{{Short description|Manuscripts made out of dried palm leaves}} [[File:Pārameśvaratantra (Camb. Univ. Lib. MS Add.1049.1).jpg|thumb|This palm-leaf manuscript from Nepal, which is one of the oldest known dated Sanskrit manuscripts, is a copy of the ''Pārameśvaratantra'', a scripture related to Shaiva Siddhanta, which claims Shiva to be ''Pārameśvara''. A note in the manuscript states that it was copied in the year 252, which some scholars judge to be of the era established by the Nepalese king Amśuvaran, corresponding to 828 CE. Cambridge University Library]] [[File:Odia palm leaf manuscript.JPG|thumb|Palm leaf manuscripts of 16th century in Odia script]] [[File:Bhagavata Purana (Ancient Stories of the Lord) Manuscript LACMA M.88.134.4 (1 of 2).jpg|thumb|16th-century Hindu Bhagavata Purana on palm leaf manuscript]] [[File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Geschrift op lontarblad TMnr 1534-8b.jpg|thumb|A palm leaf Hindu text manuscript (Lontara) from Bali, Indonesia, showing how the manuscripts were tied into a book.]] '''Palm-leaf manuscripts''' were used as writing material in the Indian subcontinent, dating back to as early as the 5th century BCE.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cedar.buffalo.edu/~zshi/Papers/kbcs04_261.pdf |title=Digital Enhancement of Palm Leaf Manuscript Images using Normalization Techniques |author1=Zhixin Shi| author2=Srirangaraj Setlur |author3=Venu Govindaraju |access-date=2009-06-23 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100616064125/http://www.cedar.buffalo.edu/~zshi/Papers/kbcs04_261.pdf |archive-date=2010-06-16 |location=Amherst, US|publisher=SUNY at Buffalo}}</ref> Their use began in Nepal and India and spread to other regions, such as Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, in the form of dried and smoke-treated Palmyra or talipot palm leaves.<ref name="pbs.org"> {{citation |chapter-url=https://www.pbs.org/thestoryofindia/gallery/photos/10.html |chapter=10. Literature |title=The Story of India - Photo Gallery |at=Explore the topic, palm-leaf manuscripts |publisher=PBS |access-date=2013-11-13 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113000647/http://www.pbs.org/thestoryofindia/gallery/photos/10.html |archive-date=2013-11-13 }} </ref> Their use continued until the 19th century when the printing press replaced hand-written manuscripts.<ref name="pbs.org"/>
One of the oldest surviving complete palm leaf manuscripts is a Sanskrit Shaivism text from the 9th century, discovered in Nepal, and now preserved at the Cambridge University Library.<ref name=cupparameshplm>[http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-ADD-01049-00001/9 Pārameśvaratantra (MS Add.1049.1) with images] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308183704/http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-ADD-01049-00001/9 |date=2016-03-08 }}, Puṣkarapārameśvaratantra, University of Cambridge (2015)</ref> The Spitzer Manuscript is a collection of palm leaf fragments found in Kizil Caves, China. They are dated to around the 2nd century CE and is in Buddhist hybrid Sanskrit.<ref>{{cite journal|title= The Oldest Philosophical Manuscript in Sanskrit| author= Eli Franco| journal= Journal of Indian Philosophy| volume=31| number= 1/3| year=2003| pages= 21–31| doi= 10.1023/A:1024690001755| jstor= 23497034| s2cid= 169685693}};<br />{{cite journal|title= Three Notes on the Spitzer Manuscript| author=Eli Franco|journal= Journal of South Asian Studies| year=2005|volume=49| pages=109–111| jstor= 24007655}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author = Noriyuki Kudo| title= Review: Eli FRANCO (ed.), The Spitzer Manuscript: The Oldest Philosophical Manuscript in Sanskrit, 2 vols| journal= Nagoya Studies in Indian Culture and Buddhism: Saṃbhāṣā |volume= 26| year= 2007| pages= 169–173}}</ref>
