Editing Pali (section)

====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/>