Pālī Language [part lV]

It is noteworthy to presume that Theravāda traditions in accordance to extant evidences. Substantial Buddhist scriptures in various Asian traditions refer to the dialect Buddha preached in his time called ‘magadī’. He conveyed the meaning of his doctrine by using ‘magadikavohāra’ which is believed to be widely spoken in ‘magada’ district.  Prominent commentator like ‘Buddhaghosa’ states that it is a so-called ‘skānirutti’, which is believed that it was the language Buddha spoke. However, ‘skānirutti’ is a combination of ‘ska [self, own]+nirutti [language]’ literally means ‘own language’ or language that generally spoken by masses [in their own styles, forms and sounds]. Therefore, the interpretation of ‘pālī’ as ‘skānirutti’ is problematic. 

Nonetheless, speaking of which, ‘pālī’ [magadī] is believed to be spoken and preached by the Buddha. And, even after his demise, the language has been preserved in the form of his tenets by community of Buddhist monks and laymen for centuries until it was firstly properly inscribed into stone pillars of Emperor Asoka in the 3^rd Century B.C. The significant historical event was conducted in the city of ‘Pātliputri’ in the kingdom of ‘Kosāla’ – generally known as ‘tatiya sanggīti’ – the third council. Then, it is described that doctrinal scriptures were carried by 9 groups of missionaries to propagate the wisdom outside of ‘chambhutīpa’ – India, for the first time. 

According to ‘mahāvangsa’ scripture – the famous scripture depicted an ancient history of Ceylon; it refers to the account of Mahindathera, a prominent Buddhist monk who is believed to introduce Buddhism in Sri Lanka. However, for the state of our knowledge at the moment, we are not certain of what form or type of language he brought to the island. Nonetheless, it is described by the scripture that the ‘tipit᷂aka’ he brought in with him was translated into Sinhalese language in the 5^th Century B.C. in the reign of King Vat᷂t᷂agāminīabhaya.  Therefore, the term ‘pālī’ seems to be introduced much later when Buddhism was already established in Sri Lanka. 

Thus, it is common to acknowledge several assumptions towards the status of ‘pālī’ and its genuine origin based upon discovered and tentative evidences. Plentiful Asian Buddhists claim, based upon traditional scriptures, that the language was also called ‘mūlabhāsā’ and ‘tan᷂tibhāsā’ – literally means ‘original dialect’ and ‘conventional dialect’. Thus, since ‘magadī’ also shares common synonym of ‘mūlabhāsā’, and ‘tan᷂tibhāsā’, the assumption of ‘magadī’, and ‘pālī’ are identical, is acceptable and possible.  

Pālī Language [part III]

The reason Pālī is determined to serve as a ‘primary source’ is from three implications according to Asian scholars;  

1. Pālī is believed to preserve the original teachings [ontology] of the Buddha  
2. Pālī sustains or perpetuates solidly in which the grammatical features and style are strong and subjected not to be changed in any conditions. 
3. Therefore, Pālī is traditionally and continuously adopted from one tradition to the another endlessly since its origin.

Additionally, K.R. Norman (The current president of The Pali Text Society) agrees with the significant notion in which Pālī is not a proper name of any language. However, he strongly suggests that actually Pālī itself is the ‘tipit᷂aka’ – the ‘tipit᷂aka’ is Pālī of the orthodox Theravadin traditions [other traditions provide no significance and interest in this notion].

Thus, the acceptance of the term Pālī as the hypothetical name of the ‘tipit᷂aka’, rather than using original term as ‘the tepit᷂aka – the tripit᷂aka in accordance to its origin, from various Theravadin traditions [especially in South East Asian Countries] is possibly, somewhat, a misunderstanding for centuries through historical contexts.  In the prominent Pālī- English Dictionary codified by Childers in 1875, he clearly states that the new term of use in English, regarding the term of ‘pālī’, is based upon the Singhalese language in which the meaning is ‘the tipit᷂aka’ not the name of any language. However, this term may have been noticed and adopted by the European predecessors who possibly had been in Ceylon before Childers in which their scholarly works on Buddhism were translated directly from that of the Singhalese sources.

Nevertheless, another European [French] scholar like Bournouf, who put a great effort and evotion studying Pālī in early period in Ceylon, suggested in his work published in 1826 that the first figure who mentioned about the term ‘Pālī’ as a proper name of a language is De Cimont De La Laubare [The French Ambassador of Luis IVX] who visited Siam [currently Thailand] in 1687-1688. His diary vividly described various conditions of the Kingdom of Siam [probably called Ayuttaya Kingdom by the Siamese] was properly printed in 1693.

