Hi,

Thanks for filling in some more details. I'm a bit unsure as to the
correctness of a few of the points here.

>Yes the early vedic writings were in Sanskrit.

A quibble, but wouldn't it be more correct to say the early Vedic
writings were in 'Vedic'? Sanskrit being a later development?

> They are durable and very ancient ola leaves still exist.

It is my understanding that palm-leaf manuscripts are not very
durable. At least not in a humid environment.

> 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.

Here, I seem to remember that the oldest current palm leaf
manuscripts of the Buddhist tripitaka are at most something like 300
years old. They have been copied and recopied back until the time
they were first committed to writing. I doubt that any palm leaf
manuscripts of the tripitaka dating to the 1st century CE are still
in existence. But again, this is just based on things I remember
reading. I'm not a manuscript scholar.

best regards,

/Rett