Editing Pali (section)

==Origin and development==
===Etymology===
The word 'Pali' is used as a name for the language of the [[Theravada]] canon. The word seems to have its origins in commentarial traditions, wherein the {{transliteration|pi|Pāli}} (in the sense of the line of original text quoted) was distinguished from the commentary or vernacular translation that followed it in the manuscript.<ref name=Norman>{{cite book |last=Norman |first=Kenneth Roy |author-link=K. R. Norman |title=Pali Literature |publisher=Otto Harrassowitz |date=1983 |location=Wiesbaden |pages=2{{ndash}}3 |language=en |isbn=3-447-02285-X}}</ref> [[K. R. Norman]] suggests that its emergence was based on a misunderstanding of the compound {{transliteration|pi|pāli-bhāsa}}, with {{transliteration|pi|pāli}} being interpreted as the name of a particular language.<ref name=Norman/>{{rp|1}}

The name Pali does not appear in the canonical literature, and in commentary literature is sometimes substituted with {{transliteration|pi|tanti}}, meaning a string or lineage.<ref name=Norman/>{{rp|1}} This name seems to have emerged in [[Sri Lanka]] early in the second millennium CE during a resurgence in the use of Pali as a courtly and literary language.<ref name=grammar_kingship/><ref name=Norman/>{{rp|1}}

As such, the name of the language has caused some debate among scholars of all ages; the spelling of the name also varies, being found with both long "ā" {{IPA|[ɑː]}} and short "a" {{IPA|[a]}}, and also with either a [[voiced retroflex lateral approximant]] {{IPA|[ɭ]}} or non-retroflex {{IPA|[l]}} "l"&nbsp;sound. Both the long ā and retroflex {{transliteration|pi|ḷ}} are seen in the [[ISO 15919]]/[[ALA-LC]] rendering, '''{{transliteration|pi|Pāḷi}}'''; however, to this day there is no single, standard spelling of the term, and all four possible spellings can be found in textbooks. [[Robert Caesar Childers|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".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hazra |first1=Kanai Lal |title=Pāli - language and literature: a systematic survey and historical study |year=1994 |publisher=D.K. Printworld |location=New Delhi |isbn=978-81-246-0004-7 |page=19}}</ref>

===Geographic origin===
There is persistent confusion as to the relation of {{Transliteration|sinh|ISO|Pāḷi}} to the vernacular spoken in the ancient kingdom of [[Magadha (Mahajanapada)|Magadha]], which was located in modern-day [[Bihar]]. Beginning in the Theravada commentaries, Pali was identified with 'Magadhi', the language of the kingdom of Magadha, and this was taken to also be the language that the Buddha used during his life.<ref name=Norman/> In the 19th century, the British [[Oriental studies|Orientalist]] [[Robert Caesar Childers]] argued that the true or geographical name of the Pali language was [[Magadhi Prakrit]], and that because ''pāḷi'' means "line, row, series", the early Buddhists extended the meaning of the term to mean "a series of books", so ''pāḷibhāsā'' means "language of the texts".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Childers |first1=Robert Cæsar |title=A Dictionary of the Pali Language |year=1875 |publisher=Trübner |location=London |oclc=7007711}}</ref>

However, modern scholarship has regarded Pali as a mix of several [[Prakrit]] languages from around the 3rd century BCE, combined and partially Sanskritized.<ref name="Bhikkhu Bodhi 2005, page 10">{{cite book |last=Bodhi |first=Bhikkhu |title=In the Buddha's Words: an anthology of discourses from the Pāli canon |year=2005 |location=Boston |publisher=Wisdom Publications |isbn=978-0-86171-491-9 |page=10}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Eiland |first=Murray |date=Winter 2020–2021 |others=Interview with Richard Gombrich |title=What the Buddha Thought |url=https://www.academia.edu/89897129 |journal=Antiqvvs |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=41}}</ref> There is no attested dialect of Middle Indo-Aryan with all the features of Pali.<ref name=Norman/>{{rp|5}} In the modern era, it has been possible to compare Pali with inscriptions known to be in Magadhi Prakrit, as well as other texts and grammars of that language.<ref name=Norman/> While none of the existing sources specifically document pre-Ashokan Magadhi, the available sources suggest that Pali is not equatable with that language.<ref name=Norman/>

