• Pali and Prakrit were the spoken languages of the Indians after the Vedic period. Prakrit, in the widest sense of the term was indicative of any language that in any manner deviated from the standard one, i.e., Sanskrit.

• These were adopted by the Buddhist and the Jain sects in ancient India as their sacred languages. Lord Buddha (500 B.C.) used Pali to give his sermons.

• All the Buddhist canonical literature is in Pali, which includes Tipitaka (threefold basket).

• Vinaya Pitaka contains the monastic rules of the order of the Buddhist monks.

• Sutta Pitaka is a collection of the speeches and dialogues of Buddha.

• Abhidhamma Pitaka elucidates various topics dealing ethics, psychology or theory of knowledge.