Pali 1

Pali

Pali Pāḷi

Pronunciation Sanskrit pronunciation: [paːli]

Spoken in Cambodia, Bangladesh, India, Laos, Burma,Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam

Language extinction No native speakers, used as a literary and liturgical language only

Language family Indo-European• Indo-Iranian

• Indo-Aryan• Pali

Writing system Brāhmī and derived scripts and Latin alphabet (refer to article)

Language codes

ISO 639-1 pi

ISO 639-2 pli

ISO 639-3 pli

This page contains Indic text. Without rendering support you may seeirregular vowel positioning and a lack of conjuncts. More...

Pali 2

Plate 10 from C. Faulmann: Illustrirte Geschichte der Schrift [1] (1880). The upper halfshows a text in Sanskrit (praise of Vishnu), written in Devanagari. For the script, while

the lower half shows a text in Pali from a Buddhist ceremonial scripture called"Kammuwa" from Burma (probably in old Mon script). pp.485f. [2] of that book.

Pāli (also Pāḷi) is a Middle Indo-Aryanlanguage (or Prakrit) of the Indiansubcontinent. It is best known as thelanguage of many of the earliest extantBuddhist scriptures, as collected in thePāḷi Canon or Tipitaka, and as theliturgical language of TheravadaBuddhism.

Origin and development

Etymology of the name

The word Pali itself signifies "line" or"(canonical) text". This name for thelanguage seems to have its origins incommentarial traditions, wherein thePali (in the sense of the line of originaltext quoted) was distinguished from the commentary or vernacular translation that followed it in the manuscript. Assuch, the name of the language has caused some debate among scholars of all ages; the spelling of the name alsovaries, being found with both long "ā" [ɑː] and short "a" [a], and also with either a retroflex [ɭ] or non-retroflex [l] "l"sound, as in the ISO 15919/ALA-LC rendering, Pāḷi. To this day, there is no single, standard spelling of the term; allfour spellings can be found in textbooks. R.C. Childers translates the word as "series" and states that the language"bears the epithet in consequence of the perfection of its grammatical structure".[3]

ClassificationPali is a literary language of the Prakrit language family. When the canonical texts were written down in Sri Lanka inthe first century BCE, Pali stood close to a living language; this is not the case for the commentaries.[4] Despiteexcellent scholarship on this problem, there is persistent confusion as to the relation of Pāḷi to the vernacular spokenin the ancient kingdom of Magadha, which was located around modern-day Bihār.Pali as a Middle Indo-Aryan language is different from Sanskrit not so much with regard to the time of its origin asto its dialectal base, since a number of its morphological and lexical features betray the fact that it is not a directcontinuation of Ṛgvedic Vedic Sanskrit; rather it descends from a dialect (or a number of dialects) that was, despitemany similarities, different from Ṛgvedic.[5]

Early history

In Theravada Buddhism

Many Theravada sources refer to the Pali language as "Magadhan" or the "language of Magadha". This identification first appears in the commentaries, and may have been an attempt by Buddhists to associate themselves more closely with the Mauryans. The Buddha taught in Magadha, but the four most important places in his life are all outside of it. It is likely that he taught in several closely related dialects of Middle Indo-Aryan, which had a very high degree of mutual intelligibility. There is no attested dialect of Middle Indo-Aryan with all the features of Pali. Pali has some commonalities with both the Ashokan inscriptions at Girnar in the West of India, and at Hathigumpha, Bhubaneswar, Odisha in the East. Similarities to the Western inscription may be misleading, because the inscription suggests that the Ashokan scribe may not have translated the material he received from Magadha into the vernacular of the people

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there. Whatever the relationship of the Buddha's speech to Pali, the Canon was eventually transcribed and preservedentirely in it, while the commentarial tradition that accompanied it (according to the information provided byBuddhaghosa) was translated into Sinhalese and preserved in local languages for several generations.In Sri Lanka, Pali is thought to have entered into a period of decline ending around the 4th or 5th century (as Sanskritrose in prominence, and simultaneously, as Buddhism's adherents became a smaller portion of the subcontinent), butultimately survived. The work of Buddhaghosa was largely responsible for its reemergence as an important scholarlylanguage in Buddhist thought. The Visuddhimagga and the other commentaries that Buddhaghosa compiled codifiedand condensed the Sinhalese commentarial tradition that had been preserved and expanded in Sri Lanka since the 3rdcentury BCE.

Early western views

T.W. Rhys Davids in his book Buddhist India,[6] and Wilhelm Geiger in his book Pali Literature and Language,suggested that Pali may have originated as a form of lingua franca or common language of culture among peoplewho used differing dialects in North India, used at the time of the Buddha and employed by him. Another scholarstates that at that time it was "a refined and elegant vernacular of all Aryan-speaking people."[7] Modern scholarshiphas not arrived at a consensus on the issue; there are a variety of conflicting theories with supporters anddetractors.[8] After the death of the Buddha, Pali may have evolved among Buddhists out of the language of theBuddha as a new artificial language.[9] R.C. Childers, who held to the theory that Pali was Old Magadhi, wrote: "HadGautama never preached, it is unlikely that Magadhese would have been distinguished from the many othervernaculars of Hindustan, except perhaps by an inherent grace and strength which make it a sort of Tuscan amongthe Prakrits."[10]

According to K.R. Norman, it is likely that the viharas in North India had separate collections of material, preservedin the local dialect. In the early period it is likely that no degree of translation was necessary in communicating thismaterial to other areas. Around the time of Ashoka there had been more linguistic divergence, and an attempt wasmade to assemble all the material. It is possible that a language quite close to the Pali of the canon emerged as aresult of this process as a compromise of the various dialects in which the earliest material had been preserved, andthis language functioned as a lingua franca among Eastern Buddhists in India from then on. Following this period,the language underwent a small degree of Sanskritisation (i.e., MIA bamhana -> brahmana, tta -> tva in somecases).[11]

Modern scholarship

Bhikkhu Bodhi, summarizing the current state of scholarship, states that the language is "closely related to thelanguage (or, more likely, the various regional dialects) that the Buddha himself spoke." He goes on to write:

Scholars regard this language as a hybrid showing features of several Prakrit dialects used around the thirdcentury BCE, subjected to a partial process of Sanskritization. While the language is not identical with any theBuddha himself would have spoken, it belongs to the same broad linguistic family as those he might have usedand originates from the same conceptual matrix. This language thus reflects the thought-world that the Buddhainherited from the wider Indian culture into which he was born, so that its words capture the subtle nuances ofthat thought-world.[12]

According to A.K. Warder, the Pali language is a Prakrit language used in a region of western India.[13] Warderassociates Pali with the Indian realm (janapada) of Avanti, where the Sthavira sect was centered.[14] Following theinitial split in the Buddhist community, the Sthavira branch of Buddhism became influential in western and southernIndia, while the Mahāsāṃghika branch became influential in central and eastern India.[15] Akira Hirakawa and PaulGroner also associate Pali with west India and the Sthavira sect, citing inscriptions at Girnar in Gujarat, India, whichare linguistically closest to the Pali language.[16]