Modern scholars generally regard Pali to have originated from a western dialect, rather than an eastern one.<ref name=Collins>{{cite book |last1=Collins |first1=Steven |chapter=What Is Literature in Pali? |pages=649–688 |jstor=10.1525/j.ctt1ppqxk.19 |title=Literary Cultures in History: Reconstructions from South Asia |date=2003 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-22821-4}}</ref> Pali has some commonalities with both the western [[Ashoka's Major Rock Edicts|Ashokan Edicts]] at [[Girnar]] in [[Saurashtra (region)|Saurashtra]], and the Central-Western Prakrit found in the eastern [[Hathigumpha inscription]].<ref name=Norman/>{{rp|5}} These similarities lead scholars to associate Pali with this region of western India.<ref name="Hirakawa, Akira 2007. p. 119">{{cite book |last1=Hirakawa |first1=Akira |last2=Groner |first2=Paul |title=A History of Indian Buddhism: From Śākyamuni to Early Mahāyāna |year=1990 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=978-0-8248-1203-4 |page=119}}</ref> Nonetheless, Pali does retain some eastern features that have been referred to as ''Māgadhisms''.<ref name="Gethin2008">{{cite book |author=Rupert Gethin |title=Sayings of the Buddha: New Translations from the Pali Nikayas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AvogpRk9-5wC |year=2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-283925-1 |pages=xxiv}}</ref>

Pāḷi, as a [[Middle Indo-Aryan languages|Middle Indo-Aryan language]], is different from [[Sanskrit|Classical Sanskrit]] more with regard to its dialectal base than the time of its origin. A number of its [[Morphology (linguistics)|morphological]] and lexical features show that it is not a direct continuation of [[Rigveda|{{Transliteration|sinh|ISO|Ṛgvedic}}]] Sanskrit. Instead it descends from one or more dialects that were, despite many similarities, different from {{Transliteration|sinh|ISO|Ṛgvedic}}.<ref>Oberlies, Thomas (2001). ''Pāli: A Grammar of the Language of the {{Transliteration|sinh|ISO|Theravāda Tipiṭaka}}''. Indian Philology and South Asian Studies, v. 3. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. p. 6. {{ISBN|3-11-016763-8}}. "Pāli as a MIA language is different from Sanskrit not so much with regard to the time of its origin than as to its dialectal base, since a number of its morphonological and lexical features betray the fact that it is not a direct continuation of {{Transliteration|sinh|ISO|Ṛgvedic}} Sanskrit; rather it descends from a dialect (or a number of dialects) which was (/were), despite many similarities, different from {{Transliteration|sinh|ISO|Ṛgvedic}}."</ref>

===Early history===
[[File:Burmese Kammavaca.jpg|thumb|right|19th century Burmese Kammavācā (confession for Buddhist monks), written in Pali on gilded palm leaf]]
The [[Theravada]] commentaries refer to the Pali language as "[[Magadhi Prakrit|Magadhan]]" or the "language of Magadha".<ref name=Norman/>{{rp|2}} This identification first appears in the commentaries, and may have been an attempt by Buddhists to associate themselves more closely with the [[Maurya Empire]].<ref name=Norman/>

However, only some of the Buddha's teachings were delivered in the historical territory of [[Magadha (Mahajanapada)|Magadha kingdom]].<ref name=Norman/> Scholars consider it likely that he taught in several closely related dialects of Middle Indo-Aryan, which had a high degree of mutual intelligibility.