Additionally Sathianpong suggests that in the Burmese chronicle around the latter half of the nineteenth century mentioned the term ‘Pālī’ in the general contexts in which it is the name of a language. However, the assumption in the Burmese work merely emphasizes the interpretation which had been discovered earlier from the Sinhalese sources. Therefore, the Burmese scholars may or may not have used the term ‘pālibhasā’ which means ‘pali language’ before or after, it is still doubtful.

Pālī Language [part ll]

‘Prākrit’ – the ancient dialect of the medieval ‘ārayan’ tribe in India

Asian scholar like Sathienphong Wannapok suggests that there are at least five local dialects used shortly before and during the time of the Buddha called ‘paň᷂cavidhā bhāsā’ = the group of five [dialects] - mahāraṥat᷂harī (the dialect of mahāraṥt᷂ha people), ṥaorasenī (the dialect of the surasenese), māgadhī (the dialect of the kingdom of Magadha), pracaya (the dialect of eastern tribe), and avan᷂tī (the dialect of the kingdom of Avan᷂tī). In those medieval dialects of the ārayan tribe in ancient India, evidently there is no assertion of pālī’s existence – not even in a form of legend of mythology. 

Thus, this suggestion constitutes the identical assumptions of prominent Western scholars like subhūtithera, Sir Monier Monier, Williams Stede and Rhys Davids in which they presumed that pālī is not a proper name of any language. Eventually, the general interpretations are, presumably, ‘edge’, ‘line’, ‘row’, ‘canal-moat’, ‘bridge’, ‘edge of the ear’, or even ‘ear’, ‘a cooking pot’, and ‘measuring standard’. Therefore, if it is implied that the special meaning of the word pālī is ‘important scriptures, and/or primary scripter’, then any dialects or languages which are used to preserve the Buddha’s teaching can be called ‘pālī’. 

  

Additionally, speaking of which, there have been proper and systematic studies and researches through Buddhist scriptures and texts for the last two centuries by both Western and Eastern scholars. Of all those prestige consequences and discoveries, at least 4 categories of texts and scriptures have been officially classified. Some of us may already have learnt about them but some have no clue – here they are;   

• Primary source (pat᷂hamabhūmi) the pālī scripture 
• ondary source (dutiyabhūmi) – the at᷂t᷂hagāthā or van᷂n᷂anā scripture (commentary) 
• Third class source (tatiyabhūmi)  - the ‘t᷂īka’ scripture (sun-commentary)
•  Fourth class source (catut᷂thabhūmi) – the ‘anut᷂īkā' scripture (sub-subcommentary) 

These sorts of scriptures are categorized and, undoubtedly, authorized their class according to particular conditions involved in geographical, historical contexts and linguistic features in which they are discovered. There is no fault to assert that pālī scripture was produced earlier in India in around some two centuries after the extinction of the Buddha. Although there is no an actual fact to state that it was spoken by the Buddha, still it is the oldest of all scriptures so far. The others have been, all over Buddhist traditions, produces by wise Buddhist monks or scholars to comment or clarify those teachings – the easiest way to say is to simplify them, make easy to understand the doctrine. 

Therefore, Buddhist scriptures and text, on the one hand, are quite individual and unique. Each tradition has their own scripture, or we can assume that each tradition has their own ‘Buddhism’ and ‘belief’ which leads to different ritual and monastic practices. Therefore, I could not agree more with Donal S. Lopez Jr. who states that “ It seems that perhaps once each decade someone has the audacity to produce a new collection of Buddhist work in English [and other language]…One might seek geographical representation. Other the course of many centuries after the death of the Buddha, his words and his image made their way from India to the nations now named Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Tibet, Mongolia, and later to Europe, the Americas and Australia.” (Buddhist Scriptures: Introduction) And still they are enormous about of texts and scriptures that have not been discovered which could be ‘ācariyamati’ (views of the masters) and ‘keciācāriyā’ (comments on Buddhist accounts of some monks).

 Thus, in summary for today discussion, all those sorts of mentioned scripture can be called ‘pālī’ if it means ‘scriptures which preserve the teaching of the Buddha.’