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Pali todayToday Pali is studied mainly to gain access to Buddhist scriptures, and is frequently chanted in a ritual context. Thesecular literature of Pali historical chronicles, medical texts, and inscriptions is also of great historical importance.The great centers of Pali learning remain in the Theravada nations of Southeast Asia: Burma, Sri Lanka, Thailand,Laos, and Cambodia. Since the 19th century, various societies for the revival of Pali studies in India have promotedawareness of the language and its literature, perhaps most notably the Maha Bodhi Society founded by AnagarikaDhammapala.In Europe, the Pali Text Society has been a major force in promoting the study of Pali by Western scholars since itsfounding in 1881. Based in the United Kingdom, the society publishes romanized Pali editions, along with manyEnglish translations of these sources. In 1869, the first Pali Dictionary was published using the research of RobertCaesar Childers, one of the founding members of the Pali Text Society. It was the first Pali translated text in Englishand was published in 1872. Childers's dictionary later received the Volney Prize in 1876.The Pali Text Society was in part founded to compensate for the very low level of funds allocated to Indology in late19th-century England and the rest of the UK; incongruously, the citizens of the UK were not nearly so robust inSanskrit and Prakrit language studies as Germany, Russia, and even Denmark. Without the inspiration of colonialholdings such as the former British occupation of Sri Lanka and Burma, institutions such as the Danish RoyalLibrary have built up major collections of Pali manuscripts, and major traditions of Pali studies.

LexiconVirtually every word in Pāḷi has cognates in the other Prakritic Middle Indo-Aryan languages, e.g., the Jain Prakrits.The relationship to earlier Sanskrit (e.g., Vedic language) is less direct and more complicated. Historically, influencebetween Pali and Sanskrit has been felt in both directions. The Pali language's resemblance to Sanskrit is oftenexaggerated by comparing it to later Sanskrit compositions – which were written centuries after Sanskrit ceased tobe a living language, and are influenced by developments in Middle Indic, including the direct borrowing of aportion of the Middle Indic lexicon; whereas, a good deal of later Pali technical terminology has been borrowed fromthe vocabulary of equivalent disciplines in Sanskrit, either directly or with certain phonological adaptations.Post-canonical Pali also possesses a few loan-words from local languages where Pali was used (e.g. Sri Lankansadding Sinhalese words to Pali). These usages differentiate the Pali found in the Suttapiṭaka from later compositionssuch as the Pali commentaries on the canon and folklore (e.g., the stories of the Jātaka commentaries), andcomparative study (and dating) of texts on the basis of such loan-words is now a specialized field unto itself.Pali was not exclusively used to convey the teachings of the Buddha, as can be deduced from the existence of anumber of secular texts, such as books of medical science/instruction, in Pali. However, scholarly interest in thelanguage has been focused upon religious and philosophical literature, because of the unique window it opens on onephase in the development of Buddhism.

Emic views of PaliAlthough Sanskrit was said in the Brahmanical tradition to be the unchanging language spoken by the gods, in whicheach word had an inherent significance, this view of language was not shared in the early Buddhist tradition, inwhich words were only conventional and mutable signs.[17] Neither the Buddha nor his early followers shared theBrahmins' reverence for the Vedic language or its sacred texts. This view of language naturally extended to Pali, andmay have contributed to its usage (as an approximation or standardization of local Middle Indic dialects) in place ofSanskrit. However, by the time of the compilation of the Pali commentaries (4th or 5th century), Pali was regardedas the natural language, the root language of all beings.[18]

Comparable to Ancient Egyptian, Latin or Hebrew in the mystic traditions of the West, Pali recitations were often thought to have a supernatural power (which could be attributed to their meaning, the character of the reciter, or the

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qualities of the language itself), and in the early strata of Buddhist literature we can already see Pali dhāraṇīs used ascharms, e.g. against the bite of snakes. Many people in Theravada cultures still believe that taking a vow in Pali has aspecial significance, and, as one example of the supernatural power assigned to chanting in the language, therecitation of the vows of Aṅgulimāla are believed to alleviate the pain of childbirth in Sri Lanka. In Thailand, thechanting of a portion of the Abhidhammapiṭaka is believed to be beneficial to the recently departed, and thisceremony routinely occupies as much as seven working days. Interestingly, there is nothing in the latter text thatrelates to this subject, and the origins of the custom are unclear.

PhonologyWith regard to its phonology, R.C. Childers compared Pali to Italian: "Like Italian, Pali is at once flowing andsonorous: it is a characteristic of both languages that nearly every word ends in a vowel, and that all harshconjunctions are softened down by assimilation, elision, or crasis, while on the other hand both lend themselveseasily to the expression of sublime and vigorous thought."[19]

Vowels

Height Backness

Front Central Back

High i [i] ī [iː] u [u] ū [uː]

Mid e [e], [eː] a [ɐ] o [o], [oː]

Low ā [aː]

Long and short vowels are only contrastive in open syllables; in closed syllables, all vowels are always short. Shortand long e and o are in complementary distribution: the short variants occur only in closed syllables, the longvariants occur only in open syllables. Short and long e and o are therefore not distinct phonemes.A sound called anusvāra (Skt.; Pali: nigghahita), represented by the letter ṁ (ISO 15919) or ṃ (ALA-LC) inromanization, and by a raised dot in most traditional alphabets, originally marked the fact that the preceding vowelwas nasalized. That is, aṁ, iṁ and uṁ represented [ã], [ĩ] and [ũ]. In many traditional pronunciations, however, theanusvāra is pronounced more strongly, like the velar nasal [ŋ], so that these sounds are pronounced instead [ãŋ], [ĩŋ]and [ũŋ]. However pronounced, ṁ never follows a long vowel; ā, ī and ū are converted to the corresponding shortvowels when ṁ is added to a stem ending in a long vowel, e.g. kathā + ṁ becomes kathaṁ, not *kathāṁ, devī + ṁbecomes deviṁ, not *devīṁ.

ConsonantsThe table below lists the consonants of Pali. In bold is the transliteration of the letter in traditional romanization, andin square brackets its pronunciation transcribed in the IPA.

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Labial Dental Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal

(bilabial) (labiodental) central lateral central lateral

Stop Nasal m [m] n [n̪] ṇ [ɳ] ñ [ɲ] (ṅ [ŋ])

voiceless unaspirated p [p] t [t̪] ṭ [ʈ] c [tʃ] k [k]

aspirated ph [pʰ] th [t̪ʰ] ṭh [ʈʰ] ch[tʃʰ] kh [kʰ]

voiced unaspirated b [b] d [d̪] ḍ [ɖ] j [dʒ] g [ɡ]

aspirated bh [bʱ] dh [d̪ʱ] ḍh [ɖʱ] jh [dʒʱ] gh [ɡʱ]

Fricative s [s] h [h]

Approximant unaspirated v [ʋ] l [l] r [ɻ] (ḷ [ɭ]) y [j]

aspirated (ḷh [ɭʱ])

Of the sounds listed above only the three consonants in parentheses, ṅ, ḷ, and ḷh, are not distinct phonemes in Pali: ṅonly occurs before velar stops and ḷ, and ḷh are allophones of single ḍ, and ḍh between vowels.

