Sunday Times 2
Royal Asiatic lecture
View(s):A public lecture on ‘Linguistic Diversity in the South Asian Geo-cultural Region 600–100 BCE and the Linguistic Background of Buddhism’ will be delivered by Senior Professor Ratnasiri Arangala on June 30 at the Council Room of the Royal Asiatic Society, 96, Ananda Coomaraswamy Mawatha, Colombo 7 (Mahaweli Centre Building).
The lecture is at 5.30 pm.
Those who wish to could join on
Zoom: Meeting: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/8 9419164596?pwd=ksi6oTFEoxQ6wvUzF
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Meeting ID: 894 1916 4596
Passcode: 340341
YouTube Live: https://youtube.com/ live/5rGU8YV4HEw?feature=share
Between 600 and 100 BCE, South Asia was characterised by considerable linguistic diversity and evidence suggests that it was shaped by the coexistence of major language families: Indo-Aryan (including Sanskrit and Prakrit dialects), Dravidian (including present-day Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam), Austroasiatic (Munda) and Tibeto-Burman languages of the Sino-Tibetan family.
Buddhism emerged in this multilingual context around the 6th century BCE and there is evidence that the Buddha used native Prakrit dialects (most likely a Magadha variety) to make his teachings accessible to the masses.
The early development and spread of Buddhism was deeply intertwined with the complex linguistic landscape of South Asia.