region of western India. Nonetheless, Pali does retain some eastern features that have been referred to as Magadhisms.

Pali, as a Middle Indo-Aryan language, differs from Sanskrit more in terms of its dialectal base than in the time of its origin. A number of its morphological and lexical features show that it is not a direct continuation of {{Transliteration Sanskrit. Instead it descends from one or more dialects that were, despite many similarities,