A very excellent edition of the twentyseven canonical books has been recently printed there, and there exist in our European libraries a number of Pali MSS.
An outline of the history of the Pali alphabet has been given, with illustrations and references to the authorities, in Rhys Davids's Buddhist India, pp. 107-140.
Franke in two articles in the Journal of the Pali Text Society for 1903, and in his Geschichte and Kritik der einheimischen Pali Grammatik.
The question of Pali becomes therefore threefold: Pali before the canon, the canon, and the writings subsequent the canon.
Franke, Geschichte and Kritik der einheimischen Pali-Grammatik and Lexicographic, and Pali and Sanskrit (Strassburg, 1902); D.
At p. 66 of the Gandha Vamsa, a modern catalogue of Pali books and authors, written in Pali, there is given a list of ten authors who wrote Pali books in India, probably southern India.
In Burma, on the other hand, where Pali was probably introduced from Ceylon, no writings in Pali can be dated before the nth century of our era.
The Burmese alphabet is borrowed from the Aryan Sanskrit through the Pali of Upper India.
About a century before this the Dipa-vamsa, or Island Chronicle, had been composed in Pali verse so indifferent that it is apparently the work of a beginner in Pali composition.
Hardy, London, Pali Text Society, 1902), especially the Introduction, passim; Theri Gatha Commentary, Peta Vatthu Commentary, and Vimana Vatthu Commentary, all three published by the Pali Text Society.