Theravada tradition, as recorded in chronicles like the [[Mahavamsa]], states that the ''Tipitaka'' was first committed to writing during the first century BCE.<ref name=Norman/>{{rp|5}} This move away from the previous tradition of oral preservation is described as being motivated by threats to the ''[[Sangha]]'' from famine, war, and the growing influence of the rival tradition of the [[Abhayagiri Vihara]].<ref name=Norman/>{{rp|5}} This account is generally accepted by scholars, though there are indications that Pali had already begun to be recorded in writing by this date.<ref name=Norman/>{{rp|5}} By this point in its history, scholars consider it likely that Pali had already undergone some initial assimilation with [[Sanskrit]], such as the conversion of the Middle-Indic ''bahmana'' to the more familiar Sanskrit ''brāhmana'' that contemporary [[brahmans]] used to identify themselves.<ref name=Norman/>{{rp|6}}

In Sri Lanka, Pali is thought to have entered into a period of decline ending around the 4th or 5th century (as Sanskrit rose in prominence, and simultaneously, as Buddhism's adherents became a smaller portion of the subcontinent), but ultimately survived. The work of Buddhaghosa was largely responsible for its reemergence as an important scholarly language in Buddhist thought. The ''[[Visuddhimagga]]'', and the other commentaries that Buddhaghosa compiled, codified and condensed the Sinhala commentarial tradition that had been preserved and expanded in Sri Lanka since the 3rd century BCE.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Collins |first=Steven |date=2009-08-26 |title=Remarks on the Visuddhimagga, and on its treatment of the Memory of Former Dwelling(s) (pubbenivāsānussatiñāṇa) |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s10781-009-9073-0 |journal=Journal of Indian Philosophy |volume=37 |issue=5 |pages=499–532 |doi=10.1007/s10781-009-9073-0 |issn=0022-1791}}</ref>

With only a few possible exceptions, the entire corpus of Pali texts known today is believed to derive from the [[Anuradhapura Maha Viharaya]] in Sri Lanka.<ref name=Collins/> While literary evidence exists of Theravadins in mainland India surviving into the 13th century, no Pali texts specifically attributable to this tradition have been recovered.<ref name=Collins/> Some texts (such as the [[Milindapanha]]) may have been composed in India before being transmitted to Sri Lanka, but the surviving versions of the texts are those preserved by the Mahavihara in Ceylon and shared with monasteries in Theravada Southeast Asia.<ref name=Collins/>

The earliest inscriptions in Pali found in mainland Southeast Asia are from the first millennium CE, some possibly dating to as early as the 4th century.<ref name=Collins/> Inscriptions are found in what are now Burma, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia and may have spread from southern India rather than Sri Lanka.<ref name=Collins/> By the 11th century, a so-called "Pali renaissance" began in the vicinity of [[Pagan Kingdom|Pagan]], gradually spreading to the rest of mainland Southeast Asia as royal dynasties sponsored monastic lineages derived from the [[Anuradhapura Maha Viharaya|Mahavihara of Anuradhapura]].<ref name=Collins/> This era was also characterized by the adoption of Sanskrit conventions and poetic forms (such as ''[[kavya]]'') that had not been features of earlier Pali literature.<ref name=Gornall>{{cite book |last1=Gornall |first1=Alastair |last2=Henry |first2=Justin |chapter=Beautifully moral: cosmopolitan issues in medieval Pāli literary theory |pages=77–93 |jstor=j.ctt1qnw8bs.9 |title=Sri Lanka at the Crossroads of History |date=2017 |publisher=UCL Press |isbn=978-1-911307-84-6}}</ref> This process began as early as the 5th century, but intensified early in the second millennium as Pali texts on poetics and composition modeled on Sanskrit forms began to grow in popularity.<ref name=Gornall/> One milestone of this period was the publication of the [[Subodhalankara]] during the 14th century, a work attributed to Sangharakkhita Mahāsāmi and modeled on the Sanskrit [[Kavyadarsa]].<ref name=Gornall/>

