ICCR organises conference on Pali as classical language in Colombo - The Hindu

You don’t have any Active Subscription.

Subscribed with another email? Logout and Login with that one.

Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription

Weather News November 3, 2026 e-Paper

The View From India Looking at World Affairs from the Indian perspective.

First Day First Show News and reviews from the world of cinema and streaming.

Today's Cache Your download of the top 5 technology stories of the day.

Science For All The weekly newsletter from science writers takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in!

Data Point Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers

THEdge At the cutting edge of education and careers

Health Matters Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there

Gender Agenda Stories from beyond the binary.

The Hindu On Books Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features.

Published - October 24, 2024 11:36 pm IST - NEW DELHI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi exchanges greetings with people during the ceremony in celebration of International Abhidhamma Divas and recognition of Pali as classical language, in New Delhi on October 17. | Photo Credit: ANI

The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) on Thursday held a conference of Buddhist monks and scholars in Colombo on bequeathing Pali the status of a classical language by the Indian government.

Buddhist scholars and the monastic community from Sri Lanka, Nepal, Myanmar and Bangladesh participated in the conference.

The scholars underlined the significance of Pali in preserving the “Dhamma” and propagating Buddhist practices. They commended the Indian government’s decision to confer classical language status on Pali.

The scholars welcomed it as a reflection of India’s deep commitment to preserving and propagating Buddhist heritage and culture, according to officials in the ICCR.

Thanking the participants on X, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the government’s decision of conferring classical language status on Pali has ignited a spirit of joy among believers of Buddhism.

The government had on October 3 approved classical language status for Marathi, Bengali, Assamese, Pali, and Prakrit.

Pali is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist Pali Canon or Tipiṭaka as well as the sacred language of Theravāda Buddhism.

Pali is studied mainly to gain access to Buddhist scriptures, and is frequently chanted in a ritual context. The great centres of Pali learning remain in Sri Lanka and other Southeast Asian nations like Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.

Published - October 24, 2024 11:36 pm IST

Copyright© 2026, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.

Terms & conditions | Institutional Subscriber

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.