Ola-leaf manuscript.

Ola-leaf manuscript.

Sri Lanka,

ca. 1975.

Palm leaves were first adopted for use in South Asia as early as the 5th century BCE, but they continue to be used today for certain texts. Writing is inscribed into the surface of a dried leaf using a stylus; the leaf is then sprinkled with pigment that is wiped into the recessed letters and then cleaned off the surface, leaving a readable text. In Sri Lanka, ola, or palm leaves, were traditionally used for Buddhist texts; however, our example contains a Christian prayer in Tamil, one of the world’s longest surviving classical languages.

From the collection of Rare Book School