Paali

Paali, typically written as Pali or Pāli, can refer to several related topics. The most widely known is Pali, an ancient Indo-Aryan language that serves as the liturgical and doctrinal language of Theravada Buddhism.

Pali is part of the Prakrit group of languages and is generally regarded as a descendant of Magadhi Prakrit spoken in the eastern Indian region of Magadha. It became the language in which the Theravada Buddhist canon, the Tipiṭaka, was preserved. The canon is traditionally divided into three baskets: the Vinaya Pitaka (disciplina­ry rules), the Sutta Pitaka (discourses), and the Abhidhamma Pitaka (scholarly analysis). Pali texts were transmitted orally for centuries before being written down in regions such as Sri Lanka and parts of Southeast Asia. Today, Pali is studied by scholars and practiced in monasteries across Theravada countries, including Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia. It has been rendered in many scripts—such as Brāhmī, Devanāgarī, Sinhala, Thai, and Burmese—and is commonly taught in Latin transliteration for academic study.

In addition to the language, Paali/Pali refers to place names in India, most notably Pali city and Pali district in Rajasthan. The name also appears in other localities and, in some cases, as a surname or given name in various cultures, reflecting transliteration variants rather than a single shared meaning.

Overall, Paali most often denotes the Buddhist language, while also serving as a geographic or personal name in different contexts.