Among early Buddhists Pali was considered linguistically similar to, or even a direct
continuation of, the Old Magadhi language. Many
Theravada sources refer to the Pali language as "Magadhan" or the "language of Magadha." This
identification first appears in the commentaries, and may have been an attempt by Buddhists to associate themselves more closely with the Mauryans. The Buddha taught in Magadha, but the four most important places in his life are all outside of it. It is likely that he taught in several closely related dialects of Middle Indo-Aryan, which had a very high degree of mutual intelligibility.
