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Palm-leaf manuscripts

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,[1] and possibly much earlier.Their use began in South Asia, and spread elsewhere, as texts on dried and smoke treated palm leaves of Borassus species (Palmyra palm) or the Ola leaf (leaf of Corypha umbraculifera or the talipot palm).


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The Balinese Digital Library
The Balinese Digital Library
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Almost all of the writings in Balinese were digitized and preserved here in 2011 by the Internet Archive from their major library in Denpasar, Bali.   A official in the cultural ministry said that this collection is "90% of all writings in Balinese."  Most of the Balinese literature is written on palm leaves, or Lontar.  Some were not digitized because of the culturally sensitive materials they contain. This makes the Balinese the first to have...
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Founded in 1823, the  Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland  is dedicated to promoting public interest and scholarly exchange into the histories and cultures of Asia.    One of the ways the Society does this is by providing free public access to its historic collections of books, manuscripts, archives, and artworks, which originate from across Asia. The Society seeks to make as many of its collections as possible freely available online. In...
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The Balinese Digital Library
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Whish Collection
by Jyeṣṭhadeva
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Palm leaf; wooden boards. Manuscript consists of the text of the Yuktibhāṣā by Jyeṣṭhadeva, a consolidation of the discoveries by various astronomer mathematicians of the Kerala school, mainly based on Nilakantha Somayaji's Tantrasaṅgraha (or Tantrasaṃgraha). Inscription on label pasted on board: "Tantrasangraha-valiya Bhāṣā (Yukti-Bhāṣā) in Malayalam language". Inscription on verso of first blank folio: "The Tantra-sangraha valiya Bhāshā; or rather the...
Source: folio
Sinhalese Collection
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244 olas (ka-ti); 525 x 55 mm; 2 cord holes, 7 lines, 120 char., Sinh. medium script, 460 mm; numb. Sinh. letters & European figures in pencil; 2 wooden covers, red lacquered, painted with fine palapeti and liyavala motifs on the rectos, in black, yellow and dark green, illustrated on the first verso with 8 stupa, 2 naga, Adam's Peak or Samantakūṭapabbata with a big chain (symbolises a handrail to help pilgrims climb the peak?) and the Pada of the Buddha on the top, the lying Buddha in a...
Source: folio
The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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Tamil Collection
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Palm leaf MS. A poetical Saiva hagiology.
Source: folio
The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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Whish Collection
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Palm leaf; 4, 5, or 7 lines on a folio. Manuscript consists of various collections of Mantras for Tantric worship, and fragments of Tantric treatises, as follows: 1. A collection of 110 mantras, beginning: oṃ hrīṃ śrīṃ klīṃ āṃ[?] nityakāmeśvarī klīṃ sarvasatvaśankarīsenaḥ sarva trīpuruṣavaśankarī aiṃ klīṃ sauḥ sauḥ klīṃ aiṃ hrīṃ namo bhagavativiccai[?] mahātripurasundaryyai namaḥ etc. 2. A fragment begins on f.11: ādhāre liṃganābhau...
Source: folio
Whish Collection
by Ballāla
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Palm leaf; 9 lines on a folio. Manuscript consists of an incomplete copy of the Bhogaprabandha, a historical romance in prose and verse, by Ballāla. Text begins: svasti śrīmahārājasya Bhojasya prabandhaḥ kathyate | ādau dhārārājye Bandhulasaṃjño rājā ciraṃ prajāḥ paryyapālayat | asya ca vṛddhatve Bhoja iti putras samajani | sa yadā pañcavārṣikaḥ tadā pitā ātmani jarāṃ jñātvā mantrimukhyān āhūya anujam Muñjam mahābalam ālocya putrañ ca bālaṃ...
Source: folio
The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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Hodgson Collection
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Paper; 7 lines on each page. In 30 paṭalas. Text begins: evanmayā śrutamekasminsamaye bhagavāndevīnāṃ bhageṣu yathā vijahārediti (!) | - 1. iti śrīmahākālatantre vārjitasvārthagamanapaṭalaḥ prathamaḥ - f.3v; 2. - kuṇḍābhinayapaṭalavyākhyāne dvitīya | f.4r; 3. - mantrapaṭalaḥ - f.6v; 4. - vajrābhiṣekapaṭalaḥ - f.7r; 5. - tantrarāji devatābhiṣekapaṭalaḥ - f.7v; 6. - paricaryāpaṭala - f.8v; 7. devatotthānaḥ - f.15r; 8....
Source: folio
The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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Burmese Collection
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68 olas (ka-ghaṃ) in 2 bundles (phūk); 585 x 56 mm; 2 cord holes, 5 lines, 72 char., Kham script, 480 mm; numb. Kham letters; gilded edges, 1st & last olas of each bundle, gilded, decorated in brown lacquer with charming floral, squirrels and birds motifs, 1st ola of eachbundle, title in the central cartouche: braḥ pāḷī abhidhammatthasaṅgaha phūk ...; 2 wooden covers. This ms. belongs to the collection of similar bundles kept under RAS BURMESE 30, 31, 33, & 34, same style of...
