Ancient manuscripts - the methods of writing them down

[renaldo]

@renaldo

As we can see, stone and then clay tablets last the longest by far, and there is very little doubt that Buddhist Kings in the future will construct more of them, in the tradition of Asoka and Mindon, etc., given the opportunity. Historically, however, the most frequently used medium for creating Buddhist texts in Southeast Asian countries has been palm-leaf manuscripts.

Paper was not commonly produced in pre-colonial Southeast Asia for a number of reasons. One being the high humidity. Paper molds quickly in tropical climates. Palm leaves resist decay better when oiled. Another was the extensive monsoon rains. Excessive flooding could easily destroy paper stores. Palm-leaf manuscripts were also cheaper to produce locally, without any complex paper-making infrastructure needed to create them. Paper making was also more labor-intensive.

There was some limited amount of paper production in some areas. Shan people, for example, did produce some paper. But the majority of the paper that reached Southeast Asia was bamboo paper imported from China, which was very expensive and had to be acquired via maritime trade.

So palm-leaf manuscripts (which are made from dried and treated palm leaves and can last up to 1,500+ years in the best-case scenario, but usually last 100 to 300+ years in Southeast Asian climates) have traditionally been the primary form of text used to preserve the Dhamma in Southeast Asian Buddhist countries, and due to the challenges with making and acquiring paper, if Western civilization does fall (as was discussed here), it is very likely that Southeast Asian monks will go back to preserving the Buddhist texts via the creation of palm-leaf manuscripts again, rather than modern-style printed soft and hardcover books.

That is why it is very important to realise that the skills needed to produce them (which have been increasingly in decline since the introduction of the Western printing press) need to be preserved.

I came across this video of a Cambodian palm-leaf manuscript maker who, along with three or four others from his remote village, creates these traditional manuscripts. This is a very inspirational video, even though it is only three minutes and thirty-one seconds long.

Withering leaves: Who’s going to save the palm leaf manuscripts from disappearing in Cambodia?

A dwindling number of people across South and Southeast Asia possess these skills. Watching the video caused me to feel a great deal of respect for these people. It would be nice if I could learn this skill myself and teach it to others.

It’s obvious that the market for these texts is diminutive, and if the market for them were bigger, more villagers would learn this technique, make the texts by hand, and sell them for a profit. It occurred to me that every Southeast Asian home that can afford one should really have at least one traditional palm-leaf manuscript text in their home, created by a scribe from their respective country. This would be a great means of cultural preservation. Buddhists all over the world should also pursue such texts. If they did, the art form would not fall into obsolescence.

Renaldo