indo-Aryan dialect, its transmission through oral reciters (bhānakas) and councils, and its eventual commitment to writing in Ceylon in the first century B.C. Beyond the canon, a vast post-canonical literature developed, including foundational commentaries (aṭṭhakathās) by figures like Buddhaghosa, sub-commentaries (ṭīkās), historical chronicles (vaṃsas) like the Dīpavaṃsa and Mahāvaṃsa, hermeneutical guides, poetry (kāvya), and grammatical works, which flourished not only in India and Ceylon but also in Burma and Thailand.