Peter Masefield devoted considerable research to a form of Pali known as Indochinese Pali or 'Kham Pali'. Up until now, this has been considered a degraded form of Pali, But Masefield states that further examination of a very considerable corpus of texts will probably show that this is an internally consistent Pali dialect. The reason for the changes is that some combinations of characters are difficult to write in those scripts. Masefield further states that upon the third re-introduction of Theravada Buddhism into Sri Lanka (The Siyamese Sect), records in Thailand state that large number of texts were also taken. It seems that when the monastic ordination died out in Sri Lanka, many texts were lost also. Therefore, the Sri Lankan Pali canon had been translated first into Indo-Chinese Pali, and then back again into Pali.<ref>Peter Masefield, Indo-Chinese Pali, https://www.academia.edu/34836100/PETER_MASEFIELD_INDO-CHINESE_PALI</ref>

Despite an expansion of the number and influence of Mahavihara-derived monastics, this resurgence of Pali study resulted in no production of any new surviving literary works in Pali.<ref name=Collins/> During this era, correspondences between royal courts in Sri Lanka and mainland Southeast Asia were conducted in Pali, and grammars aimed at speakers of Sinhala, Burmese, and other languages were produced.<ref name=grammar_kingship>{{cite journal |last1=Wijithadhamma |first1=Ven. M. |title=Pali Grammar and Kingship in Medieval Sri Lanka |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka |year=2015 |volume=60 |issue=2 |pages=49–58 |jstor=44737021}}</ref> The emergence of the term 'Pali' as the name of the language of the Theravada canon also occurred during this era.<ref name=grammar_kingship/>

====Manuscripts and inscriptions====
{{see also|Palm-leaf manuscript|}}
While Pali is generally recognized as an ancient language, no epigraphical or manuscript evidence has survived from the earliest eras.<ref name=analayo>{{cite journal |title=The Historical Value of the Pāli Discourses |journal=Indo-Iranian Journal |year=2012 |volume=55 |issue=3 |pages=223–253 |jstor=24665100 |author1=Anālayo |doi=10.1163/001972412X620187}}</ref><ref name=skilling/> The earliest samples of Pali discovered are inscriptions believed to date from 5th to 8th century located in mainland Southeast Asia, specifically central [[Siam]] and lower [[Burma]].<ref name=skilling>{{cite book |last1=Skilling |first1=Peter |chapter=Reflections on the Pali Literature of Siam |pages=347–366 |doi=10.2307/j.ctt1vw0q4q.25 |jstor=j.ctt1vw0q4q.25 |title=From Birch Bark to Digital Data: Recent Advances in Buddhist Manuscript Research: Papers Presented at the Conference Indic Buddhist Manuscripts: The State of the Field. Stanford, June 15-19 2009 |date=2014 |publisher=Austrian Academy of Sciences Press |isbn=978-3-7001-7581-0}}</ref> These inscriptions typically consist of short excerpts from the [[Pali Canon]] and non-canonical texts, and include several examples of the [[Ye Dharma Hetu|Ye dhamma hetu]] verse.<ref name=skilling/>

