Palm-leaf Manuscript

Palm-leaf manuscripts are manuscripts made out of dried palm leaves. Palm leaves were used as writing materials in the Indian subcontinent and in Southeast Asia dating back to the 5th century BCE. Their use began in South Asia and spread to other regions, as texts on dried and smoke-treated palm leaves of the Palmyra or talipot palm.

Their use continued until the 19th century when printing presses replaced hand-written manuscripts.

One of the oldest surviving palm leaf manuscripts of a complete treatise is a Sanskrit Shaivism text from the 9th century, discovered in Nepal, and now preserved at the Cambridge University Library.Pārameśvaratantra (MS Add.1049.1) with images
, Puṣkarapārameśvaratantra, University of Cambridge (2015) The Spitzer Manuscript is a collection of palm leaf fragments found in Kizil Caves, China. They are dated to about the 2nd century CE and related to Buddhist hybrid Sanskrit.

History

The text in palm leaf manuscripts was inscribed with a knife pen on rectangular cut and cured palm leaf sheets; colourings were then applied to the surface and wiped off, leaving the ink in the incised grooves. Typically, each sheet had a hole through which a string could pass, and using these holes, the sheets were bound together like a book by tying them together with a string. Such palm leaf texts typically had a lifespan of between a few decades and roughly 600 years before they started to rot due to moisture, insect activity, mould, and fragility. Thus the document had to be copied onto new sets of dried palm leaves. The oldest surviving palm leaf Indian manuscripts have been found in colder, drier climates such as in parts of Nepal, Tibet, and central Asia, the source of 1st-millennium CE manuscripts.

The individual sheets of palm leaves were called ''Patra'' or ''Parna'' in Sanskrit (Pali/Prakrit: ''Panna''), and the medium when ready to write was called ''Tada-patra'' (or ''Tala-patra'', ''Tali'', ''Tadi'').Amalananda Ghosh (1991), An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology, BRILL Academic, , pages 360-361 The famous 5th-century CE Indian manuscript called the Bower Manuscript discovered in Chinese Turkestan, was written on birch-bark sheets shaped in the form of treated palm leaves.

Hindu temples often served as centers where ancient manuscripts were routinely used for learning and where the texts were copied when they wore out. In South India, temples and associated mutts served custodial functions, and a large number of manuscripts on Hindu philosophy, poetry, grammar, and other subjects were written, multiplied, and preserved inside the temples. Archaeological and epigraphical evidence indicates the existence of libraries called ''Sarasvati-bhandara'', dated possibly to the early 12th century and employing librarians, attached to Hindu temples. Palm-leaf manuscripts were also preserved inside Jain temples and in Buddhist monasteries.

With the spread of Indian culture to Southeast Asian countries like as Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, and the Philippines, these nations also became home to large collections. Palm-leaf manuscripts called ''Lontar'' in dedicated stone libraries have been discovered by archaeologists at Hindu temples in Bali (Indonesia) and in 10th century Cambodian temples such as Angkor Wat and Banteay Srei.

One of the oldest surviving Sanskrit manuscripts on palm leaves is of the ''Parameshvaratantra'', a Shaiva Siddhanta text of Hinduism. It is from the 9th century, and dated to about 828 CE. The discovered palm-leaf collection also includes a few parts of another text, the ''Jñānārṇavamahātantra,'' currently held by the University of Cambridge.

With the introduction of printing in the early 19th century, the cycle of copying from palm leaves mostly came to an end. Many governments are making efforts to preserve what is left of their palm-leaf documents.

Relationship with the development of writing systems

The round and cursive design of the letters of many Brahmic scripts such as Devanagari, Nandinagari, Kannada, Telugu, Lontara, Javanese, Balinese, Odia, Burmese, Tamil, Khmer, and so forth, may be an adaptation to the use of palm leaves, as angular letters could tear the leaves apart.

Regional variations

Cambodia

Palm-leaf manuscripts or ''sleuk rith'' as they are known in the Khmer language, can be found in Cambodia since Angkorian times as can be seen from at least one bas-relief on the walls of Angkor Wat. While they were of major importance until the 20th century, French archeologist Olivier de Bernon estimated that about 90% of all the ''sleuk rith'' were lost in the turmoil of the Cambodian Civil War while new supports such as ''codex'' books or digital media took over. Since then, conservation efforts have been made in pagodas such as at Wat Ounalom in Phnom Penh.

India

In the city of Thanjavur in India, priceless palm-leaf manuscripts are preserved.

Odisha

Palm leaf manuscripts of Odisha include scriptures, pictures of Devadasi, and various mudras of the ''Kama Sutra''. Some of the early discoveries of Odia palm leaf manuscripts include writings like ''Smaradipika'', ''Ratimanjari'', ''Pancasayaka,'' and ''Anangaranga'' in both Odia and Sanskrit. The State Museum of Odisha at Bhubaneswar houses 40,000 palm leaf manuscripts. Most of them are written in the Odia script, though the language is Sanskrit. The oldest manuscript here belongs to the 14th century but the text can be dated to the 2nd century.

Kerala

File:Palm leaf manuscript Grantham.jpg, Palm leaf manuscript
File:Palm leaf manuscript. IMG 20210815 190725.jpg, Palm leaf manuscript
File:Palm leaf manuscript IMG 20210815 185730.jpg, Palm leaf manuscript

Tamil Nadu

In 1997 The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) recognised the Tamil Medical Manuscript Collection as part of the Memory of the World Register. A very good example of the usage of palm leaf manuscripts to store history is a Tamil grammar book named Tolkāppiyam, written around the 3rd century BCE. A global digitalization project led by the Tamil Heritage Foundation collects, preserves, digitizes, and makes ancient palm-leaf manuscript documents available to users via the internet.

