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Show 1 length and from two to four inches in width. The writing was applied with stylus, or meta pencil, which cut into the leaves; these scratched lines, o crevices, were then filled with a black pigment mixed with oil, ‘which mad the characters show distinctly. Each inscribed leaf was pierced with tw holes and as many leaves as were required to make up the book were strun together with cords. It is probable that in Kashmir and in the Punjab, a ‘well as in other parts of India the bark and leaves of trees. formed the earlies substances used by the ancient seribes The First Paper of Indi The origin of papermaking in India, like the beginnings of other craft in this ancient country, is shrouded in obscurity. Before the year 1000 A. D the art of recording history hardly existed in India; the sense of history i wnrelated to Hinduism as the cnhcdcn( ‘Hindu takes no account of time: h accepts the Mala-blarata by Vyasadeva, that mystic poem of a hundre lhuusand stanzas written previous to the Christian era, as authentic history n ages past Kashmir opened its boundariesto many races, but th \1oguls and mc Persians have, more than any other peoples, left the stam of their characteristics and achievements upon the country. Through th labours and activities of the Moguls, Kashmir knew the beauty of magnifi cently planned gardens and monumental palaces and mosques, and throug the efforts of these same ingenious people canals, bridges, and other engiever, understand or practice the applied arts and to these crafis showed onl contempt and indifference. The Persians, on the other hand, were skille artists and craftsmen in the so-called minor trades, and while their work wa not as spectacular as that of the Moguls, it is a question as to which people the Moguls or the Persians, must go the credit of the most enduring influence upon the country. T Persians were instrumental in the introductio into Kashmir of spinning and weaving, rug and carpet fabrication, and th 'Digital image © 2005 wriott Library U |
