PALI, an ancient language in India, which has long ceased to be spoken, but is still used in the Buddhist scriptures of Ceylon, Burma, and Siam. The Pali tongue in Singhalese is called Magadha and Mungata, and in Burmese, Magada-basa. Pali was the mother-tongue of and used by Buddha. The Rupasiddhi is the oldest Pali grammar now extant, and its author, Buddha-Priya, compiled it from the ancient work of Kachhyayana. A quotation from the latter is given in the Rupa siddhi, apparently in the original words. Accord ing to this account, Kachhyayana was one of the principal disciples of Sakya, by whom he was selected for the important office of compiling the first Pali grammar, the rules of which are said to have been propounded by Tathagata himself. This statement seems highly probable ; for that teacher must have soon found the difficulty of making himself clearly understood, when each petty dis trict had a provincial dialect of its own, unsettled both in its spelling and its pronunciation. A difficulty of this kind could only be overcome by the publication of some established rules of speech, which should fix the wavering pronunciation and loose orthography of a common language. This was accomplished by the Pali grammar of Kachhya yana, compiled under Sakya's instruction ; and the language, thus firmly established, was used throughout India by the Buddhist teachers for the promulgation and extension of the practical doctrines of their faith. In the Buddhist works of Ceylon, this language is expressly called Ma gadhi, or the speech of Magadha ; and as this district was the principal scene of Sakya's labours, as well as the native country of himself and of his principal disciples, the selection of Magadhi for the publication of his doctrines was both natural and obvious. Learned men have, however, entertained diverse opinions as to the Pali. Professor H. H. Wilson has remarked that there are several differ ences between the language of existing Buddhist inscriptions and the Magadhi of Pali grammars ; but these differences are not such as to render them unintelligible to those whom Priyadasi (Asoka) addressed in his pillar edicts in the middle of the 3d century B.c. Professor Wilson admits that the Pali was most likely selected for his edicts by Priyadasi, ' that they might be intelligible to the people,' but he is of opinion that the language of the inscriptions was rather the common tongue of the inhabitants of Upper India than a form of speech peculiar to a class of religionists ; and he argues that the use of the Pali language in the in scriptions is not a conclusive proof of their Buddh istical origin. But, as opposed to this view, it is a well-known fact that the Brahmans have never used any language but Sanskrit for their religious writings, and have stigmatized the Magadhi as the speech of men of low tribes. In their dramas, also, the heroes and Brahmans always speak Sanskrit, while the use of Magadhi is confined to the attend ants of royalty. Professor Wilson has, however, identified the Magadhi with Prakrit, the use of which, though more honourable, was still confined to the principal female characters ; but the exten sive employment in the dramatic works of the Brahmans of various dialects, all derived from one common stock, seems to prove that they were the vernacular language of the people. In this vernacular language, whatever it was, whether the high Prakrit of the Saurasenas, or the low Prakrit of the Magadhas, we know certainly that the Vinaya and Sutra, or the practical doctrines of Sakya, were compiled, and therefore also pro mulgated. Cosine, in Prinsep's Journal, p. 503, has used the term Prakrit as comprehending all the written and cultivated dialects of Northern India. Prakrit means common' or natural,' in contradistinction to the artificial' or refined' Sanskrit. In the opinion, however, of Tumour, the celebrated Ceylon scholar, the Pali is a 'rich and poetical language, which had already attained its present refinement at the time of Gotama Buddha's advent' (n.c. 588). According to Sir William Jones, it is ' little more than the language of the Brahmans, melted down by a delicate articu lation to the softness of Italian.' To General Cunningham it seems to bear the same relation to Sanskrit that Italian does to Latin, and a much nearer one than modern English does to Anglo Saxon. The nasal sounds are incited down, the compounds are softened to double and even simple consonants, and the open vowels are more numer ous. It is the opinion of many European scholars that the Pali language is derived almost entirely from the Sanskrit, and in this opinion General Cunningham fully coincides. Messrs. Burnout and Lassen, who jointly formed a Pali grammar, state, as the result of their labours, that Pali is almost identical with Sanskrit ; and Professor Lassen, at a later date, when more conversant with the Pali books, states authoritatively that the whole of the Prakrit language is derived from the Sanskrit. Tumour also declares his conviction that all researches tend to prove the great anti quity of Sanikrit. Professor Wilson and James