The oldest surviving Pali manuscript was discovered in [[Nepal]] dating to the 9th century.<ref name=skilling/> It is in the form of four [[palm-leaf manuscript|palm-leaf]] folios, using [[Nepalese scripts|a transitional script]] deriving from the [[Gupta script]] to scribe a fragment of the [[Cullavagga]].<ref>{{cite web |title=A 1151–2 (Pālībhāṣāvinaya) |author=Nepalese-German Manuscript Cataloguing Project |url=http://catalogue-old.ngmcp.uni-hamburg.de/mediawiki/index.php/A_1151-2_(P%C4%81l%C4%ABbh%C4%81%E1%B9%A3%C4%81vinaya)}}</ref> The oldest known manuscripts from Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia date to the 13th–15th century, with few surviving examples.<ref name=skilling/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Ñāṇatusita |first1=Bhikkhu |chapter=Pali Manuscripts of Sri Lanka |pages=367–404 |jstor=j.ctt1vw0q4q.26 |doi=10.2307/j.ctt1vw0q4q.26 |title=From Birch Bark to Digital Data: Recent Advances in Buddhist Manuscript Research: Papers Presented at the Conference Indic Buddhist Manuscripts: The State of the Field. Stanford, June 15-19 2009 |date=2014 |publisher=Austrian Academy of Sciences Press |isbn=978-3-7001-7581-0 |quote=The four oldest known Sinhalese Pali manuscripts date from the [[Dambadeniya kingdom]] period.......The oldest manuscript, the [[Cullavagga]] in the possession of the library of the [[Colombo National Museum]], dates from the reign of King [[Parakramabahu II of Dambadeniya|Parakramabahu II]] (1236–1237)......Another old manuscript dating from this period is a manuscript of the [[Paramatthamañjusā]], the Visuddhimagga commentary......Another old manuscript, of the Sāratthadīpanī, a sub-commentary on the [[Samantapasadika|Samantapāsādikā]] Vinaya commentary......According to Wickramaratne (1967: 21) another 13th-century manuscript, containing the [[Mahavagga]] of the Vinaya Pitaka......Another source ascribes it to the 15th century, along with a [[Visuddhimagga]] manuscript......Another 15th-century manuscript of the Sāratthadīpanī is at the [[Bibliothèque Nationale]] in Paris.}}</ref> Very few manuscripts older than 400 years have survived, and complete manuscripts of the four [[Nikaya]]s are only available in examples from the 17th century and later.<ref name=analayo/>

====Early Western research====
Pali was first mentioned in Western literature in [[Simon de la Loubère]]'s descriptions of his travels in the kingdom of Siam.<ref name=Norman/> An early grammar and dictionary was published by Methodist missionary Benjamin Clough in 1824, and an initial study published by [[Eugène Burnouf]] and [[Christian Lassen]] in 1826 (''Essai sur le Pali, ou Langue sacrée de la presqu'île au-delà du Gange'').<ref name=Norman/> The first modern Pali-English dictionary was published by Robert Childers in 1872 and 1875.<ref name=dict_hist>{{cite journal |last1=Gethin |first1=Rupert |last2=Straube |first2=Martin |title=The Pali Text Society's A Dictionary of Pāli |journal=Bulletin of Chuo Academic Research Institute (Chuo Gakujutsu Kenkyūjo Kiyō) |year=2018 |volume=47 |pages=169–185 |url=https://www.cari.ne.jp/search/detail/paper/id/779}}</ref> Following the foundation of the [[Pali Text Society]], English Pali studies grew rapidly and Childer's dictionary became outdated.<ref name=dict_hist/> Planning for a new dictionary began in the early 1900s, but delays (including the outbreak of World War I) meant that work was not completed until 1925.<ref name=dict_hist/>

[[T.&nbsp;W.&nbsp;Rhys Davids]] in his book ''Buddhist India'',<ref>{{cite book |last=Rhys Davids |first=T. W. |author-link=Thomas William Rhys Davids |chapter=Language and Literature |title=Buddhist India |chapter-url=http://fsnow.com/text/buddhist-india/chapter9.htm |year=1903 |publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons |access-date=14 June 2010}}</ref> and [[Wilhelm Geiger]] in his book ''Pāli Literature and Language'', suggested that Pali may have originated as a [[lingua franca]] or common language of culture among people who used differing dialects in North India, used at the time of the [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]] and employed by him. Another scholar states that at that time it was "a refined and elegant vernacular of all Aryan-speaking people".<ref>Hazra, Kanai Lal. ''Pāli Language and Literature; a systematic survey and historical study.'' D.K. Printworld Lrd., New Delhi, 1994, page 11.</ref> Modern scholarship has not arrived at a consensus on the issue; there are a variety of conflicting theories with supporters and detractors.<ref>Hazra, Kanai Lal. ''Pāli Language and Literature; a systematic survey and historical study.'' D.K. Printworld Lrd., New Delhi, 1994, pages 1–44.</ref> After the death of the Buddha, Pali may have evolved among Buddhists out of the language of the Buddha as a new artificial language.<ref>Hazra, Kanai Lal. ''Pāli Language and Literature; a systematic survey and historical study.'' D.K. Printworld Lrd., New Delhi, 1994, page 29.</ref> R. C. Childers, who held to the theory that Pali was Old Magadhi, wrote: "Had Gautama never preached, it is unlikely that Magadhese would have been distinguished from the many other vernaculars of Hindustan, except perhaps by an inherent grace and strength which make it a sort of [[Tuscan dialect|Tuscan]] among the Prakrits."<ref>Hazra, Kanai Lal. ''Pāli Language and Literature; a systematic survey and historical study.'' D.K. Printworld Lrd., New Delhi, 1994, page 20.</ref>

