Palm Fronds

"Oh, and bring something to write on!" How many times have you heard that phrase? Did you ever think to bring something other than paper? Of course not! That's what paper is for! Not once did it even cross my mind to bring a clay tablet or an animal skin, but originally, that's what people wrote on! People used the resources that they had at hand. And for India, that meant palm fronds.

By some estimates, palm leaf books originated in India around fifteenth century BC. Tree leaves were used to record important documents like Buddhist scriptures, law, biographical information, and Sanskrit literature. 

Palm leaves are flattened, dried and smoothed in preparation to make a book. Letters are inscribed by using a needle-like instrument that cuts into the surface. The writing is not all that visible before it is covered over with soot or pigment mixed with oil. They can then be illustrated (some with intricate paintings) and strung together. Two holes are bored though the center of the leaves to bind the book together with a cord. ChinaView shows the process of creating a palm leaf book with a series of pictures. (I highly recommend it!)

Colombia University is trying to identify this text.

Unfortunately, these beautiful books decay rapidly. We have very few surviving copies of palm frond books and those that we have really aren't all that old. Some of them remain untranslated. Colombia University has requested help online to identify and translate an old text written on palm fronds. Even today it is hard to translate some of these old languages because they simply are no longer in use. We lament the loss of these wonderfully crafted texts. I suppose that palm book making has been abandoned because of their short shelf life and the difficulty of making them.

What does the future hold? With the advent of e-books, printed books have become increasingly less popular. Now you can carry around an entire library in your bag! I patiently wait for the day that museums will put my text books on display and everyone will marvel over the fact that we wrote on paper. The day is ever near that the phrase "Oh, and bring something to write on" will no longer refer to paper.

Sanskrit: The Priestly Tongue

Sanskrit is an oral language and has no written script of it's own.

What? Then how is it written? Well, with any style of script really. Some examples are shown below.

Sanskrit can be written in a variety of scripts

Law and Religion - Indivisible in India

Last week I posted about my findings while reading from the Mahabharata, an ancient epic poem written in India that contains key beliefs of the Hindu culture. I dedicated this week to reading from the Bhagavad-Gita, a sacred scripture taken from the Mahabharata that is so important to Hinduism that it is often treated as a free standing text. The poem recounts a conversation between Lord Krishna (later revealed to be the Supreme Being himself) and a prince named Arjuna who questions the war he’s fighting against his own cousins. As they stand on the battlefield with both sides ready for conflict, Lord Krishna (often referred to simply as “the Lord”) teaches Arjuna his duties as a warrior in the caste system of India and also instructs him on how to live a righteous life. As such, this text allows us to have a better understanding of Hindu theology and the caste system of ancient India.

Persuading Death (Exploring the Mahabharata)

Those who have a way with words set themselves apart from those who don't. Aptitude for speech and reason gives power to those who possess it. Power to entrance those who hear their voice and fill their souls with emotion - pain, joy, sadness or excitement. Power to convince others to do or believe what the speaker wants. This is the power of rhetoric.

In fact, with enough practice and skill, one can talk their way out of almost anything. But have you ever heard of someone who could talk their way out of death itself? In the Mahabharata, a virtuous woman does just that.