Tipitaka is the sacred Buddhist scripture which contains the authentic teachings of Lord Buddha known as the Dhamma in Pali language. Thus Tipitaka has preserved the original teachings of the Supremely Enlightened One, the Buddha, in its pure unadulterated form. Lord Buddha taught his Dhamma for 45 years in the common language of the people out of profound compassion. When a learned Bhikkhu. hailing from a well known priestly family, requested the Buddha to allow him to render the Dhamma into Chandas, the Vedic scriptural language, the Buddha said: "The Tathagatas teach the Dhamma with the sole purpose of benefitting all, not just a section of the society." And clear enunciation reminded everyone about his clarion call, to his first sixty Arahats, enlightened disciples, saying: "Caratha, bhikkhave, carikam. bahujanahitaya bahujanasukhaya lokanukampaya atthaya hitaya sukhaya devamanussanam. Ma ekena dve agamittha. Desetha bhikkhave dhammam adikalyanam majjhe-kalyanam pariyosanakalyanam sattham sabbyanjanam kevalaparipunnam parisuddham brahmacariyam pakasetha "Go forth, bhikkhus, for the benefit of the many, for the happiness of the many, out of compassion for the world, for the good, for the benefit and for the happiness of both gods and men. Let not two of you go by the same way. Bhikkhus, preach the Dhamma which is excellent in the beginning, excellent in the middle and excellent in the end, both in spirit and letter. Proclaim the Holy life which is altogether perfect and pure" Had the Buddha acquiesced in the proposal, then the Dhamma would have been confined to a small group of scholars and priests, who would pass on only to their own people. If the privileged scholars and elitists had the knowledge of the Dhamma restricted only to their group, the whole purpose of benefitting everyone, regardless of caste, status, wealth etc. would have been lost. That is why the Tipitaka has been preserved in its original Pali, the common language of the people in the time of the Buddha. As to Pali there are three ancient classical languages of India of which Pali is the oldest. These are the Chandas or Vedic Sanskrit, Prakrit and Pali. 1. Chandas is called Vedic Sanskrit which after being reconstructed has acquired the designation of classical Sanskrit. 2. Prakrit - the language of ordinary people, having varieties of dialects, is still used by followers of Mahavira Jain. 3. Pali, also Known as Magadhi Prakrit, is very much in use among Theravadin Buddhists throughout the world. Lord Buddha chose Pali or Magadhi Prakrit, being the people's language, as the medium for his Dhamma-Teaching for the sole reason of benefitting every section of the society, regardless of any distinction, caste, status, wealth etc. In Buddha's time all religious practices were carried out in Chandas by specialized people, the Brahmin priestly class. Ordinary people had no access to Chandas. The spoken medium for the masses of people was Prakrit in various dialects. Pali is called Magadhi Prakrit, the oldest form extant today, Prakritiya bhasati Prakrit. The subcontinent of India, as multi ethnic, multi linguistic and multi cultural country, always had some common communication medium. Thus there are the three distinct types of Prakrit - the Magadhi Prakrit, Souraseni Prakrit and Maharattha Prakrit. Just as Hindi is widely used today, as a common medium, it was no less so, even in the olden times, because of the prevalence of rich varieties of Prakrit. Those days Pali fulfilled the role of what Hindi does today, particularly in the north, east and middle regions of India.
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