What is Pali Language?

Saw this, thought of you:

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Thanks for the information about what Pali is. This suggests that the Pali language of the texts had not originated from the first Sangha council, and was not identical with Magadhi, the language spoken by the Buddha.

So, for the study of early Buddhist teachings, it will be better to look at the historical formation of early Buddhist texts, not just languages.

This is one theory. From what I gathered, another theory proposed by Gombrich is that Pali was the lingua franca of the various states at the time of the Buddha. It would explains how the Buddha could have talked to people from so many different backgrounds and the use of synonyms and grammatical variants.

The video and associated channel lookg very good. Do we know who is the author? I couldn’t find any information…

This is the accompanying blog

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If Pali was lingua franca of the various states at the time of the Buddha, other religious texts at that time should be also similar to Pali?

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Well, it’s a fair assumption, right? At least for the teachings of some other wanderers.

I don’t know all the arguments for or against this theory… and I wouldn’t have the knowledge to know the value of most arguments anyway. I’m just assuming that if this hypothesis is supported by Gombrich there must be some solid arguments and that it is at least plausible.