Pali canon, sacred literature of Buddhism. The texts in the Pali canon are the earliest Buddhist sources, and for Theravada Buddhists, who claim to conserve the original teachings of the Buddh...

Nuuanu Pali, sheer cliff and mountain pass, alt. 1,200 ft (366 m), Koolau Range, SE Oahu island, Hawaii. The pass is the principal route between Honolulu and E Oahu.

Koolau Range, mountain chain, extending northwest-southeast, E Oahu island, Hawaii; rises to 3,105 ft (946 m) in Konahuanui. It is cut by two scenic passes, Nuuanu Pali and Waimanalo Pali, whi...

Buddhist literature. During his lifetime the Buddha taught not in Vedic Sanskrit, which had become unintelligible to the people, but in his own NE Indian dialect; he also encouraged his monks ...

Abhidharma [Skt.,=higher dharma, or doctrine], schools of Buddhist philosophy. Early Buddhism analyzed experience into 5 skandhas or aggregates, and alternatively into 18 dhatus or elements. L...

Prakrit literature. By the 6th cent. B.C. the people of India were speaking and writing languages that were much simpler than classical Sanskrit. These vernacular forms, of which there were se...

Thai language, formerly Siamese, member of the Tai or Thai subfamily of the Sino-Tibetan family of languages (see Sino-Tibetan languages). The official language of Thailand, Thai is spoken by ...

Indian literature. Oral literature in the vernacular languages of India is of great antiquity, but it was not until about the 16th cent. that an extensive written literature appeared. Chief fa...

The Indo-European Family of LanguagesSubfamilyGroupSubgroupLanguages and Principal Dialects* Asterisk indicates a dead language.AnatolianHieroglypic Hittite*, Hittite (Kanesian)*, Luwian*, Lyc...

Prakrit, any of a number of languages belonging to the Indic group of the Indo-Iranian subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Indo-Iranian). The Prakrits are usually classifie...