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Studies & Degrees in Pali

Pali is the language of the Pali canon, or Tipitaka, the most complete collection of early Buddhist texts and the scripture of Theravada Buddhism. It is a Middle Indo-Aryan language, related to Sanskrit and the Prakrits. According to the Pali Text Society, the word Pali originally referred to a canonical text or passage rather than to a language, and the canon was written down in the first century BCE after a long period of oral transmission. No single script was ever developed for it: scribes used the scripts of their own languages.

Students of Pali learn the grammar and vocabulary and then read texts. The canon has three divisions: Vinaya (monastic rules), Suttas (discourses) and Abhidhamma (analysis of the teaching). Later works include commentaries and subcommentaries. Courses normally combine the language with Theravada Buddhist doctrine and the early history of Buddhism in South Asia.

Qualifications and levels

Pali is rarely a degree on its own. It is usually studied inside a wider degree in South Asian studies, Sanskrit, Buddhist studies or religion.

  • Within a bachelor's degree. At the University of Oxford, for example, Pali may be studied as part of an undergraduate degree alongside Sanskrit or Classics, and students of the Sanskrit BA choose a second language such as Pali, Prakrit, Hindi or Tibetan.
  • At graduate level. Master's and doctoral students in Indian studies, Buddhist studies and religious studies take Pali classes to read their sources in the original. Oxford states that its Pali classes are also open to students on graduate courses in Indian and religious studies.
  • Short and online courses. The Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies offers on-demand online Pali courses for self-study at three levels. These are language courses, not degrees.

Ask each school whether it expects prior knowledge of Sanskrit, which level of Pali it teaches, how many terms the course runs and whether it counts towards a degree.

Where to study

SpainExchange lists two active schools for Pali: The University of Chicago in the United States and the University of Calcutta in Kolkata, India.

At The University of Chicago the subject belongs to the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations, which offers an undergraduate major leading to a BA as well as a PhD. The department's current list of languages of concentration is Bangla, Hindi, Indo-Persian, Marathi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Tibetan and Urdu. Pali appears in its course catalogue inside other courses, for example one on the history of the Indo-Aryan languages that reads Middle Indic texts, and courses on Theravada Buddhism based on Pali texts. Ask the department how much Pali language teaching is available in a given year.

We could not open the University of Calcutta's own pages when preparing this text, so ask the university which Pali programmes it runs and what the entry requirements are.

Teaching is in English at Chicago and Oxford. The texts are read in Pali.

Careers

Pali is a research language. Graduates who continue with it mostly work in university teaching and research, in the editing and translation of Buddhist texts, in libraries and manuscript collections, or in Buddhist organisations. The Pali Text Society, founded in 1881, publishes editions and translations and offers grants for scholarly research in the field.

An academic career normally requires a doctorate. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, postsecondary teachers typically must have a PhD, and their overall employment in the United States is projected to grow 7 percent from 2025 to 2035. That figure covers all subjects; posts in a small field such as Pali are few.

Frequently asked questions

Is Pali the same as Sanskrit?

No. Both are old Indo-Aryan languages, but Pali is a Middle Indo-Aryan language and the language of the Theravada Buddhist canon. Universities often teach the two side by side.

Can I take a full degree in Pali?

Usually Pali is one part of a wider degree. At the University of Oxford, for example, it is studied alongside Sanskrit or Classics. Ask each school which qualification its Pali courses lead to.

Do I need to learn a new script?

Not necessarily. No single script was ever developed for Pali, and scribes wrote it in the scripts of their own languages. Ask the school which script its course uses.

Can I learn Pali online?

Yes, at the level of a language course. The Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies offers on-demand online Pali courses for self-study at three levels.