== History == [[File:Sinhala palm-leaf medical manuscripts, open leaves, large image..JPG|thumb|right|A medical manuscript in Sinhala, {{circa|1700}}]] 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.<ref name="pbs.org"/> 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.<ref name="aghosheia" />
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'').<ref name=aghosheia>Amalananda Ghosh (1991), An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology, BRILL Academic, {{ISBN|978-9004092648}}, pages 360-361</ref> 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.<ref name=aghosheia/>
Hindu temples often served as centers where ancient manuscripts were routinely used for learning and where the texts were copied when they wore out.<ref>John Guy and Jorrit Britschgi (2011), Wonder of the Age: Master Painters of India, 1100-1900, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, {{ISBN|978-1588394309}}, page 19</ref> 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.<ref>Saraju Rath (2012), Aspects of Manuscript Culture in South India, Brill Academic, {{ISBN|978-9004219007}}, pages ix, 158-168, 252-259</ref> 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.<ref>Hartmut Scharfe (2002), ''From Temple schools to Universities'', in Handbook of Oriental Studies, Brill Academic, {{ISBN|978-9004125568}}, pages 183-186</ref> 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.<ref>Wayne A. Wiegand and Donald Davis (1994), Encyclopedia of Library History, Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0824057879}}, page 350</ref>
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.<ref name=cupparameshplm/> The discovered palm-leaf collection also includes a few parts of another text, the ''Jñānārṇavamahātantra,'' currently held by the University of Cambridge.<ref name=cupparameshplm/>
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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.asianart.com/articles/tamsuks/ |title=Conservation and Digitisation of Rolled Palm Leaf Manuscripts in Nepal |publisher=Asianart.com |date=2005-11-14 |access-date=2013-11-13 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113113037/http://www.asianart.com/articles/tamsuks/ |archive-date=2013-11-13 }}</ref><ref>Yeh, Shu-hwei. (2005). [https://web.archive.org/web/20120308100730/http://www.lac.org.tw/admin/ArticleFolder/2/75%E6%9C%9F/3643-75-15.pdf A Study of the ''Cataloging of the Palm Leaves Manuscripts (論述貝葉經整理與編目工作)'']. 中華民國圖書館學會會報, 75, 213-235.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.laomanuscripts.net |title=Digital Library of Lao Manuscripts |publisher=Laomanuscripts.net |access-date=2013-11-13 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131114063433/http://www.laomanuscripts.net/ |archive-date=2013-11-14 }}</ref>
==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, Malayalam, and so forth, may be an adaptation to the use of palm leaves, as angular letters could tear the leaves apart.<ref>Sanford Steever, 'Tamil Writing'; Kuipers & McDermott, 'Insular Southeast Asian Scripts', in Daniels & Bright, ''The World's Writing Systems'', 1996, p. 426, 480</ref>
== Regional variations == [[File:1 Sravakapratikramasutra-curni of Vijayasimha Indian, Jain, 1260, Mewar, Rajputana, India. Boston, MFA.jpg|thumb|A Jain palm leaf manuscript from Rajasthan]]
=== 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bernon |first1=Olivier de |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iV5ezwEACAAJ |title=Inventaire provisoire des manuscrits du Cambodge deuxième partie |last2=Sopheap |first2=Kun |last3=Kok-An |first3=Leng |date=2018 |publisher=École française d'Extrême-Orient |isbn=978-2-85539-255-4 |pages=xiii |language=fr}}</ref>
=== India === In the city of Thanjavur in India, priceless palm-leaf manuscripts are preserved. The Saraswathi Mahal Library, established around year 1700 and located in the premises of the palace, contains over 30,000 Indian and European manuscripts written on palm leaf and paper. Over eighty per cent of its manuscripts are in Sanskrit and many of them are on palm leaves.
