A Note on the Jataka Tales 4

Be that as it may Siddhartha Buddha presently after enlightenment wandered throughout the length and breadth of the Aryavarta –that part of Northern India which is being washed by the Ganga and the Jamuna in the main giving sermons at the instance of the gods. Interestingly enough Siddhartha Buddha did not know that he was preaching any new religion. Even the Upanisads are not unanimous on their views. And Siddharta Buddha’s views had their uniqueness. Despite that just as his birth place or the place where his enlightenment took place seems to have the association of traditional sacred places and just as one could read in him the Sun god Kapila incarnate similarly methinks his sermons were tradition retold and refreshed. As per Buddhist tradition he gave 84000
sermons in all and it is claimed that all those sermons were enshrined in the Tripitak or the three baskets of knowledge. It is further claimed that Siddhartaa Buddha delivered his sermons in the language of the common men. He spoke in Pali.

Now one might ask what is Pali language like. Because the common belief is that the language of ancient India was Sanskrit. Well the Buddha we are talking of was a historical personage. Although there is dispute among the scholars as to the exact date of his birth or death or mahaparinibban. He strode the world in the 6th century BC by common consent. So if Pali were the language of the common men of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in the 6th centuy BC what was the status of Sanskrit in the then India ? This has triggered off numerous theories As per official history the Vedas date back to at least 1500 BC. The present author feels that they were older still. But let us not dwell on that for the time being The point is that those who composed the Vedic hymns composed them in their own tongue Since then Sanskrit language dominated Indian literature in North India till the advent of Islam in the 11th century No wonder that the language of the Vedas and that of classical Sanskrit are quite different