Prinsep are likewise of the same opinion. This conclusion seems self-evident, for there is a tend ency in all spoken languages to suppress dissimilar consonants, and to soften hard ones ; as in the Latin Camillus for the Tuscan Cadmilus, and the English farthing for the Anglo-Saxon feorthing ; or, as in the Pali assa, a horse, for the Sanskrit aswa, and the Pali majha, middle, for the Sanskrit madhya. There is also a natural inclination to clear away the semi-vowels and weaker consonants, as in the English king for the Anglo-Saxon kyning, or as in the Pali Olakita, the seen (i.e. Buddha), for the Sanskrit Avalakita ; and in the Pali Ujeniya, a man of Ujain, for the Sanskrit Ujajayaniya. It is always, therefore, easy to determine between any written languages that resemble each other, which of the two is the original, and which the borrowed ; because letters or syllables are never added, but, on the con trary, are always suppressed or curtailed in the process of time. The Pali is therefore with out doubt derived from the Sanskrit, and must, moreover, have been a spoken language for many centuries. For the publication of his esoteric theories regarding the origin of the world and the creation of mankind, Sakya made use of the Sanskrit language only. But the perfect language ' of our day perhaps owes much of its refinement to the care and sagacity of that great reformer, for it seems highly probable that Katyayana, the inspired saint and lawgiver who corrected the inaccuracies of Panini's Sanskrit grammar, is the same as the Kachbyayana who compiled the Pah grammar during the lifetime of Sakya. Katya yana's annotations on Panini, called Nartika, restrict his vague rules, enlarge his limited ones, and mark numerous exceptions to others. These amended rules of Sanskrit grammar were fonned into memorial verses by Bliartrihari, whoa° metri cal aphorisms, entitled Karika, have almost equal authority with the precepts of I'anini, and emen dations of Katyayana. According to popular tradition, Bliartrihari was the brother of I ikram aditya, the founder of the Hindu Sanwa!, which dates from 57 B.C. The age of Katyayana ie unknown ; but as he flourished between the date of Panini, in about 1100 n.c., and that of lihartri hari, in 57 is.c., there is every probability in favour of the opinion that he was one of the disciples of Buddha. But this identification of the two greatest grammarians of the Sanskrit and Pali languages rests upon other grounds besides those mentioned above. Colebrooke, Wilson, and !amen have all identified the commentator on Panini with Vara ruchi, the author of the Prakrit grammar called Prakrita Prakassa, or Chandrika. Of Vararuchi, nothing more is known than that his work is the oldest Prakrit grammar extant, and that his body of rules includes all that had been laid down by earlier grammarians regarding the vernacular dialects. The identification is still more strikingly confirmed by the fact that Kachhyayana is not a name but only a patronymic, which signifies the son of Kaehho, and was first assumed by the grammarian himself. If, therefore, Vararuchi Katyayana is not the same person as Kachhyayana, lie must be posterior to him and of the same family. We shall thus have two Katyayanas of the same family living much about the same time, each of whom compiled a grammar, which is much more improbable than that the two were one and the same person. The probable identity of the two great grammarians seems to offer an additional reason for considering Sakya Muni as one of the chief benefactors of his country. For we must not look upon Sakya Muni simply as the founder of a new religious system, but as a great social reformer who dared to preach the perfect equality of all mankind, and the consequent abolition of caste, in spite of the menaces of the most power ful and arrogant priesthood in the world. We must regard him also as a patriot, who, in spite of tyrannical kings and princes, had the courage to incite his countrymen to resist the forcible abduc tion of their wives and daughters by great men. To him the Indians were indebted for a code of pure and practical morality, which inculcated charity and chastity, performance of good works, and abstinence from evil, and general kindness to all living things. To him, also, they owe the early refinement and systematic arrangement of their language, in the selection of the learned Katya yana as the compiler of the Sanskrit and Pali grammars. The Pali books examined and abstracted by Mr. Tumour consist of the Pita kattayan, the Atthakatha, and the Mahawansa. The first is quasi the gospel of Buddhists. It is stated in the that the Pitakattayan was brought to Ceylon by Mahinda, the son of Asoka, in the 18th year of his father's reign, that is, in 806 B.C., in the exact Pali form in which it now exista—Prinsep's p. 148; Cussing ham's Bhilsa Topes • Weber; hardy.