Palm Leaf Manuscriptshr
Usually religious in content, palm leaf manuscripts abounded in Southeast Asia before the colonial era. It was common for wealthy individuals to commission the creation of an elaborate manuscript as a means of achieving merit. Monks also produced ornate manuscripts in monasteries as labors of love, and may also have used more simply designed ones as textbooks.

In the northern, upland regions of Burma, Thailand, and Laos, Buddhist scriptures in the classical Pali language transcribed into the local orthography were incised on palm leaves with an iron stylus, and the letters were then blackened with a soot paste. In other instances, the text was written in white ink or chalk—or sometimes in gold ink—on stiffened black mulberry paper. Chapters were kept together with string, and the whole works bundled together, often between elaborately decorated or lacquered wooden covers.

The Echols Collection contains several dozen palm leaf manuscripts, all of which were received as gifts.

Kamawa Sar

Pathama uppajjaga ha peta

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