MorphologyPali is a highly inflected language, in which almost every word contains, besides the root conveying the basicmeaning, one or more affixes (usually suffixes) which modify the meaning in some way. Nouns are inflected forgender, number, and case; verbal inflections convey information about person, number, tense and mood.

Nominal inflectionPali nouns inflect for three grammatical genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and two numbers (singular, andplural). The nouns also, in principle, display eight cases: nominative or paccatta case, vocative, accusative orupayoga case, instrumental or karaṇa case, dative or sampadāna case, ablative, genitive or sāmin case, andlocative or bhumma case; however, in many instances, two or more of these cases are identical in form; this isespecially true of the genitive and dative cases.

a-stems

a-stems, whose uninflected stem ends in short a (/ə/), are either masculine or neuter. The masculine and neuter formsdiffer only in the nominative, vocative, and accusative cases.

Masculine (loka- "world") Neuter (yāna- "carriage")

Singular Plural Singular Plural

Nominative loko lokā yānaṁ yānāni

Vocative loka

Accusative lokaṁ loke

Instrumental lokena lokehi yānena yānehi

Ablative lokā (lokamhā, lokasmā; lokato) yānā (yānamhā, yānasmā; yānato)

Dative lokassa (lokāya) lokānaṁ yānassa (yānāya) yānānaṁ

Genitive lokassa yānassa

Locative loke (lokasmiṁ) lokesu yāne (yānasmiṁ) yānesu

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ā-stems

Nouns ending in ā (/aː/) are almost always feminine.

Feminine (kathā- "story")

Singular Plural

Nominative kathā kathāyo

Vocative kathe

Accusative kathaṁ

Instrumental kathāya kathāhi

Ablative

Dative kathānaṁ

Genitive

Locative kathāya, kathāyaṁ kathāsu

i-stems and u-stems

i-stems and u-stems are either masculine or neuter. The masculine and neuter forms differ only in the nominative andaccusative cases. The vocative has the same form as the nominative.

Masculine (isi- "seer") Neuter (akkhi- "fire")

Singular Plural Singular Plural

Nominative isi isayo, isī akkhi, akkhiṁ akkhī, akkhīni

Vocative

Accusative isiṁ

Instrumental isinā isihi, isīhi akkhinā akkhihi, akkhīhi

Ablative isinā, isito akkhinā, akkhito

Dative isino isinaṁ, isīnaṁ akkhino akkhinaṁ, akkhīnaṁ

Genitive isissa, isino akkhissa, akkhino

Locative isismiṁ isisu, isīsu akkhismiṁ akkhisu, akkhīsu

Masculine (bhikkhu- "monk") Neuter (cakkhu- "eye")

Singular Plural Singular Plural

Nominative bhikkhu bhikkhavo, bhikkhū cakkhu, cakkhuṁ cakkhūni

Vocative

Accusative bhikkhuṁ

Instrumental bhikkhunā bhikkhūhi cakkhunā cakkhūhi

Ablative

Dative bhikkhuno bhikkhūnaṁ cakkhuno cakkhūnaṁ

Genitive bhikkhussa, bhikkhuno bhikkhūnaṁ, bhikkhunnaṁ cakkhussa, cakkhuno cakkhūnaṁ, cakkhunnaṁ

Locative bhikkhusmiṁ bhikkhūsu cakkhusmiṁ cakkhūsu

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Linguistic analysis of a Pali TextFrom the opening of the Dhammapada:

Manopubbaṅgamā dhammā, manoseṭṭhā manomayā;

Manasā ce paduṭṭhena, bhāsati vā karoti vā,

Tato nam dukkhaṁ anveti, cakkaṁ'va vahato padaṁ.

Element for element gloss:Mano-pubbaṅ-gam=ā dhamm=ā, mano-seṭṭh=ā mano-may=ā;Mind-before-going=m.pl.nom. dharma=m.pl.nom., mind-foremost=m.pl.nom. mind-made=m.pl.nom.

Manas=ā ce paduṭṭh=ena, bhāsa=ti vā karo=ti vā,Mind=n.sg.inst. if corrupted=n.sg.inst. speak=3.sg.pr. either act=3.sg.pr. or,Ta=to naṁ dukkhaṁ anv-e=ti, cakkaṁ 'va vahat=o pad=aṁ.That=from him suffering after-go=3.sg.pr., wheel as carrying(beast)=m.sg.gen. foot=n.sg.acc.

The three compounds in the first line literally mean:manopubbaṅgama "whose precursor is mind", "having mind as a fore-goer or leader"manoseṭṭha "whose foremost member is mind", "having mind as chief"manomaya "consisting of mind" or "made by mind"

The literal meaning is therefore: "The dharmas have mind as their leader, mind as their chief, are made of/by mind. If[someone] either speaks or acts with a corrupted mind, from that [cause] suffering goes after him, as the wheel [of acart follows] the foot of a draught animal."A slightly freer translation by Acharya Buddharakkhita

Mind precedes all mental states. Mind is their chief; they are all mind-wrought.If with an impure mind a person speaks or acts suffering follows himlike the wheel that follows the foot of the ox.

Pali and Ardha-MagadhiThe most archaic of the Middle Indo-Aryan languages are the inscriptional Aśokan Prakrit on the one hand and Pāliand Ardhamāgadhī on the other, both literary languages.The Indo-Aryan languages are commonly assigned to three major groups - Old, Middle and New Indo-Aryan -, alinguistic and not strictly chronological classification as the MIA languages are not younger than ('Classical')Sanskrit. And a number of their morphophonological and lexical features betray the fact that they are not directcontinuations of Ṛgvedic Sanskrit, the main base of 'Classical' Sanskrit; rather they descend from dialects which,despite many similarities, were different from Ṛgvedic and in some regards even more archaic.MIA languages, though individually distinct, share features of phonology and morphology which characterize themas parallel descendants of Old Indo-Aryan. Various sound changes are typical of the MIA phonology:(1) The vocalic liquids 'ṛ' and 'ḷ' are replaced by 'a', 'i' or 'u'; (2) the diphthongs 'ai' and 'au' are monophthongized to 'e'and 'o'; (3) long vowels before two or more consonants are shortened; (4) the three sibilants of OIA are reduced toone, either 'ś' or 's'; (5) the often complex consonant clusters of OIA are reduced to more readily pronounceableforms, either by assimilation or by splitting; (6) single intervocalic stops are progressively weakened; (7) dentals arepalatalized by a following '-y-'; (8) all final consonants except '-ṃ' are dropped unless they are retained in 'sandhi'junctions.The most conspicuous features of the morphological system of these languages are: loss of the dual; thematicizationof consonantal stems; merger of the f. 'i-/u-' and 'ī-/ū-' in one 'ī-/ū-' inflexion, elimination of the dative, whose

Pali 9

functions are taken over by the genitive, simultaneous use of different case-endings in one paradigm; employment of'mahyaṃ' and 'tubhyaṃ' as genitives and 'me' and 'te' as instrumentals; gradual disappearance of the middle voice;coexistence of historical and new verbal forms based on the present stem; and use of active endings for the passive.In the vocabulary, the MIA languages are mostly dependent on Old Indo-Aryan, with addition of a few so-called'deśī' words of (often) uncertain origin.

