Pali Literature In India

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Introduction I P?li Literature consists of four major divisions: the canonical (pi?aka), commentarial (a??hakath?), sub-commentarial (??k?) and modern (prakara?a) texts.? Among these, the modern texts (prakara?a) cover an extensive range which includes chronicles, grammar, lexicons and sandesa-s, etc. The chronicles (Va?sakath?) record the unbroken? history of a person or an event.? ?The vamsakath? stands apart from other literary genres in P?li due to the style of its composition, a mixed verse, prose style which is known as Campu or Aky?na. The Nal??a (lal??a) dh?tuva?sa (hence forth NDV), the chronicle of the sacred frontal bone relics of the Buddha, has been shown scarce attention by modern P?li and Buddhist scholars. Prof. Malalasekara, the author of Pali Literature of? Ceylon, (to my knowledge) is the only scholar who has made reference to the NDV.? Other scholars in the history of P?li Literature appear to have overlooked this text.? The NDV is a useful source in historical studies of Buddhist relics, architecture of ancient Pagodas, Buddhist ceremonies in Ceylon and even the history of Ceylon itself. Moreover, it includes important literary features which highlight stages of development of P?li language and literature in Ceylon…show more content…
In this fragment, ?p? and ?ph? sounds are conducive to produce alliteration. And, the vowel ?u? too rhymes in this sentence. Further, the part [n?n?vidhavicitta] also creates a varied alliteration. By using double ?n?, it creates alliteration again. Usage of ?i? in three places also gives rhythm, ?dha? and ?tt? stress the sound and produce pauses for melody. Finally, [s?lasalalacampak?] applies ?s? and ?l? sounds combined to produce alliterations. Moreover, in [campak?sokarukkh?n?garukkh?] above, the consonant ?k? and the ??? vowel creates alliterations. Thus, from these few examples, one can clearly see the effort made by the author to use alliterations in his
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