Ariyaka Pali Manuscripts, missives, etc.

Venerable Professor,

I discovered your essay on the history of Ariyaka Pali (and associated
institutional reforms) today.

learners.in.th/file/asakya/King%20Mongkut%20and%20Pali%20Script.pdf

I have read various articles on this period, and I have seen various
examples of Pali manuscripts (in Ariyaka form) at the Thai National
Library.

However, your essay puts an important question (for further research)
into my mind:

How many Pali manuscripts were (thus) created under Royal patronage
(in Ariyaka script) --and how much historical material was created in
correspondence such as your article quotes?

Various attempts have been made to list all known Pali texts --but the
social, historical, and political importance of missives (viz.,
official correspondence) is rarely discussed; I know of one detailed
study (by Mme Filliozat, EFEO) of a single letter sent to Sri Lanka
from the royal authorities of old Siam --but I am not aware of a
catalogue (or complete list) of such materials (the bibliography of
Filliozat's article, listing prior work in this area, did not give me
much cause for hope, either).

The materials in Ariyaka form a single unit, of a discrete period, for
such study; the canonical MS, though few, may be of especially high
quality and importance due to Royal patronage and their stated purpose
in the "purification" (or institutional reform) of Thai Buddhism.

I am a junior Pali scholar, living and working in Asia for the past
five years (variously based in Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Yunnan,
etc.).

I would be interested in any further information you could provide; a
simple hand-list of known Ariyaka correspondence and texts could
provide the basis for a research proposal, etc., if such a list exists
(in Thai?).

Eisel Mazard
www.pali.pratyeka.org