Pali and SanskritAlthough Pali cannot be considered a direct descendant of either Classical Sanskrit or of the older Vedic dialect , thelanguages are obviously very closely related and the common characteristics of Pali and Sanskrit were always easilyrecognized by those in India who were familiar with both. Indeed, a very large proportion of Pali and Sanskritword-stems are identical in form, differing only in details of inflection.The connections were sufficiently well-known that technical terms from Sanskrit were easily converted into Pali by aset of conventional phonological transformations. These transformations mimicked a subset of the phonologicaldevelopments that had occurred in Proto-Pali. Because of the prevalence of these transformations, it is not alwayspossible to tell whether a given Pali word is a part of the old Prakrit lexicon, or a transformed borrowing fromSanskrit. The existence of a Sanskrit word regularly corresponding to a Pali word is not always secure evidence ofthe Pali etymology, since, in some cases, artificial Sanskrit words were created by back-formation from Prakritwords.The following phonological processes are not intended as an exhaustive description of the historical changes whichproduced Pali from its Old Indic ancestor, but rather are a summary of the most common phonological equationsbetween Sanskrit and Pali, with no claim to completeness.

Vowels and diphthongs• Sanskrit ai and au always monophthongize to Pali e and o, respectively

Examples: maitrī → mettā, auṣadha → osadha

• Sanskrit aya and ava likewise often reduce to Pali e and oExamples: dhārayati → dhāreti, avatāra → otāra, bhavati → hoti

• Sanskrit avi becomes Pali e (i.e. avi → ai → e)Example: sthavira → thera

• Sanskrit ṛ appears in Pali as a, i or u, often agreeing with the vowel in the following syllable. ṛ also sometimesbecomes u after labial consonants.

Examples: kṛta → kata, tṛṣṇa → taṇha, smṛti → sati, ṛṣi → isi, dṛṣṭi → diṭṭhi, ṛddhi → iddhi, ṛju→ uju, spṛṣṭa → phuṭṭha, vṛddha → vuddha

• Sanskrit long vowels are shortened before a sequence of two following consonants.Examples: kṣānti → khanti, rājya → rajja, īśvara → issara, tīrṇa → tiṇṇa, pūrva → pubba

Pali 10

Consonants

Sound changes

• The Sanskrit sibilants ś, ṣ, and s merge together as Pali sExamples: śaraṇa → saraṇa, doṣa → dosa

• The Sanskrit stops ḍ and ḍh become ḷ and ḷh between vowels (as in Vedic)Example: cakravāḍa → cakkavāḷa, virūḍha → virūḷha

Assimilations

General rules

• Many assimilations of one consonant to a neighboring consonant occurred in the development of Pali, producinga large number of geminate (double) consonants. Since aspiration of a geminate consonant is only phoneticallydetectable on the last consonant of a cluster, geminate kh, gh, ch, jh, ṭh, ḍh, th, dh, ph and bh appear as kkh,ggh, cch, jjh, ṭṭh, ḍḍh, tth, ddh, pph and bbh, not as khkh, ghgh etc.

• When assimilation would produce a geminate consonant (or a sequence of unaspirated stop+aspirated stop) at thebeginning of a word, the initial geminate is simplified to a single consonant.

Examples: prāṇa → pāṇa (not ppāṇa), sthavira → thera (not tthera), dhyāna → jhāna (not jjhāna),jñāti → ñāti (not ññāti)

• When assimilation would produce a sequence of three consonants in the middle of a word, geminates aresimplified until there are only two consonants in sequence.

Examples: uttrāsa → uttāsa (not utttāsa), mantra → manta (not mantta), indra → inda (not indda),vandhya → vañjha (not vañjjha)

• The sequence vv resulting from assimilation changes to bb

Example: sarva → savva → sabba, pravrajati → pavvajati → pabbajati, divya → divva → dibba

Total assimilation

Total assimilation, where one sound becomes identical to a neighboring sound, is of two types: progressive, wherethe assimilated sound becomes identical to the following sound; and regressive, where it becomes identical to thepreceding sound.

Progressive assimilations

• Internal visarga assimilates to a following voiceless stop or sibilantExamples: duḥkṛta → dukkata, duḥkha → dukkha, duḥprajña → duppañña, niḥkrodha(=niṣkrodha) → nikkodha, niḥpakva (=niṣpakva) → nippakka, niḥśoka → nissoka, niḥsattva →nissatta

• In a sequence of two dissimilar Sanskrit stops, the first stop assimilates to the second stopExamples: vimukti → vimutti, dugdha → duddha, utpāda → uppāda, pudgala → puggala,udghoṣa → ugghosa, adbhuta → abbhuta, śabda → sadda

• In a sequence of two dissimilar nasals, the first nasal assimilates to the second nasalExample: unmatta → ummatta, pradyumna → pajjunna

• j assimilates to a following ñ (i.e., jñ becomes ññ)Examples: prajñā → paññā, jñāti → ñāti

• The Sanskrit liquid consonants r and l assimilate to a following stop, nasal, sibilant, or v

Pali 11

Examples: mārga → magga, karma → kamma, varṣa → vassa, kalpa → kappa, sarva → savva →sabba

• r assimilates to a following lExamples: durlabha → dullabha, nirlopa → nillopa

• d sometimes assimilates to a following v, producing vv → bb

Examples: udvigna → uvvigga → ubbigga, dvādaśa → bārasa (beside dvādasa)• t and d may assimilate to a following s or y when a morpheme boundary intervenes

Examples: ut+sava → ussava, ud+yāna → uyyāna

Regressive assimilations

• Nasals sometimes assimilate to a preceding stop (in other cases epenthesis occurs; see below)Examples: agni → aggi, ātman → atta, prāpnoti → pappoti, śaknoti → sakkoti

• m assimilates to an initial sibilantExamples: smarati → sarati, smṛti → sati

• Nasals assimilate to a preceding stop+sibilant cluster, which then develops in the same way as such clusterswithout following nasals (see Partial assimilations below)

Examples: tīkṣṇa → tikṣa → tikkha, lakṣmī → lakṣī →lakkhī

• The Sanskrit liquid consonants r and l assimilate to a preceding stop, nasal, sibilant, or vExamples: prāṇa → pāṇa, grāma → gāma, śrāvaka → sāvaka, agra → agga, indra → inda,pravrajati → pavvajati → pabbajati, aśru → assu

• y assimilates to preceding non-dental/retroflex stops or nasalsExamples: cyavati → cavati, jyotiṣ → joti, rājya → rajja, matsya → macchya → maccha, lapsyate→ lacchyate → lacchati, abhyāgata → abbhāgata, ākhyāti → akkhāti, saṁkhyā → saṅkhā (but alsosaṅkhyā), ramya → ramma

• y assimilates to preceding non-initial v, producing vv → bb

Example: divya → divva → dibba, veditavya → veditavva → veditabba, bhāvya → bhavva →bhabba

• y and v assimilate to any preceding sibilant, producing ss

Examples: paśyati → passati, śyena → sena, aśva → assa, īśvara → issara, kariṣyati → karissati,tasya → tassa, svāmin → sāmī

