Indian culture is born and nourished at the confluence of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. The three streams are enshrined in Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrit. For the sake of total perspective, a student of Sanskrit, therefore, has to have some access to Pali and Prakrit. The Banaras Hindu University has, therefore, assigned a place to Pali and Prakrit in its Post-graduate curriculum for Sanskrit. But the problem of suitable reading materials had to be faced immediately. The Department of Sanskrit and Pali rose to the occasion Th: Prakyta-prakaja by Sri K.C. Jain of the Department, pnblished a few months ago, was positive step in that direction. The Introduction to Pali by Sri A. Barua of the Department comes next as a salutary venture. Sri Jain has substantiated compliments to his teacher in collecting represen tative excerpts from the entire range of Pali literature and then rendering them into Sanskrit. The basic idea that guides the formulation of such a wrko is to teach Pali to the student of Sanskrit, as has been the objective of the Prakrta-prakala to introduce him to Prakrit. The deduction of Prakrit from Sanskrit is, however, backed by a tradition mentioned by Dandin. To apply the same principle to Pali is liable to dispute. Nevertheless, for a student of Sanskrit it pays to discover proximity between Sanskrit and Pali. Hence the principle of deriving Pali from Sanskrit has been adopted here at least as a matter of convenience.
The holy trinity-Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrit-occupies an honourable place in the Indo-European family of languages. Attracted by their richness, a band of European scholars Max Müller, Oldenberg, Keith, Rhys Davids, Sylvan Levi, Geiger, Winternitz, to name just a few-made a valuable con tributions in different directions of these three languages. They translated sacred Scriptures into European languages. Indeed the Western Indologists brought critical scholarship to bear up on the subject. The modern Universities of India have imple mented with full vigour this modern method of study historical, comparative and scientific. From the philological point of view, Sanskrit and Pali are closely interrelated. So a student of Sanskrit should be adequately equipped with the knowledge of Pali. The Banar as Hindu University has taken full cognisance of this. Besides a full-fledged curriculum for Pali both at the Undergraduate and the Post-graduate levels, the study of Pali, as of Prakrit, has been incorporated into the course of studies for Sanskrit as well. But no suitable material was available for the latter pur pose. At the instance of Prof. D. S. Bhattacharya, the Head of the Department of Sanskrit and Pali, I therefore took up the preparation of the Introduction to Pali. I am deeply indebted to the learned Professor for his inspiration and guidance.
Pali is the language of the Sacred Tripitaka (the Canon) of the Theravāda (Southern) School of Buddhism, read with devotion in Ceylon, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, India, East Pakistan and many other Countries. I. THE DERIVATIVE MEANING OF PALI Regarding the meaning and derivation of the word Pali, scholars disagree : (i) The Oriental scholars —Buddhaghosa, Dhammapala, the great Commen tators-are of opinion that the word Pali means.
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