====Modern scholarship====
According to [[K.&nbsp;R.&nbsp;Norman]], differences between different texts within the canon suggest that it contains material from more than a single dialect.<ref name=Norman/>{{rp|2}} He also suggests it is likely that the [[viharas]] in North India had separate collections of material, preserved in the local dialect.<ref name=Norman/>{{rp|4}} In the early period it is likely that no degree of translation was necessary in communicating this material to other areas. Around the time of [[Ashoka]] there had been more linguistic divergence, and an attempt was made to assemble all the material.<ref name=Norman/>{{rp|4}} It is possible that a language quite close to the Pali of the canon emerged as a result of this process as a compromise of the various dialects in which the earliest material had been preserved, and this language functioned as a lingua franca among Eastern Buddhists from then on.<ref name=Norman/>{{rp|5}} Following this period, the language underwent a small degree of Sanskritisation (i.e.,&nbsp;MIA bamhana > brahmana, tta > tva in some cases).<ref>K.&nbsp;R.&nbsp;Norman, ''Pāli Literature''. Otto Harrassowitz, 1983, pages 1–7.</ref>

[[Bhikkhu Bodhi]], summarizing the current state of scholarship, states that the language is "closely related to the language (or, more likely, the various regional dialects) that the Buddha himself spoke". He goes on to write:
{{blockquote|Scholars regard this language as a hybrid showing features of several Prakrit dialects used around the third century&nbsp;BCE, subjected to a partial process of Sanskritization. While the language is not identical to what Buddha himself would have spoken, it belongs to the same broad language family as those he might have used and originates from the same conceptual matrix. This language thus reflects the thought-world that the Buddha inherited from the wider Indian culture into which he was born, so that its words capture the subtle nuances of that thought-world.|Bhikkhu Bodhi<ref name="Bhikkhu Bodhi 2005, page 10"/>}}
According to [[A.&nbsp;K.&nbsp;Warder]], the Pali language is a Prakrit language used in a region of [[Western India]].<ref name="Warder, A. K. 2000. p. 284">Warder, A. K. ''Indian Buddhism''. 2000. p. 284</ref> Warder associates Pali with the Indian realm (''[[janapada]]'') of [[Avanti (India)|Avanti]], where the [[Sthavira nikāya]] was centered.<ref name="Warder, A. K. 2000. p. 284"/> Following the initial split in the [[Buddhism|Buddhist community]], the Sthavira nikāya became influential in Western and [[South India]] while the [[Mahāsāṃghika]] branch became influential in Central and [[East India]].<ref name="Hirakawa, Akira 2007. p. 119"/> Akira Hirakawa and Paul Groner also associate Pali with Western India and the Sthavira nikāya, citing the Saurashtran inscriptions, which are linguistically closest to the Pali language.<ref name="Hirakawa, Akira 2007. p. 119"/>

