This book is a collection of essays on the history and evolution of the Pali language, which preserves the earliest record of the Buddha's teaching. Although only the Pali record has survived, it argues that the Buddha also taught in several of the indigenous languages of northern India, including Dravidian, probably Munda and possibly others. Pali was derived from a koine or common language for inter-dialect communication between the different dialects spoken by the Indo-Aryan immigrants, but was also strongly influenced by the languages of the indigenous peoples, Dravidian and Munda. The...