Pālī Language

The language of ‘tipit᷂aka’

It has been widely comprehended and accepted that Pālī is considered the language of Theravāda Buddhism [Orthodox doctrine of Buddhism] or tan᷂tibhāsā (conventional language) is identical or/and developed from an ancient dialect called ‘māgadhī’ (the dialect used in the ancient Kingdom of Magadha – one of the Indian political powerhouse in the time of the Buddha). Presumably He used the language to propagate his doctrine. It is believed, after the attainment of the complete liberation [nirvana], that Pālī has been used to preserve his teachings in the form of oral recital [muk᷂khapāt᷂ha] until later has been recorded in various actual alphabets throughout Buddhist traditions. 

However, this notion is merely accepted by the Theravāda school in which the idea evidently is gradually influenced and fully adopted as the revered language from at᷂th᷂agāthā scriptures [commentaries] which were mostly produced in 5^th Century B.C. (Wannapok, 2010, 252). Western scholars like Maurice Walshe, in his ‘the long discourses of the Buddha’ translation, pointed out that “its exact origins are the subject of learned debate…it may be said that the traditional equation with the language of ancient kingdom of Magadha, and the assertion of Pālī is, literally and precisely, the language spoken by the Buddha himself, cannot be sustained. All the same the language the Buddha actually spoke was in all probability not very different from Pālī”. (Walshe, 1987, 48) Thus, the assertion of the confidence, in which the language was really spoken by the Buddha, from the Theravādin commentaries on such matter is still unclear.

Additionally, through various researches and studies on this particular matter in the history of Buddhism, it is uncertain to assert that the language used in ‘tipit᷂aka’ is possibly identical, influenced or developed from that of the dialect in the ancient kingdom of ‘Magadhī’, or any other dialects in the region. Furthermore, the precise meaning of ‘Pāli (Pālī) itself is still puzzled and debatable by scholars. Therefore, the confirmation of it as a name of one particular language is problematic. However, if this puzzle has been disentangled by some next wise scholar, it will definitely clarify the identity and status of the language used in ‘tipit᷂aka’ as well.

In this personal trivial space here, I would like to share some views from many prominent scholars on this matter.

‘Pālī’ is not a proper name of one particular language
  
Subhūtithera, who has collected a well-recognised Buddhist scripture called ‘abhidhānanap᷂padīpikāsūci’, provides tentative meanings of the term ‘Pāli’ (or Pāl᷂i) in 3 possible implications; 

•  Pāl᷂dhama or Pariyat᷂todhama (the teachings or scriptures to be studied) from which the line appears that ‘pāl᷂iyā at᷂tham᷂ up᷂parik᷂khan᷂ti’ – [monks] contemplate the real meanings of the scriptures (teachings).  
• Pāl᷂i – ‘Edge’ (for example an edge of a pond) – It appears in the scripture that ‘tal᷂ākas᷂sa pāl᷂i’ means ‘an edge of a pond’. 
• Pāli – ‘Row or line’ as it is stated that ‘pāl᷂iyā nisīdim᷂su’ – [monks] seated in line.

Rhys Davids and Villiam Stede both have dedicated all their entire lives working on the Pali-English dictionary for the Pali Text Society have also provided some possible assumptions of the meanings of Pāli. Eventually the interpretation is, somewhat, identical with previous notion of Subhūtithera a ‘Edge’, ‘Line’, and ‘Scripture or Teachings’. Furthermore, Scholar like Sir Monier Monier, who devoted his time working on the Sanskrit – English Dictionary, suggested 6 possible meanings of this term as;

•  ‘Edge of the ear’ or ‘Ear’ – (Basically it is medical term used by Ajan Suṥruta.
•  ‘Edge’, which matches the second meaning provided by Subhūtithera.

•  ‘Line’ or ‘Row’ such as ‘ratanapāli’ = ‘the row or line of gem’. This assumption matches the third meaning provided by Subhūtithera, and the first meaning provided by Rhys Davids and Stede.

•  ‘Canal’ and ‘Bridge' 

•  ‘A boiling pot’

•  ‘Measuring standard’ which states that 1= parasatha

As we have learnt from mentioned views previously, there is no such firmed evidence to assert the status of Pālī as one particular spoken language. In addition, the prominent Sanskrit-English Dictionary merely suggests the implication of the word ‘bhāsā’ as ‘speech, language’. Especially in this context, it only refers to those of local dialects (prākrit) which widely used in ancient Indian context in the time of the Buddha opposite to Sanskrit- the Vedas holy language.