A History of Pāli Literature

The first major part of the work investigates the origin and historical position of Pāli, followed by an extensive examination of the chronology of the Pāli Canon. Law then surveys the three divisions of the Tipiṭaka: the Vinaya Piṭaka, Sutta Piṭaka, and Abhidhamma Piṭaka. Within the Sutta Piṭaka, individual attention is given to the Dīgha, Majjhima, Saṃyutta, Aṅguttara, and Khuddaka Nikāyas. The author discusses questions of date, composition, textual transmission, literary character, language, and parallel traditions, while also considering scholarly debates concerning the relative chronology of canonical materials. 

The second part extends the investigation beyond the canonical corpus to extra-canonical works, Pāli commentaries, chronicles, manuals, literary compositions, grammatical and lexicographical works, and treatises on prosody. In this way, the book presents Pāli literature as a continuous intellectual tradition rather than restricting its scope to the Tipiṭaka. Its breadth of primary-text references and engagement with earlier scholarship make it an important reference work for the historical study of Pāli Buddhism and Buddhist textual traditions.

Contents

PART I

Introduction

Chapter 1. Chronology of the Pāli Canon

Chapter 2. Canonical Pāli Literature

• Section I — Vinaya Piṭaka

• Section II — Sutta Piṭaka

  • Dīgha Nikāya

  • Majjhima Nikāya

  • Saṃyutta Nikāya

  • Aṅguttara Nikāya

  • Khuddaka Nikāya

• Section III — Abhidhamma Piṭaka

Chapter 3. Pāli Counterparts of the Seven Abhidhamma Treatises of the Sarvāstivāda School

PART II

Introduction

Chapter 4. Extra-Canonical Works Presupposed by Pāli Commentaries

Chapter 5. Pāli Commentaries

Chapter 6. Pāli Chronicles

Chapter 7. Pāli Manuals

Chapter 8. Pāli Literary Pieces

Chapter 9. Pāli Grammars, Lexicographies, and Works of Prosody, etc.

Conclusion