The Pali Literature of Ceylon is of great extent and importance and also of multifarious interest, it is of value alike to the historian and the student of folklore, to the philologist and the student of comparative religion. Broadly speaking, it may be classified under three main heads: First-The Buddhist scriptures, or Tipitaka, which from Pali canon, Second The commentaries (of Buddhaghosa, his contemporaries and successors), exegetical expositions of the text of the Tipitaka compiled as we have them now only after the fifty century of the Christain era, but alleged to be based upon records of distinctly greater antiquity and Third-Historical, grammatical and other works on secular subjects, which have been produced by scholars at various times from about the fifth century to the present day.