• v sometimes assimilates to a preceding stopExamples: pakva → pakka, catvāri → cattāri, sattva → satta, dhvaja → dhaja

Partial and mutual assimilation

• Sanskrit sibilants before a stop assimilate to that stop, and if that stop is not already aspirated, it becomesaspirated; e.g. śc, st, ṣṭ and sp become cch, tth, ṭṭh and pph

Examples: paścāt → pacchā, asti → atthi, stava → thava, śreṣṭha → seṭṭha, aṣṭa → aṭṭha, sparśa →phassa

• In sibilant-stop-liquid sequences, the liquid is assimilated to the preceding consonant, and the cluster behaves likesibilant-stop sequences; e.g. str and ṣṭr become tth and ṭṭh

Examples: śāstra → śasta → sattha, rāṣṭra → raṣṭa → raṭṭha

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• t and p become c before s, and the sibilant assimilates to the preceding sound as an aspirate (i.e., the sequences tsand ps become cch)

Examples: vatsa → vaccha, apsaras → accharā

• A sibilant assimilates to a preceding k as an aspirate (i.e., the sequence kṣ becomes kkh)Examples: bhikṣu → bhikkhu, kṣānti → khanti

• Any dental or retroflex stop or nasal followed by y converts to the corresponding palatal sound, and the yassimilates to this new consonant, i.e. ty, thy, dy, dhy, ny become cc, cch, jj, jjh, ññ; likewise ṇy becomes ññ.Nasals preceding a stop that becomes palatal share this change.

Examples: tyajati → cyajati → cajati, satya → sacya → sacca, mithyā → michyā → micchā, vidyā→ vijyā → vijjā, madhya → majhya → majjha, anya → añya → añña, puṇya → puñya → puñña,vandhya → vañjhya → vañjjha → vañjha

• The sequence mr becomes mb, via the epenthesis of a stop between the nasal and liquid, followed by assimilationof the liquid to the stop and subsequent simplification of the resulting geminate.

Examples: āmra → ambra → amba, tāmra → tamba

Epenthesis

An epenthetic vowel is sometimes inserted between certain consonant-sequences. As with ṛ, the vowel may be a, i,or u, depending on the influence of a neighboring consonant or of the vowel in the following syllable. i is oftenfound near i, y, or palatal consonants; u is found near u, v, or labial consonants.• Sequences of stop + nasal are sometimes separated by a or u

Example: ratna → ratana, padma → paduma (u influenced by labial m)• The sequence sn may become sin initially

Examples: snāna → sināna, sneha → sineha

• i may be inserted between a consonant and lExamples: kleśa → kilesa, glāna → gilāna, mlāyati → milāyati, ślāghati → silāghati

• An epenthetic vowel may be inserted between an initial sibilant and rExample: śrī → sirī

• The sequence ry generally becomes riy (i influenced by following y), but is still treated as a two-consonantsequence for the purposes of vowel-shortening

Example: ārya → arya → ariya, sūrya → surya → suriya, vīrya → virya → viriya

• a or i is inserted between r and hExample: arhati → arahati, garhā → garahā, barhiṣ → barihisa

• There is sporadic epenthesis between other consonant sequencesExamples: caitya → cetiya (not cecca), vajra → vajira (not vajja)

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Other changes

• Any Sanskrit sibilant before a nasal becomes a sequence of nasal followed by h, i.e. ṣṇ, sn and sm become ṇh,nh, and mh

Examples: tṛṣṇa → taṇha, uṣṇīṣa → uṇhīsa, asmi → amhi

• The sequence śn becomes ñh, due to assimilation of the n to the preceding palatal sibilantExample: praśna → praśña → pañha

• The sequences hy and hv undergo metathesisExamples: jihvā → jivhā, gṛhya → gayha, guhya → guyha

• h undergoes metathesis with a following nasalExample: gṛhṇāti → gaṇhāti

• y is geminated between e and a vowelExamples: śreyas → seyya, Maitreya → Metteyya

• Voiced aspirates such as bh and gh on rare occasions become hExamples: bhavati → hoti, -ebhiṣ → -ehi, laghu → lahu

• Dental and retroflex sounds sporadically change into one anotherExamples: jñāna → ñāṇa (not ñāna), dahati → ḍahati (beside Pali dahati) nīḍa → nīla (not nīḷa),sthāna → ṭhāna (not thāna), duḥkṛta → dukkaṭa (beside Pali dukkata)

ExceptionsThere are several notable exceptions to the rules above; many of them are common Prakrit words rather thanborrowings from Sanskrit.• ārya → ayya (beside ariya)• guru → garu (adj.) (beside guru (n.))• puruṣa → purisa (not purusa)• vṛkṣa → rukṣa → rukkha (not vakkha)

Pali writing

Pali alphabet with diacriticsKing Ashoka erected a number of pillars with his edicts in at least three regional Prakrit languages in Brahmiscript,[20] all of which are quite similar to Pali. Historically, the first written record of the Pali canon is believed tohave been composed in Sri Lanka, based on a prior oral tradition. As per the Mahavamsa (the chronicle of SriLanka), due to a major famine in the country Buddhist monks wrote down the Pali canon during the time of KingVattagamini in 100 BC. The transmission of written Pali has retained a universal system of alphabetic values, but hasexpressed those values in a stunning variety of actual scripts.In Sri Lanka, Pali texts were recorded in Sinhala script. Other local scripts, most prominently Khmer, Burmese, andin modern times Thai (since 1893), Devanāgarī and Mon script (Mon State, Myanmar) have been used to record Pali.Since the 19th century, Pali has also been written in the Roman script. An alternate scheme devised by FransVelthuis allows for typing without diacritics using plain ASCII methods, but is arguably less readable than thestandard Rhys Davids system, which uses diacritical marks.The Pali alphabetical order is as follows:• a ā i ī u ū e o ṁ k kh g gh ṅ c ch j jh ñ ṭ ṭh ḍ ḍh ṇ t th d dh n p ph b bh m y r l ḷ v s h

ḷh, although a single sound, is written with ligature of ḷ and h.

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Pali transliteration on computersThere are several fonts to use for Pali transliteration. However, older ASCII fonts such as Leedsbit PaliTranslit,Times_Norman, Times_CSX+, Skt Times, Vri RomanPali CN/CB etc., are not recommendable since they are notcompatible with one another and technically out of date. On the contrary, fonts based on the Unicode standard arerecommended because Unicode seems to be the future for all fonts and also because they are easily portable to oneanother.However, not all Unicode fonts contain the necessary characters. To properly display all the diacritic marks used forromanized Pali (or for that matter, Sanskrit), a Unicode font must contain the following character ranges:

• Basic Latin: U+0000 – U+007F• Latin-1 Supplement: U+0080 – U+00FF• Latin Extended-A: U+0100 – U+017F• Latin Extended-B: U+0180 – U+024F• Latin Extended Additional: U+1E00 – U+1EFF

Some Unicode fonts freely available for typesetting Romanized Pali are as follows:• Google's Chrome OS has 3 font families which can be downloaded from Google Font Directory [21]. Even

better, they can be used as embedded in websites to show the Pali text that users can view without having thefonts on their machines.• Tinos is a serif font. Regular, italic, bold and bold italic styles.• Arimo is a sans-serif font. Regular, italic, bold and bold italic styles.• Cousine is a monospaced font. Regular, italic, bold and bold italic styles.

