| OCR Text |
Show Kashmirian birch bark manuscripts that have been preserved in Indian an useums probably do not antedate the fiftcenth century. Afte paperwasintroduced into India itsoon became the favourite writing materia and rapidly replaced the more cumbersome bark. There has always been a ‘abundant quantity of the birch bark in the Himalaya moun!ams,and eve at the present time it is found in fairly large quantities. Bot dam heat were ruinous to bark manuscripts, as the dryness caused and peel, while dampness produced fungi upon the bark if it wa not constantly cleaned. The scholars and merchants of Kashmir were, therefore, only too ready to adopt the more practic for their writings an records. In India the account books used by e long bee of the same pattern, a style that may have originated when birch bark wa used as a material for calligraphy. These account books are usually made u of about seventy strips of paper, cach sheet being approximately twenty being scored with lines running parallel with the long way of the sheets Leather or cloth binding is held intact at the top lacing and the whole i folded in the middle, making a compact and practical account book for th use of Indian tradesmen. In modern times there is but little bark used i Kashmir for writing purposes, but the school children of Srinagar still mak uscof thinwooden bosrds fortheirlessons, and during oursojournin Kashmi several of the boards were presentedt Aside from bark, India, Burma, an Ceylon as substances upon which to write; even at the present time it is no unusual to find manuscripts of this type, especially in Madras and in sout India, In Assam the leaves of the aloe (Agularia agalocha) (Flindi: agar) ax used, while in other parts of India and Ceylon the long and broad leaves o the palmyra tree (Enm.vmx fabell fmm:) (Hmdx, bal-tar) and the talipot tre (Corypha umbraculifera) (Hindi: tali) axe well suited for the purpose of calligraphy. From these large leaves the ancient scribes cut strips any desire Digital image© 2005 Marriott Library University of Utah, All rights ressrved |