Indonesia

In Indonesia, the palm-leaf manuscript is called lontar. The Indonesian word is the modern form of Old Javanese '. It is composed of two Old Javanese words, namely ' "leaf" and ' "''Borassus flabellifer'', palmyra palm". Due to the shape of the Palmyra palm's leaves, which are spread like a fan, these trees are also known as "fan trees". The leaves of the ''rontal'' tree have always been used for many purposes, such as for the making of plaited mats, palm sugar wrappers, water scoops, ornaments, ritual tools, and writing material. Today, the art of writing in ' still survives in Bali, performed by Balinese Brahmin as a sacred duty to rewrite Hindu texts.

Many old manuscripts dated from ancient Java, Indonesia, were written on ''rontal'' palm-leaf manuscripts. Manuscripts dated from the 14th to 15th century during the Majapahit period. Some were found even earlier, like the '' Arjunawiwaha'', the '' Smaradahana'', the ''Nagarakretagama'', and the ''Kakawin Sutasoma'', which were discovered on the neighboring islands of Bali and Lombok. This suggested that the tradition of preserving, copying, and rewriting palm-leaf manuscripts continued for centuries. Other palm-leaf manuscripts include Sundanese language works: the '' Carita Parahyangan'', the '' Sanghyang Siksakandang Karesian,'' and the '' Bujangga Manik''.

Myanmar (Burma)

In Myanmar, the palm-leaf manuscript is called ''pesa'' (ပေစာ). In the pre-colonial era, along with folding-book manuscripts, ''pesa'' was a primary medium of transcribing texts, including religious scriptures, and administrative and juridical records. The use of ''pesa'' dates back to 12th century Bagan, but the majority of existent pesa date to the 1700-1800s. Key historical sources, including Burmese chronicles, were first originally recorded using ''pesa''. The Burmese word for "literature", ''sape'' (စာပေ) is derived from the word ''pesa.''

In the 17th century, decorated palm leaf manuscripts called or ''kammawasa'' (ကမ္မဝါစာ) emerged. The earliest such manuscript dates to 1683. These decorated manuscripts include ornamental motifs and are inscribed with ink on lacquered palm leaves gilded with gold leaf. ''Kammavaca'' manuscripts are written using a tamarind-seed typeface similar to the style used in Burmese stone inscriptions. Palm-leaf manuscripts continued to be produced in the country well into the 20th century.

The Universities' Central Library in Yangon houses the country's largest collection of traditional manuscripts, including 15,000 ''pesa''. In February 2013, the Pali Text Society, Sendai University, and the University of Toronto, along with local partners, began an ongoing initiative to digitise and catalogue Myanmar's palm-leaf manuscripts, including collections from U Pho Thi Library in Thaton, and Bagaya Monastery in Inwa. The digitised manuscripts are available at the open-access Myanmar Manuscript Digital Library.

Preparation and preservation

The palm leaves are first cooked and dried. The writer then uses a stylus to inscribe letters. Natural colourings are applied to the surface so the ink will stick to the grooves. This process is similar to intaglio printing. Afterwards, a clean cloth is used to wipe out the excess ink and the leaf manuscript is done.Kumar, D. U., Sreekumar, G. V., Athvankar, U. A. (2009). Traditional writing system in Southern India — Palm leaf manuscripts. ''Design Thoughts, 7'', 2-7.

See also

* Birch bark manuscript
* Folding-book manuscript
* Gandhāran Buddhist texts
* Ho trai, library of Thai Temple
* Pitakataik, scriptural libraries in Myanmar
* Orihon, a concertina-folded book format originating in China and popularized in Japan
* Palm Leaf Manuscript Museum, Thiruvananthapuram, world's first and largest Palm-leaf Manuscript Museum
* U Pho Thi Library

References

Further reading

*Production of manuscripts

"Engraving Balinese letter on a Lontar at Udayana University Bali"
Published by Lontar Library of Udayana University on 22 Jan 2012.

"How to ink up an inscribed palm leaf manuscript"
Published by Mellon Sawyer Seminar Eurasian Manuscripts of University of Iowa on 22 Feb 2017.

"How to make the Palm Leaf Manuscripts"
Published by Palm Leaf Manuscript Study & Research Library of University of Kelaniya on 20 Jul 2016.

"Ola Leaf manuscripts"
Published by OpportunitySriLanka.com on 4 Dec 2013.
*Preservation of manuscripts

"Traditional preservation method for oiling palm leaf manuscript leaves in Myanmar"
Video by Hlaing Hlaing Gyi at the University of Yangon Library in Myanmar. Uploaded 20 Oct 2016.
**Jarusawat, P., & Cox, A. M. (2023). Community-driven care of Lanna palm-leaf manuscripts. ''IFLA Journal'', 49(1), 132–142.

"தமிழ் சுவடிகள்: உண்மையும் நமது கடமையும்"
. Published by Neelakandan Nagarajan Researcher Tamil Manuscripts, International Institute of Tamil Studies, Tharamani, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, On 8 July 2019

"தமிழ் சுவடிகள்: உண்மையும் நமது கடமையும் [பாகம் 2]"
. Published by Neelakandan Nagarajan Researcher Tamil Manuscripts, International Institute of Tamil Studies, Tharamani, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, On 14 Juல்ய் 2020

External links

Myanmar Manuscript Digital Library at University of Toronto
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Manuscripts by type
Palm trees in culture
Memory of the World Register
Hindu literature