Yes the early vedic writings were in Sanskrit. And they were "scratched" on Ola leaves with a pointed iron stylus. The leaves from a palm tree. The leaves were boiled and dried and cut into rectangular lengths. The covers were of wood. The leaves were collected and holes made on two sides and twines made some times of leather or fiber is pulled through the holes to tie them together. The scratched letters were dabbed with a mixture of "lamp" black and oil taken onto a piece of cloth. They are durable and very ancient ola leaves still exist. The whole of Buddhist tripitaka was written on ola leaves in the 1st century CE and they remain in good condition. You can see Ola leaf at the following website.

http://monsite.wanadoo.fr/ayubovan/page5.html

with metta,
Hasituppada
______________________________________________________________

Everett Thiele <rett@...> wrote:

>
>I have read that early Pali texts were written on leaves but I am
>having trouble understanding this. How do you make a clear
>mark on a leaf, and how long does a leaf remain readable?
>What kind of leaves are used -- large leaves such as banana?

Hi,

Perhaps someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that the
leaves used were palm leaves and that the technique was to scratch
the writing with a stylus, and then rub powdered pigment over the
surface. The pigment fastens in the scratched parts.This might
explain the typically rounded shapes of southern alphabet systems. A
long straight line would split the leaf along it's grain. The
prepared leaves don't last very long -- a few centuries at most -- in
part because of the tropical climate in which they're usually stored.

hope this helps,

/Rett


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