[[File:সাঁচিপাতৰ পুথি.JPG|thumb|left|''Sanchipat'', from Assam]] ==== Assam ==== {{main|Sanchipat}} Assam has a related tradition of agarwood-bark strung manuscripts since the 7th century, called ''sanchipat''. The strips of bark are cut in similar dimensions to other Indian ''pothi'', and strung accordingly. ''Sanchipat'' are uniquely resilient in the humid, tropical climate of Assam; it is prepared with toxic materials that make it anti-fungal and pest-resistant.<ref name=Goswami>{{Citation |title=Descriptive Catalogue of Assamese Manuscripts |last=Goswami |first=Hemchandra |url=https://ia801505.us.archive.org/18/items/in.ernet.dli.2015.68268/2015.68268.Descriptive-Catalogue-Of-Assamese-Manuscripts_text.pdf |publisher=University of Calcutta |year=1930}}</ref>
==== 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.<ref name="Siddha2002">{{cite book|author=Nāgārjuna Siddha|title=Conjugal Love in India: Ratiśāstra and Ratiramaṇa : Text, Translation, and Notes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BYLxoOxV2z8C&pg=PA3|access-date=28 March 2013|year=2002|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-12598-8|pages=3–}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/offtrack/story/19980928-ancient-palm-leaf-manuscripts-are-in-danger-of-crumbling-away-827830-1998-09-27|title=Ancient palm-leaf manuscripts are in danger of crumbling away|date=28 September 1998 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140104205433/http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/ancient-palm-leaf-manuscripts-are-in-danger-of-crumbling-away/1/265760.html|archive-date=2014-01-04}}</ref>
==== Kerala ==== <gallery mode="packed" heights="150px"> 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 </gallery>
==== Tamil Nadu ==== thumb|16th-century Christian prayers in Tamil, on palm leaf manuscripts 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.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=degUAAAAIAAJ|title=The Smile of Murugan: On Tamil Literature of South India|last=Zvelebil|first=Kamil|date=1973-01-01|publisher=BRILL|isbn=9004035915|language=en}}</ref> 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.<ref>[http://bhashaindia.com/Patrons/SuccessStories/Pages/Kannan.aspx Interview: Digitalizing heritage for the coming generation.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111017105111/http://bhashaindia.com/Patrons/SuccessStories/Pages/Kannan.aspx |date=2011-10-17 }} Bhasha India. Microsoft. Retrieved 17 January 2012.</ref>
=== Indonesia === {{redirect|Lontar manuscript|the manuscripts of the Bugis people|Lontara}} In Indonesia, the palm-leaf manuscript is called '''lontar'''. The Indonesian word is the modern form of Old Javanese ''{{lang|kaw|rontal}}''. It is composed of two Old Javanese words, namely ''{{lang|kaw|ron}}'' "leaf" and ''{{lang|kaw|tal}}'' "''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 ''{{lang|kaw|rontal}}'' still survives in Bali, performed by Balinese Brahmin as a sacred duty to rewrite Hindu texts.
[[File:Arjunawiwaha canto 5.jpg|thumb|Balinese palm-leaf manuscript of ''Kakawin Arjunawiwāha'']] 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 Siksa Kandang Karesian,'' and the ''Bujangga Manik''.
=== Myanmar (Burma) === thumb|A 19th-century palm-leaf manuscript called ''kammawa'' from Bagan, Myanmar 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.<ref name=":1">{{Citation |last=Emmrich |first=Christoph |title=From Manuscript to Print in South and Southeast Asia |date=2021-05-26 |url=https://oxfordre.com/religion/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.001.0001/acrefore-9780199340378-e-582 |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.582 |isbn=978-0-19-934037-8 |access-date=2023-03-01|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The use of ''pesa'' dates back to 12th century Bagan, but the majority of existent pesa date to the 1700-1800s.<ref name=":1" /> Key historical sources, including Burmese chronicles, were first originally recorded using ''pesa''.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">{{Citation |last=Goh |first=Geok Yian |title=Commercial Networks and Economic Structures of Theravada Buddhist Southeast Asia (Thailand and Myanmar) |date=2021-02-23 |url=https://oxfordre.com/asianhistory/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277727-e-546 |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.013.546 |isbn=978-0-19-027772-7 |access-date=2023-03-01|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The Burmese word for "literature", ''sape'' (စာပေ) is derived from the word ''pesa.<ref name=":1" />''
