Re: Pali composition

This is a good question, and others should contribute, however:

It is alleged and presumed [passive voice] that there are new
masterpieces of Pali composition produced in Thailand for every
funeral in the Royal family, and on numerous other official occasions.

These are read aloud to what are alleged and presumed to be
appreciative audiences.

There is also a largely unexamined literature of official
correspondence in Pali.

I believe I sent to this list some mention of the evidence I happened
upon in relation to the revival of Pali as such a medium in "Ariya"
glyphs, as patronized by Thailand's Rama IV.

The Ariya writing system is certainly quite quick for pen-and-quill
hand-writing, in contrast to classical scripts.

I have never read any scholarly analysis or appraisal of the quality
or content of any of these sources: neither the funeral dirges nor the
official letters.

Filliozat wrote an analysis and transcription of one royal letter from
Thailand to Sri Lanka; you may wish to forward your question to her,
along with this reply of mine?

There are actually two "new" compositions of the 1930s, including the
one you mention, in the article I already "compressed" and quoted to
the list:
[Quote:]
The Rev. Widurapola Piyatissa wrote Mahakassapahcarita (1934) and
Mahanekkhamma Campu (1935),
[End quote.]

I will also note that I receall one very non-scholarly work of
original Pali metrical/poetic composition, basically gathering
together anecdotes from fables on the life of the Buddha, of quite
recent composition in Sri Lanka; I forget the name, but I think this
is rarely mentioned as it is not taken seriously.  It is almost purely
about the Buddha's childhood antics and fabled death, with little of
substance in-between (*SIGH*) --as with the focus of many of the
folk-biographies and dramas, dependent upon the Sanskrit tradition,
ultimately.

As I mentioned years ago (to this list): my criterion for a living
language is that husbands and wives still use it as a medium for
disputes and arguments.  Thus, Hebrew is a living language while Pali
is not; Aramaic is a living language, but Latin is not (though they
now have a Latin radio news-service, a Wikipedia, etc.).

E.M.