• The Pali Text Society [22] recommends VU-Times [23] and Gandhari Unicode [24] for Windows and LinuxComputers.

• The Tibetan & Himalayan Digital Library [25] recommends Times Ext Roman [26], and provides links toseveral Unicode diacritic Windows [27] and Mac [28] fonts usable for typing Pali together with ratings andinstallation instructions. It also provides macros [25] for typing diacritics in OpenOffice and MS Office.

• SIL: International [29] provides Charis SIL and Charis SIL Compact [30], Doulos SIL [31], Gentium [32],Gentium Basic, Gentium Book Basic [33] fonts. Of them, Charis SIL, Gentium Basic and Gentium Book Basichave all 4 styles (regular, italic, bold, bold-italic); so can provide publication quality typesetting.

• Libertine Openfont Project [34] provides the Linux Libertine font (4 serif styles and many Opentype features)and Linux Biolinum (4 sans-serif styles) at the Sourceforge [35].

• Junicode [36] (short for Junius-Unicode) is a Unicode font for medievalists, but it provides all diacritics fortyping Pali. It has 4 styles and some Opentype features such as Old Style for numerals.

• Thryomanes [37] includes all the Roman-alphabet characters available in Unicode along with a subset of themost commonly used Greek and Cyrillic characters, and is available in normal, italic, bold, and bold italic.

• GUST [38] (Polish TeX User Group) provides Latin Modern [39] and TeX Gyre [40] fonts. Each font has 4styles, with the former finding most acceptance among the LaTeX users while the latter is a relatively newfamily. Of the latter, each typeface in the following families has nearly 1250 glyphs and is available inPostScript, TeX and OpenType formats.• The TeX Gyre Adventor family of sans serif fonts is based on the URW Gothic L family. The original font,

ITC Avant Garde Gothic, was designed by Herb Lubalin and Tom Carnase in 1970.• The TeX Gyre Bonum family of serif fonts is based on the URW Bookman L family. The original font,

Bookman or Bookman Old Style, was designed by Alexander Phemister in 1860.• The TeX Gyre Chorus is a font based on the URW Chancery L Medium Italic font. The original, ITC Zapf

Chancery, was designed in 1979 by Hermann Zapf.• The TeX Gyre Cursor family of monospace serif fonts is based on the URW Nimbus Mono L family. The

original font, Courier, was designed by Howard G. (Bud) Kettler in 1955.

Pali 15

• The TeX Gyre Heros family of sans serif fonts is based on the URW Nimbus Sans L family. The originalfont, Helvetica, was designed in 1957 by Max Miedinger.

• The TeX Gyre Pagella family of serif fonts is based on the URW Palladio L family. The original font,Palatino, was designed by Hermann Zapf in the 1940's.

• The TeX Gyre Schola family of serif fonts is based on the URW Century Schoolbook L family. The originalfont, Century Schoolbook, was designed by Morris Fuller Benton in 1919.

• The TeX Gyre Termes family of serif fonts is based on the Nimbus Roman No9 L family. The original font,Times Roman, was designed by Stanley Morison together with Starling Burgess and Victor Lardent.

• John Smith provides IndUni [41] Opentype fonts, based upon URW++ fonts. Of them:• IndUni-C is Courier-lookalike;• IndUni-H is Helvetica-lookalike;• IndUni-N is New Century Schoolbook-lookalike;• IndUni-P is Palatino-lookalike;• IndUni-T is Times-lookalike;• IndUni-CMono is Courier-lookalike but monospaced;

• An English Buddhist monk titled Bhikkhu Pesala provides some Pali fonts [42] he has designed himself. Ofthem:• Akkhara is a derivative of Gentium with low profile accents, reduced line-spacing and high accents

prevented from getting clipped. Maths symbols are the same width as figures. The additional arrows,symbols, and dingbats are designed to match the Caps height.Regular & Italic styles.

• Cankama is a Gothic, Black Letter script. Regular style only.• Garava was designed for body text with a generous x-height and economical copyfit. It includes Small

Caps, Bold Small Caps, and Heavy styles besides the usual four styles (regular, italic, bold, bold italic).• Guru is another font family for body text with OpenType features. Regular, italic, bold and bold italic

styles.• Hattha is a hand-writing font. Regular, italic, and bold styles.• Kabala is a distinctive Sans Serif typeface designed for display text or headings. Regular, italic, bold and

bold italic styles.• Lekhana is a Zapf Chancery clone, a flowing script that can be used for correspondence or body text.

Regular, italic, bold and bold italic styles.• Mandala is designed for display text or headings. Regular, italic, bold and bold italic styles.• Pali is a clone of Hermann Zapf's Palatino. Regular, italic, bold and bold italic styles.• Odana is a calligraphic brush font suitable for headlines, titles, or short texts where a less formal

appearance is wanted. Regular style only.• Talapanna and Talapatta are clones of Goudy Bertham, with decorative gothic capitals and extra ligatures

in the Private Use Area. These two are different only in decorative gothic capitals in the Private Use Area.Regular and bold styles.

• Veluvana is another brush calligraphic font but basic Greek glyphs are taken from Guru. Regular style only.• Verajja is derived from Bitstream Vera. Regular, italic, bold and bold italic styles.• VerajjaPDA is a cut-down version of Verajja without symbols. For use on PDA devices. Regular, italic,

bold and bold italic styles.• He also provides some Pali keyboards [43] for Windows XP.

• The font section [44] of Alanwood's Unicode Resources have links to several general purpose fonts that can beused for Pali typing if they cover the character ranges above.

Some of the latest fonts coming with Windows 7 can also be used to type transliterated Pali: Arial, Calibri, Cambria, Courier New, Microsoft Sans Serif, Segoe UI, Segoe UI Light, Segoe UI Semibold, Tahoma, and Times New Roman.

Pali 16

And some of them have 4 styles each hence usable in professional typesetting: Arial, Calibri and Segoe UI aresans-serif fonts, Cambria and Times New Roman are serif fonts and Courier New is a monospace font.

