The Charyapada is a collection of mystical poems, songs of realization in the Vajrayāna tradition of Buddhism from the tāntric tradition in Assam, Bengal, Bihar and Odisha.
It was compiled between the 8th and 12th centuries in late Apabhraṃśa or various Abahaṭṭha dialects, representing the formative stage of the Eastern Indo-Aryan languages. It was written during a period when the northeastern Prākrit languages had not yet differentiated into later forms, or they were just getting differentiated. Scholars of many eastern Indo-Aryan languages, such as Assamese, Bengali, Maithili, and Odia find features of these languages in the language of this work. A palm-leaf manuscript of the Charyāpada was rediscovered in the early 20th century by Haraprasād Shāstrī at the Nepal Royal Court Library. The Charyāpada was also preserved in the Tibetan Buddhist canon.