In the 17th century, decorated palm leaf manuscripts called {{IAST|kammavācā}} or ''kammawasa'' (ကမ္မဝါစာ) emerged.<ref name=":2" /> The earliest such manuscript dates to 1683.<ref name=":2" /><ref>The manuscript is called {{lang|my|ပဉ္စနိပါတ် အင်္ဂုတ္တိုရ် အဋ္ဌကထာ}} in Burmese.</ref> These decorated manuscripts include ornamental motifs and are inscribed with ink on lacquered palm leaves gilded with gold leaf.<ref name=":2" /> ''Akasayavaca'' manuscripts are written using a tamarind-seed typeface similar to the style used in Burmese stone inscriptions.<ref name=":2" /> Palm-leaf manuscripts continued to be produced in the country well into the 20th century.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=The Project to Digitize |url=https://mmdl.utoronto.ca/about/the-project-to-digitize/ |access-date=2023-03-25 |website=Myanmar Manuscript Digital Library}}</ref>
The Universities' Central Library in Yangon houses the country's largest collection of traditional manuscripts, including 15,000 ''pesa''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2018 |title=The Documentary heritage of Myanmar: selected case studies |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000370600?posInSet=1&queryId=84896d88-79b6-4a07-92a4-82a6352fa98d |access-date=2023-02-28 |website=UNESCO}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Archives |url=https://mmdl.utoronto.ca/about/archives/ |access-date=2023-03-25 |website=Myanmar Manuscript Digital Library}}</ref><ref name=":3" /> The digitised manuscripts are available at the open-access Myanmar Manuscript Digital Library.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-04-27 |title=U of T's Myanmar Digital Library of rare manuscripts and artefacts opens access to scholars worldwide |url=https://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/news/u-ts-myanmar-digital-library-rare-manuscripts-and-artefacts-opens-access-scholars-worldwide |access-date=2023-03-25 |website=Faculty of Arts & Science |language=en}}</ref>
==Preparation and preservation== thumb|Press used for preparing palm leaves for writing. 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.<ref>Padmakumar, P. K., Sreekumar, V. B., Rangan, V. V., & Renuuka, C. (2003). Palm Leaves as Writing Material: History and Methods of Processing in Kerala. ''PALMS, 47''(3), 125-129.</ref><ref>Kumar, D. U., Sreekumar, G. V., Athvankar, U. A. (2009). Traditional writing system in Southern India — Palm leaf manuscripts. ''Design Thoughts, 7'', 2-7.</ref>
== 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== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== *Production of manuscripts **[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lCIwWwPP0I "Engraving Balinese letter on a Lontar at Udayana University Bali"]. Published by Lontar Library of Udayana University on 22 Jan 2012. **[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yPk3KmNZdw "How to ink up an inscribed palm leaf manuscript"]. Published by Mellon Sawyer Seminar Eurasian Manuscripts of University of Iowa on 22 Feb 2017. **[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G7Nd5Y6UCE "How to make the Palm Leaf Manuscripts"]. Published by Palm Leaf Manuscript Study & Research Library of University of Kelaniya on 20 Jul 2016. **[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrCQPoR3yAo "Ola Leaf manuscripts"]. Published by OpportunitySriLanka.com on 4 Dec 2013. *Preservation of manuscripts **[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Km27fLSZxxg "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. **[http://tamilnews24x7.com/thalayangam_details.php?id=33 "தமிழ் சுவடிகள்: உண்மையும் நமது கடமையும்"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806030101/http://tamilnews24x7.com/thalayangam_details.php?id=33 |date=2020-08-06 }}. Published by Neelakandan Nagarajan Researcher Tamil Manuscripts, International Institute of Tamil Studies, Tharamani, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, On 8 July 2019 **[http://tamilnews24x7.com/thalayangam_details.php?id=34 "தமிழ் சுவடிகள்: உண்மையும் நமது கடமையும் [பாகம் 2]"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806024056/http://tamilnews24x7.com/thalayangam_details.php?id=34 |date=2020-08-06 }}. Published by Neelakandan Nagarajan Researcher Tamil Manuscripts, International Institute of Tamil Studies, Tharamani, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, On 14 Juல்ய் 2020
==External links== {{Commons category|Palm-leaf manuscripts}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20131113000647/http://www.pbs.org/thestoryofindia/gallery/photos/10.html Palm-leaf manuscripts at Asiatic Library, Calcutta] * [https://mmdl.utoronto.ca/ Myanmar Manuscript Digital Library at University of Toronto] * {{YouTube|id=Q72KDDMnjp4|title=Making a palm-leaf manuscript}}
{{Writing}}
Category:Manuscripts by type Category:Palm trees in culture Category:Memory of the World Register Category:Hindu literature