Source: folio
Hodgson Collection
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Paper; 5 lines on each page. According to Cowell and Eggeling, writing is "modern", i.e. 19th century. MS begins: vālārkkālokatābhrapravarasuraśiraścārucūḍāmaṇiśrīḥ saṃpatsaṃparkkārāgānaticiraracitāraktakavyabhaktī | - Text ends: iti śrīsarvajñamitraviracitaṃ āryatārābhaṭṭārikāyā sragdharāstotraṃ pūrṇaṃ || Manuscript acquired by Hodgson in Nepal. See p. 23 in Cowell, E. B. and Eggeling, J. 'Catalogue of Buddhist Sanskrit manuscripts in...
Source: folio
The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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Whish Collection
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Palm leaf; 11, or sometimes 12, lines on a folio. Manuscript consists of the Ṛgveda-Saṃhitā in the Pada-Pāṭha, accented (for a description of the marking of the accents, see RAS Whish MS 176, South Indian Sanskrit MS 165 in Winternitz catalogue), Aṣṭakas V-VIII. Winternitz notes that there are entries by C. M. Whish dated 'Tellicherry December 1831'. He thinks the MS may be about 50 years older, i.e. the same age as Whish MS 176, but it is written by a different hand. Text begins:...
Source: folio
The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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Whish Collection
by Nilakantha Somayaji
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Palm leaf; 8 or 9 lines on a folio; wooden boards. Inscription on verso of second blank folio: "The Tantrasangrahah + its commentary; in Malayalam. C. M. Whish". Whish / South Indian Sanskrit Manuscript Collection. The manuscript is listed in the synoptical list of manuscript numbers (Whish numbers and Winternitz numbers) at the beginning of ’A catalogue of South Indian Sanskrit manuscripts (especially those of the Whish Collection) belonging to the Royal Asiatic Society of Great...
Source: folio
The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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Whish Collection
by Vālmīki
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Palm leaf; 11 to 14 lines on a folio. Text consists of the Rāmāyaṇa of Vālmīki, Kāṇḍas 1-6, viz. Bālakāṇḍa ff.1-47; Ayodhyākāṇḍa ff.47-148; Āraṇyakāṇḍa ff.149-207; Kiṣkindhākāṇḍa ff.208-277; Sundarakāṇḍa ff.278-341; Yuddhakāṇḍa ff.342-498. Winternitz includes in his catalogue a table showing the number of Sargas in each Kāṇḍa according to (1) the Whish MS, (2) Bodleian MS Sansk. b. 28 (also a Grantha MS), and (3) the recension called C in...
Source: folio
The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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Morris Collection
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Rajavalliya in Sinhalese
Source: folio
Tamil Collection
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Unidentified manuscript
Source: folio
The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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Whish Collection
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Palm leaf; 8 or 9 lines on a folio. Manuscript consists of the Kriyākalāpa (astronomical portion) of the Tantrasaṃgraha, in 8 Adhyāyas, together with a commentary. There are several copies of the Tantrasaṃgraha in the Malayalam language in the Whish Papers collection. Text begins: hariḥ śrīgaṇapataye namaḥ avighnam astu | pratyūhavyūhaviratikārakaṃ param mahaḥ antaḥkaraṇaśuddhim me vidadhātu sanātanaṃ yatprasādāt kavīndratvaṃ mandopi labhate kṣaṇāt...
Source: folio
The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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The Balinese Digital Library
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Sinhalese Collection
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Palm leaf.
Source: folio
Burmese Collection
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No title. This ms. appears to be a manual on meditation. Date: copied in BS. 1181 = 1819 AD, but seems to be based on or copied from an earlier version written in 1125/1763 (p. ke verso). The slip attached to the ms gives the latter date wrongly as 1769.
Source: folio
Whish Collection
by Jyeṣṭhadeva
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Palm leaf; 7 to 9 lines on a folio; wooden boards. Inscription on label on manuscript: "Yukti-bhāṣā; commentary on the Tantrasaṅgraha. In Malayalam". Whish / South Indian Sanskrit Manuscript Collection. The manuscript is listed in the synoptical list of manuscript numbers (Whish numbers and Winternitz numbers) at the beginning of ’A catalogue of South Indian Sanskrit manuscripts (especially those of the Whish Collection) belonging to the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain...
Source: folio
The Balinese Digital Library
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Burmese Collection
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64 olas (ka-ghū) in 2 bundles (phūk); 585 x 56 mm; 2 cord holes, 5 lines, 72 char., Kham script, 480 mm; numb. Kham letters; gilded edges, 1st & last olas of each bundle, gilded, decorated in brown lacquer with charming floral, squirrels and birds motifs, 1st ola of each bundle, title in the central cartouche: braḥ pālī moha[vi]cchedanī phūk ...; no covers. This ms. belongs to the collection of similar bundles kept under RAS BURMESE 30, 32, 33 & 34, same style of decorations,...
Source: folio