Ong Yong Peng wrote:

> According to Wikipedia, the process is as follows:

Oh, if it is in Wikipedia, it must be true :)

> A hole is cut out in one corner. Each leaf will have four pages.

This is misleading. All Sanskrit pattra mss I have seen do not have holes
although this was the original practice. Instead a circle where the hole
might have been is drawn on the leaf and the text flows around it. Many
pattra mss do not even have this.

> Each leaf will have four pages.

This is misleading. Each block of writing is not a "page" but a kind of
column. Many Nothern Indian mss are written as one continuous block of
writing, or sometimes two or three columns. This can depend upon the size of
the pattra. Some are fairly small, while others are pretty large.

> The writing is done with a stylus. The writing is of a very cursive
> and interconnected style.

This describes South Indian practice And the information here is
incomplete -- the letters are inscribed with the tip of a metal stylus and
then the surface of the pattra is wiped with ink which highlights the cuts
left by the stylus. The superfluous ink is, of course, wiped clean. On
the other hand, North Indian pattras are always written with a pen.

I have used old Sanskrit pattras so I can answer some of your questions.

> 1. Was the Asian Palmyra Palm (leaves) the only source for pattra?

Don't know this, but probably.

> 2. Are the Sanskrit fragments which archaeologists have been
> discovering and collecting throughout Asia also pattra manuscripts?

No. Apart from imported pattras, many were written locally on birchbark in
rolls in NW India -- see the Gandhari region mss. Look for the Gandhari
Mss Project website for photos. Note the extremely poor condition of
preservation. Some medieval mss are on paper from Nepal or Central Asia --
paper became the preferred medium in later Indian / Nepali times.

> 4. When were they written/produced, and what are the scripts used?

Depends on the area. The NW Indian Gandhari mss fragments are the oldest
Indian mss and date from about the 2nd / 3rd centuries CE. Nepalese tend
tend date from the medieval period onwards. The scripts very according to
the era -- Karoshthi, Shardula, Gupta etc.

> 3. How many of these manuscripts like the one in the picture in the
> webpage (link above) survived in good conditions?

What the kind gentleman is donating seems to me to be quite modern. Pattra
mss do not last in good condition for long -- they usually get eaten by
insects -- two hundred years when in regular use in India seems to be the
upper limit. Those preserved under exceptional conditions such as those
interred in stupas (NW India / Central Asia) have lasted at least 1000-1500
years. Many Buddhist mss were taken to Tibet for translation purposes from
the 700s onwards or for rescue from the Afghan Muslim vandals after the 10th
century CE. These generally had survived very well in the cool dry climate
of Tibet -- however a lot were lost after the Chinese invasion of Tibet in
the 50s and the widespread deliberate destruction of its material culture
thereafter. Nevertheless, there are still many that do survive, but most
of these were stolen from the monasteries that owned them and now kept in
Beijing, inacessibe to outsiders.

As far as I know, no ancient Sanskrit pattras have survived in China. Once
texts were translated, the Chinese seem to have had scant regard for them --
they were lost through neglect, destroyed in wars or else cut up and used
for talismans or medicine when steeped in water. A few individual leaves
were taken to Japan where they were well preserved and can still be seen
today in ceratin temples.

Hope this helps.

Stephen Hodge