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Pali
and Prakrit were the spoken languages that evolved from Vedic and
classical Sanskrit. See
INDIA, LANGUAGES OF (Vedic and classical Sanskrit; Pali, Prakrit,
and Apabhramsha). Buddhists
and Jains used these languages for their religious writings.
In
the Hindu world, the only people usually allowed to read the sacred
Sanskrit texts were the brahmins (priests).
But the teachings of the Buddha, who lived in the 500's B.C.,
were meant to be open to all. So
the early Buddhist scriptures were written in the Pali language.
These sacred religious writings are called the Tripitaka
(threefold basket), because they were written on palm leaves and
stored in baskets. See
BUDDHISM (Theravada Buddhism).
Pali
literature includes the colourful Jakata tales, stories of the past
lives of the Buddha. Once
Pali had been labelled as the language of Buddhism, it was regarded
as sacred and, like Sanskrit, was preserved in its existing state.
Pali is still important as a Buddhist language in Sri Lanka.
In
the same way, some forms of Prakrit were used for writing the
scriptures of Jainism (see JAINISM).
Because of their religious importance, early Buddhist and
Jain manuscripts were carefully preserved in monasteries.
Other Prakrit literature includesmoral tales and poetry.
The best-known poet in Prakrit is Hala (A.D. 300's).
Hala also compiled Gathasaptashati (700 verses), an anthology
of erotic poetry. See
also MAHAVIRA.
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