Pali is use as a Buddhist canonical language came about because the Buddha opposed the use of Sanskrit, a learned language, as a vehicle for his teachings and encouraged his followers to use vernacular dialects. The word ‘Pali’ primarily signifies ‘Text’ or ‘sacred texts’ or the text of the Buddhist canon as opposed to the connentaries, but gradually it became the name of the language in which the canon (Tripitika) of the Theravada Buddhism and the ancillary texts were written.
This Question is Also Available in:
हिन्दी