Pali text in ASCIIThe Velthuis scheme was originally developed in 1991 by Frans Velthuis for use with his "devnag" Devanāgarī font,designed for the TeX typesetting system. This system of representing Pali diacritical marks has been used in somewebsites and discussion lists. However, as the Web itself and email software slowly evolve towards the Unicodeencoding standard, this system has become almost not necessary and obsolete.The following table compares various conventional renderings and shortcut key assignments:

character ASCII rendering character name Unicode number key combination HTML code

ā aa a macron U+0101 Alt+A ā

ī ii i macron U+012B Alt+I ī

ū uu u macron U+016B Alt+U ū

ṃ .m m dot-under U+1E43 ṁ

ṇ .n n dot-under U+1E47 Alt+N ṇ

ñ ~n n tilde U+00F1 Alt+Ctrl+N ñ

ṭ .t t dot-under U+1E6D Alt+T ṭ

ḍ .d d dot-under U+1E0D Alt+D ḍ

ṅ "n n dot-over U+1E45 Ctrl+N ṅ

ḷ .l l dot-under U+1E37 Alt+L ḷ

References[1] http:/ / commons. wikimedia. org/ wiki/ Category:Illustrirte_Geschichte_der_Schrift_(Faulmann)[2] http:/ / commons. wikimedia. org/ wiki/ File:Illustrirte_Geschichte_der_Schrift_(Faulmann)_554. jpg[3] Hazra, Kanai Lal. Pali Language and Literature; a systematic survey and historical study. D.K. Printworld Lrd., New Delhi, 1994, page 19.[4] Students' Britannica India, (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=ISFBJarYX7YC& pg=PA145& dq=history+ of+ the+ pali+ language&

sig=ACfU3U2P8niEMFn9ME8litgG1xbStvlmLA#PPA145,M1).[5] Oberlies, Thomas Pali: A Grammar of the Language of the Theravāda Tipiṭaka, Walter de Gruyter, 2001.[6] Buddhist India, ch. 9 (http:/ / fsnow. com/ text/ buddhist-india/ chapter9. htm) Retrieved 14 June 2010.[7] Hazra, Kanai Lal. Pali Language and Literature; a systematic survey and historical study. D.K. Printworld Lrd., New Delhi, 1994, page 11.[8] Hazra, Kanai Lal. Pali Language and Literature; a systematic survey and historical study. D.K. Printworld Lrd., New Delhi, 1994, pages

1-44.[9] Hazra, Kanai Lal. Pali Language and Literature; a systematic survey and historical study. D.K. Printworld Lrd., New Delhi, 1994, page 29.[10] Hazra, Kanai Lal. Pali Language and Literature; a systematic survey and historical study. D.K. Printworld Lrd., New Delhi, 1994, page 20.[11] K.R. Norman, Pali Literature. Otto Harrassowitz, 1983, pages 1-7.[12] Bhikkhu Bodhi, In the Buddha's Words. Wisdom Publications, 2005, page 10.[13] Warder, A.K. Indian Buddhism. 2000. p. 284[14] Warder, A.K. Indian Buddhism. 2000. p. 284[15] Hirakawa, Akira. Groner, Paul. A History of Indian Buddhism: From Śākyamuni to Early Mahāyāna. 2007. p. 119[16] Hirakawa, Akira. Groner, Paul. A History of Indian Buddhism: From Śākyamuni to Early Mahāyāna. 2007. p. 119[17] David Kalupahana, Nagarjuna: The Philosophy of the Middle Way. SUNY Press, 1986, page 19. The author refers specifically to the

thought of early Buddhism here.[18] Dispeller of Delusion, Pali Text Society, volume II, pages 127f[19] Robert Caesar Childers, A Dictionary of the Pali Language. Published by Trübner, 1875, pages xii-xiv. Republished by Asian Educational

Services, 1993.[20] Inscriptions of Asoka by Alexander Cunningham, Eugen Hultzsch. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing. Calcutta:

1877[21] http:/ / code. google. com/ webfonts[22] http:/ / www. palitext. com/ subpages/ PC_Unicode. htm

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[23] http:/ / zencomp. com/ greatwisdom/ fonts/[24] http:/ / www. ebmp. org/ p_dwnlds. php[25] http:/ / www. thlib. org/ tools/ #wiki=/ access/ wiki/ site/ c06fa8cf-c49c-4ebc-007f-482de5382105/ diacritic%20fonts. html[26] http:/ / www. bcca. org/ services/ fonts/[27] http:/ / www. thlib. org/ tools/ #wiki=/ access/ wiki/ site/ c06fa8cf-c49c-4ebc-007f-482de5382105/

windows%20unicode%20diacritic%20fonts. html[28] http:/ / www. thlib. org/ tools/ #wiki=/ access/ wiki/ site/ c06fa8cf-c49c-4ebc-007f-482de5382105/

macintosh%20unicode%20diacritic%20fonts. html[29] http:/ / www. sil. org/[30] http:/ / scripts. sil. org/ cms/ scripts/ page. php?site_id=nrsi& id=CharisSIL_download[31] http:/ / scripts. sil. org/ cms/ scripts/ page. php?site_id=nrsi& cat_id=FontDownloadsDoulos[32] http:/ / scripts. sil. org/ cms/ scripts/ page. php?site_id=nrsi& item_id=Gentium_download[33] http:/ / scripts. sil. org/ cms/ scripts/ page. php?site_id=nrsi& item_id=Gentium_basic[34] http:/ / www. linuxlibertine. org/[35] http:/ / www. sourceforge. net/ projects/ linuxlibertine[36] http:/ / junicode. sourceforge. net/[37] http:/ / www. io. com/ ~hmiller/ lang/[38] http:/ / www. gust. org. pl/[39] http:/ / www. gust. org. pl/ projects/ e-foundry/ latin-modern/ download[40] http:/ / www. gust. org. pl/ projects/ e-foundry/ tex-gyre[41] http:/ / bombay. indology. info/ software/ fonts/ induni/ index. html[42] http:/ / aimwell. org/ Fonts/ fonts. html[43] http:/ / aimwell. org/ Fonts/ Keyboards/ keyboards. html[44] http:/ / www. alanwood. net/ unicode/ fonts. html

• See entries for "Pali" (written by K. R. Norman of the Pali Text Society) and "India--Buddhism" in The ConciseEncyclopedia of Language and Religion, (Sawyer ed.) ISBN 0-08-043167-4

• Warder, A.K. (1991). Introduction to Pali (third edition ed.). Pali Text Society. ISBN 0860131971.• de Silva, Lily (1994). Pali Primer (first edition ed.). Vipassana Research Institute Publications.

ISBN 817414014X.• Müller, Edward (1884,1995). Simplified Grammar of the Pali Language. Asian Educational Services.

ISBN 8120611039.

Further reading• Gupta, K. M. (2006). Linguistic approach to meaning in Pali. New Delhi: Sundeep Prakashan. ISBN

81-7574-170-8• Müller, E. (2003). The Pali language: a simplified grammar. Trubner's collection of simplified grammars.

London: Trubner. ISBN 1-84453-001-9• Oberlies, T., & Pischel, R. (2001). Pāli: a grammar of the language of the Theravāda Tipiṭaka. Indian philology

and South Asian studies, v. 3. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 3-11-016763-8• Hazra, K. L. (1994). Pāli language and literature: a systematic survey and historical study. Emerging perceptions

in Buddhist studies, no. 4-5. New Delhi: D.K. Printworld. ISBN 81-246-0004-X• American National Standards Institute. (1979). American National Standard system for the romanization of Lao,

Khmer, and Pali. New York: The Institute.• Russell Webb (ed.) An Analysis of the Pali Canon, Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy; 1975, 1991 (see http:/ /

www. bps. lk/ reference. asp)• Soothill, W. E., & Hodous, L. (1937). A dictionary of Chinese Buddhist terms: with Sanskrit and English

equivalents and a Sanskrit-Pali index. London: K. Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co.• Collins, Steven (2006). A Pali Grammar for Students. Silkworm Press.

