66 Babu Bajendralal — Report on Sanskrit MSS. [March, 



work from paper MSS.— a prejudice in many respects similar to what ob- 

 tained in Europe against printed Bibles in the first century after the intro- 

 duction of printing. Formerly two kinds of palm-leaf were in use, one 

 formed of the thick strong-fibred leaflets of the Corypha taliera (tiret), and 

 the other of the Borassus jiabelliformis (talapata). The former is generally 

 preferred for writing Sanskrit works, as it is broader and more durable than 

 the latter, and many MSS. are still extant which reckon their ages by five 

 to six hundred years. The leaflets of the Corypha elata is sometimes used 

 in lieu of those of the taliera. The leaflets of all the three kinds of palms 

 are first dried ; then boiled or kept steeped in water for some time ; then 

 dried again ; cut into the required size ; and polished with a smooth stone, 

 or a conch-shell. For school use no such preparation is necessary. 



Bark. — 7. The practice of writing on bark is of the greatest antiquity, 

 and from constant use the Greek and the Latin terms for that substance — - 

 hiblos and liber — have long since become the names for books, even as the 

 name of the rolls of ancient parchment MSS. produced the term volume, 

 and codes of laws have received their generic name from the bundles of 

 boards on which they were written, — from codex a tablet of wood. In the 

 eastern districts this practice of writing on bark still prevails, and I have 

 seen several codices of bark, which formed thin sheets like veneer, eighteen 

 inches by four ; but I have not been able to ascertain from what species of 

 tree the article had been obtained. Some say that the tree called ugra 

 (Morunga hyperanthera) yields the best bark for writing upon, but I have 

 not seen it. The birch bark, Bhurjapatra [Betuva bhurja) is extensively 

 used as a material for writing upon, but only for amulets, it being too thin 

 and fragile for books. I have by me a piece of this bark about a hundred 

 years old, which on a space of ten inches by eight, contains the whole of 

 the Bhagvadgita, written with letters so small that they are illegible to 

 the naked eye and require a magnifying glass to be read. It was evidently 

 intended to be worn as an amulet enclosed in a locket of gold or copper, 

 but it had never been so used. Whether the bhurj bark was ever pasted or 

 glued into thick sheets I cannot say. 



Wood, metal and skin. — 8. In the S'astras tablets of wood and metal 

 have been recommended as materials for writing upon, and in former times, 

 copper-plates were usually employed for royal patents, and in Burmah they 

 are still occasionally used for writing large works ; but I have seen none 

 now used by the Pandits of Bengal. Wooden tablets are confined to petty 

 traders' account-books in Bengal, but in the North Western Provinces poor 

 people have some religious books written with chalk on blackened boards. 

 In the Lalita Vistara, or legendary life of Buddha, mention is made of 

 Sandal-wood boards which were handed to S'akya when he first commenced 

 to write. In Europe, parchment and dressed skins of goats have been from 



