Indo-Āryan or Indian Languages comprise many different local dialects (desī-bhasā), but very close to one another. There are two main groups (or families) of Indian Languages, namely, Sanskrit and Prākrit, which are very similar to each other.
1. Sanskrit, used by the Brahmans of educated class, who could spend much time on education and earn their living or livelihood by education, contained the words constructed or formed strictly in accordance with the grammatical rules and so it did not undergo many changes throughout its history.
2. Prākrits, however, used by the common people, who have to spend more time on their livelihood than on education, inevitably underwent many changes, generation, according to the time ( kāla), locality (desa) and individual (puggala), and comprise many different dialects which are very similar to one another, such as, “Pāli, Māgadhi, Addhamaāgadhī, Soraseni, Maha-ratthī, Pesaci, Apabhramsa ( early Prākrit), and Hindī, Bengālī, etc. (later Prākrit).
The Buddha or Omniscient One, skillful in all Indain Languages of his time, went on religious tour for 45 years, in many different parts of Central India ( Mijjhima –desa) in order to teach and propagate His Dhamma ( Teaching of Truth) to the people for liberating them from worldly suffering and leading them to Nibbana, eternal bliss. As a result, numerous people from different parts of India came to the Buddha and entered the Buddhist Order ( Sangha). And consequently their own dialects, slightly variant from, but very close to Pali, intruded upon the Pali literature.
Moreover, after the passing away ( Parinibbana) of the Buddha, His numerous missionary disciples, generation by generation, worked hard to teach and propagate the Buddha’s Dhamma or Buddhism, not only in different parts of India, but also in neighbouring countries, such as Ceylon ( Sri Lanka), Nepal, Tibet, Pakistan, Afganistan, Bengal, China and South-east Asian countries. When Buddhism declined in India, due to the Hindus and Muslims, Ceylon ( and South India) came to the front in place of India and became the central of Buddhism, by widely learning the Buddhist scriptures and writing numerous commentaries, subcommentaries and many other books ( ganthantara) on various topics, such as the traditional Pali grammars and Pali dictionaries etc. mainly based on the traditional Sanskrit words. For the above-said reasons, Sanskrit and Prakrit languages exercised a great influence on the later Pali words.
European ( or Euro- Aryan) languages and Indian ( or Indo-Aryan) languages belong to the same family of “ Indo-European Languages” and are very close or similar to each other. So the Europeans can easily learn the Indian languages and vice versa. (But the inhabitants of Far-East and South-East Asian countries, find it difficult in learning the European and Indian languages, because the language-family of the former is quite different from that of the later.) Since the late 19th century A.D., the liberal-minded European great scholars studied thoroughly both European and Indian (or Indo-Aryan) languages by means of the modern philosophical method comparing those languages with each other and wrote the various words or books on Sanskrit, Pali and other Prakrit languages, which served to know or understand those languages within a short time.
On the contrary, the traditionalist Venerable Sayadaw ( abbots) in Asia, especially in Burma spend a long time ( longer than necessary) on learning Pali by the trdational ( outdated) method through the trdational Pali grammars ( such as Kiccayana, Rupasiddhi, Moggalana, Saddaniti, Bhedacinta and so on), which give illogical or unsystematic ( sometimes wrong ) explanation of Pali words, using the grammartical suttas, scattering here and there, but they never become skillful or expert in the real or systematic formation of Pali words and unable to decide the Pali words- “ which one is correct and which one is wrong”, and “ which one is original (primary) form and which one is secondary form”.
So, let me say frankly “ it is the best way to learn Pali language by means of the time-saving modern (updated) method of philosophy, a comparative study of Pali with Sanskrit and Prakrit languages, so that one can become, within a short time, an expert only in Pali but in other Indian languages ( Sanskrit and Prakrits ) as well”. For , the word-conditions are ever changing, the worlds seems to be as small as a village, and there are too many things to be learnt within a very short life-span. Moreover, it is the greatest mistake that the extreme traditionalist venerable Sayadaws (abbots) of Burma do not allow their pupil monks to study Sanskrit and English, and as a result most of Burmese monks become backward in the worldly and religious matters, not knowing and not willing to take part in the missionary activities both at home and abroad. So, it is high time to urgently change, mordernize or improve our traditional (outdate) monastic education (Pariyatti learning) to reach the international standard, in accordance with the ever-changing world situations.
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