====Emic views of Pali====
Although Sanskrit was said in the [[Brahmin|Brahmanical]] tradition to be the unchanging language spoken by the gods in which each word had an inherent significance, such views for any language was not shared in the early Buddhist traditions, in which words were only conventional and mutable signs.<ref>[[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.</ref> This view of language naturally extended to Pali and may have contributed to its usage (as an approximation or standardization of local Middle Indic dialects) in place of Sanskrit. However, by the time of the compilation of the Pali commentaries (4th or 5th century), Pali was described by the anonymous authors as the natural language, the root language of all beings.<ref>''Dispeller of Delusion'', Pali Text Society, volume II, pages 127f</ref><ref name=Norman/>{{rp|2}}

Comparable to [[Egyptian language|Ancient Egyptian]], [[Latin]] or [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] in the [[Western esotericism|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 qualities of the language itself), and in the early strata of Buddhist literature we can already see Pali [[dharani|{{Transliteration|sinh|ISO|dhāraṇī}}]]s used as charms, as, for example, against the bite of snakes. Many people in Theravada cultures still believe that taking a vow in Pali has a special significance, and, as one example of the supernatural power assigned to chanting in the language, the recitation of the vows of [[Angulimala|{{Transliteration|sinh|ISO|Aṅgulimāla}}]] are believed to alleviate the pain of childbirth in Sri Lanka. In Thailand, the chanting of a portion of the [[Abhidhamma Piṭaka|{{Transliteration|sinh|ISO|Abhidhammapiṭaka}}]] is believed to be beneficial to the recently departed, and this ceremony routinely occupies as much as seven working days. There is nothing in the latter text that relates to this subject, and the origins of the custom are unclear.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Book |first=Chroniker Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3176AwAAQBAJ |title=Epitome of the Pali Canon |date=2012-10-29 |publisher=Lulu.com |isbn=978-1-300-32715-8 |language=en}}{{Circular reference|date=August 2023}}</ref>

===Pali today===
Pali died out as a literary language in mainland India in the fourteenth century but survived elsewhere until the eighteenth.<ref>Negi (2000), "Pali Language", ''Students' Britannica India'', vol. 4</ref> It was revived in Indian academics with laborious efforts of researchers like [[Dharmananda Damodar Kosambi|Dharmananda Kosambi]].<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1946 |title=Professor Dharmananda Kosambi |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41688598 |journal=Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute |volume=27 |issue=3/4 |pages=341–343 |issn=0378-1143}}</ref> Today Pali is studied mainly to gain access to Buddhist scriptures, and is frequently chanted in a ritual context. The secular literature of Pali historical chronicles, medical texts, and inscriptions is also of great historical importance. The great centres of Pali learning remain in [[Sri Lanka]] and other Theravada nations of Southeast Asia: [[Myanmar]], [[Thailand]], [[Laos]] and [[Cambodia]]. Since the 19th century, various societies for the revival of Pali studies in India have promoted awareness of the language and its literature, including the [[Maha Bodhi Society]] founded by [[Anagarika Dharmapala|Anagarika Dhammapala]].

In Europe, the [[Pali Text Society]] has been a major force in promoting the study of Pali by Western scholars since its founding in 1881. Based in the United Kingdom, the society publishes romanized Pali editions, along with many English translations of these sources. In 1869, the first ''Pali Dictionary'' was published using the research of Robert Caesar Childers, one of the founding members of the Pali Text Society. It was the first Pali translated text in English and was published in 1872. Childers' dictionary later received the [[Volney Prize]] in 1876.

The Pali Text Society was founded in part to compensate for the very low level of funds allocated to Indology in late 19th-century England and the rest of the UK; incongruously, the citizens of the UK were not nearly so robust in Sanskrit and Prakrit language studies as Germany, Russia, and even [[Denmark]]. Even without the inspiration of colonial holdings such as the former British occupation of Sri Lanka and Burma, institutions such as the [[Danish Royal Library]] have built up major collections of Pali manuscripts, and major traditions of Pali studies.