Pali 18

External links• Glenn Wallis, Buddhavacana: A Pali Reader (http:/ / www. pariyatti. org/ Bookstore/ productdetails.

cfm?PC=1924)(Onalaska, Wash: Pariyatti Press, 2011).• Pali Text Society, London. The Pali Text Society's Pali-English dictionary (http:/ / dsal. uchicago. edu/

dictionaries/ pali/ ). Chipstead, 1921-1925.• Buddhist India by T.W. Rhys Davids, chapter IX, Language and Literature (http:/ / fsnow. com/ text/

buddhist-india/ chapter9. htm)• Pali at Ethnologue (http:/ / www. ethnologue. com/ show_language. asp?code=pli)• Pali Text Society (http:/ / www. palitext. com/ )• (http:/ / www. tipitaka. org) Free searchable online database of Pali literature, including the whole Canon• http:/ / pali. pratyeka. org/ Eisel Mazard's excellent website on Pali resources, including

• Resources for reading & writing Pāli in indigenous scripts: Burmese, Sri Lankan, & Cambodian (http:/ / www.pratyeka. org/ pali/ )

• A textbook to teach yourself Pali (by Narada Thera) (http:/ / www. pratyeka. org/ narada/ )• A reference work on the grammar of the Pali language (by G Duroiselle) (http:/ / www. pratyeka. org/

duroiselle/ )• Complete Pāli Canon in romanized Pali and Sinhala, mostly also in English translation (metta.lk) (http:/ / www.

metta. lk/ tipitaka/ )• Pāli Canon selection (http:/ / www. accesstoinsight. org/ canon/ index. html)• A guide to learning the Pāli language (http:/ / accesstoinsight. org/ lib/ authors/ bullitt/ learningpali. html)• "Pali Primer" by Lily De Silva (requires installation of special fonts) (http:/ / www. vri. dhamma. org/

publications/ pali/ primer/ )• "Pali Primer" by Lily De Silva (UTF-8 encoded) (http:/ / www. saigon. com/ ~anson/ uni/ u-palicb/ e00. htm)• Free/Public-Domain Elementary Pāli Course--PDF format (http:/ / www. buddhanet. net/ pdf_file/ ele_pali. pdf)• Free/Public-Domain Pāli Course--html format (http:/ / www. orunla. org/ tm/ pali/ htpali/ pcourse. html)• Free/Public-Domain Pāli Grammar (in PDF file) (http:/ / www. buddhanet. net/ pdf_file/ paligram. pdf)• Free/Public-Domain Pāli Buddhist Dictionary (in PDF file) (http:/ / www. buddhanet. net/ pdf_file/ palidict. pdf)• Comprehensive list of Pāli texts on Wikisource (http:/ / wikisource. org/ wiki/ Main_Page:Pali)• Buddhist Dictionary of Pali Proper Names (http:/ / www. metta. lk/ pali-utils/ Pali-Proper-Names/ index. html),

HTML version of the book by G.P. Malalasekera, 1937-8• Pali Text Reader (software) (http:/ / sourceforge. net/ projects/ palireader)• Jain Scriptures (http:/ / www. jainworld. com/ scriptures/ )• Pali help at Help.com Wiki (http:/ / help. com/ wiki/ PÄ�li)• "A Course in the Pali Language," (http:/ / www. bodhimonastery. net/ bm/ programs/ pali-class-online. html)

audio lectures by Bhikkhu Bodhi based on Gair & Karunatilleke (1998).• (http:/ / www. bps. lk/ other_library/ pdf_pali_tables. zip) Pali Conjugation and Declension Tables for Students• (http:/ / www. bps. lk/ other_library/ reference_table_of_pali_literature. pdf) Comprehensive Reference Table of

Pali Literature

Article Sources and Contributors 19

Article Sources and ContributorsPali  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=435132578  Contributors: 91okavas, Ahoerstemeier, Alarichus, Andries, Angr, Anupam, Arjun G. Menon, Arvindn, AshLin, Ashinpan,Asrghasrhiojadrhr, Astral, AxelBoldt, Babajobu, Babbage, Barticus88, Brion VIBBER, Buddhipriya, Byrial, CALR, Calabraxthis, Chameleon, Charles Matthews, ChildersFamily, Chirags,Circeus, Clasqm, Cmdrjameson, Cminard, Colonies Chris, DaGizza, DabMachine, Danceswithzerglings, Danielscottsmith, DopefishJustin, DuncanHill, Dysprosia, Echalon, Eclecticology,Ejosse1, El C, Elagatis, Esteban.barahona, Eu.stefan, Eukesh, Fortdj33, GRuban, Gaia2767spm, Gene Nygaard, Gilgamesh, GlassFET, GoonerDP, Grammatical error, Helpsome, Hintha,Hippophaë, Hmains, IceKarma, Ihcoyc, Ikiroid, Imz, Indian Chronicles, Jagged 85, Jaggyjaggy, Jerrykhang, Jfpierce, Jijnasu Yakru, Johnpacklambert, JorisvS, Jpfagerback, Kingsleyj,Kipholbeck, Koavf, Kripkenstein, Kukkurovaca, Kuldip1, Kwamikagami, Larry Rosenfeld, Le Anh-Huy, Leewonbum, Leglapower, Lerdsuwa, LilHelpa, Lolad321, Loosehenceir, Looxix, Lotusin the hills, Mahaabaala, Maharaj Devraj, Make, Mandarax, Maqs, Marnen, Martinp23, Mejda, Menchi, Meursault2004, Mhss, Mitsube, Muladeva, Munge, Mxn, NE2, Nat Krause, NathanoNL,Nichalp, Nikai, Ninly, Ninndthdroad, Nyanatusita, Pamanakara, Pawyilee, Paxsimius, Per Honor et Gloria, Peter jackson, Pineapple fez, Pratyeka, Prosfilaes, Psubhashish, R, RafaAzevedo,Rama's Arrow, RandomCritic, RandomP, Rasoolpuri, Resurgent insurgent, Rodan44, Ronz, Rosiestep, Rudjek, Rājagṛha, Sacca, Sacha79, Samuel de mazarin, Sardanaphalus, Shandris,Shantavira, SimonP, Singhalawap, Sjlain, Spasemunki, Srini81, Ssri1983, Stemonitis, Storkk, Suruena, Sylvain1972, T-W, Tanzeel, Taxman, Tb, Tdudkowski, Tengu800, Thehotelambush,Tkynerd, Tom Radulovich, Tumblecat, Tuncrypt, Urhixidur, Usedbook, Usingha, Venu62, Verdy p, Vicki Rosenzweig, Vincent Ramos, Vssun, Waltpohl, Wclark, WereSpielChequers,Wingspeed, Wmahan, Woohookitty, Zerokitsune, ºRYueli'o, రవిచంద్ర, 255 anonymous edits

Image Sources, Licenses and ContributorsImage:Example.of.complex.text.rendering.svg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Example.of.complex.text.rendering.svg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Bayo,Imz, Waldir, Wereon, 1 anonymous editsFile:Sanskrit-Pali Faulmann Gesch T10.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sanskrit-Pali_Faulmann_Gesch_T10.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors:reproduction of ancient documents derivative work: Hämbörger (talk)

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