Dear all, Thanks very much for the references you've passed on (both on- and off-list). It looks like plenty of "palm-leaf rolls" survive, mostly from Nepal, but also from South India. One reference I found useful is this paper by S. R. Sarma: https://brill.com/display/book/9789004223479/B9789004223479-s012.xml
The only thing I've seen which discusses the way that such rolls are referred to in primary sources is Eva Wilden's 2013 article on "Eight Uses of Palm Leaf": https://www.csmc.uni-hamburg.de/publications/mc/files/articles/mc05-articles-wilden.pdf There she mentions the words *maṭi* (*veḷ ōlai*) and *muṭaṅkal *(in the *Akanāṉūṟu* and the *Cilappatikāram* respectively). Nothing (so far) on *candrikā* or its equivalents, or other terms for the envelope or fastener of palm-leaf rolls. Andrew On Thu, Jul 10, 2025 at 4:45 AM Michaels, Prof. Dr. Axel via INDOLOGY < indology@list.indology.info> wrote: > Dear all, > > the earliest palm-roll in Nepal is from 11th century. The title of > Bernhard Koelver’s book mentioned by Michael Witzel is: *Documents from > the Rudravar**ṇa-Mahāvihāra, Pā**ṭan. 1. Sales and mortgages.* > VGH-Wissenschaftsverlag, Sankt Augustin 1985 (Nepalica, Band 1). The > Heidelberg Nepal Research Group is working on scanning and restituting a > private collection of 430 palm rolls from the 13th to 18th century. The > term *candrikå* is not used in this context. > > The oldest palm leaf document from Nepal is probably described by Kamal P. > Malla: “The Earliest Dated Document in Newari. The Palm leaf from Uku Bahãh > NS 235/AD 1114”, *Kailash* 16 (1–2): 15–25. > > Best greetings > > Axel Michaels > > > > > > *From: *INDOLOGY <indology-boun...@list.indology.info> on behalf of " > indology@list.indology.info" <indology@list.indology.info> > *Reply to: *Michael Witzel <wit...@fas.harvard.edu> > *Date: *Friday, 4. July 2025 at 09:20 > *To: *Manu Francis <manufran...@gmail.com> > *Cc: *"indology@list.indology.info" <indology@list.indology.info> > *Subject: *Re: [INDOLOGY] Candrikā > > > > Dear all > > In Nepal we have hundreds of rolled up sealed palm leaf strips > > The oldest probably from 1,420 CE > > > > However they are tightly rolled up with no visible air space and then > sealed. I will look for an example > > > > They usually contain records of land sales, rent and the like > > > > Many have been published by my late friend Bernhard Kölver > > > > > > I vaguely recall that even older ones have been found in a Patan/lalitpur > monastery. Will look it up. > > > > Michael Witzel ( residence : Zushi Japan) > > > > Sent from my iPhone > > > > On Jul 4, 2025, at 00:04, Manu Francis via INDOLOGY < > indology@list.indology.info> wrote: > > Dear Andrew, > > > > Here is an example of rolled and sealed leaves from the BnF: > > https://tst-project.github.io/mss/Indien_1037.xml > <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__tst-2Dproject.github.io_mss_Indien-5F1037.xml&d=DwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=tFXzIbyKS2C0TpVqKsMrj46qwsAermBN5wzaDe51So0&m=ax6oUvcnJVS2Mzkju2Td4wx9zNbrTC0CYdJmW2zJiT7H4Kf4-H69vWokK72wLyd8&s=Js_HEXHX9HGHG_eqCdTd_Ul4qUpIK6fzo9wH43R2pQA&e=> > > > > And attached an article by Eva Wilden. See p. 70. > > > > Yours. > > > > Manu > > ----------------------------------------- > > *Emmanuel FRANCIS-GONZE* > > Chargé de recherche CNRS > > Centre d’études sud-asiatiques et himalayennes > > 2 Cours des Humanités > > 93322 AUBERVILLIERS > > bureau A222 > > ✆ 01 88 12 01 82 > > Online CV HAL > <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__cv.archives-2Douvertes.fr_emmanuel-2Dfrancis&d=DwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=tFXzIbyKS2C0TpVqKsMrj46qwsAermBN5wzaDe51So0&m=ax6oUvcnJVS2Mzkju2Td4wx9zNbrTC0CYdJmW2zJiT7H4Kf4-H69vWokK72wLyd8&s=pLYiihZf9OYNnCbohQWxGhfuVeM0JQqx7_vvSzxGi84&e=> > > > > > > Le jeu. 3 juil. 2025 à 00:04, Andrew Ollett via INDOLOGY < > indology@list.indology.info> a écrit : > > Dear colleagues, > > > > Another question: I've seen one reference (below) to something called a > "candrikā" in Sanskrit that was apparently used as a kind of cover for a > written palm-leaf. It has entered several dictionaries in this sense > (Kannada candrike, Telugu candrika, Tamil cantirakam). Does anyone have any > further references for this? Or some references for the practice of rolling > up written palm leaves and sealing them, which I suspect is what's going on > here? > > > > Primary sources: > > - Sundarī and Kamalā's Camatkārataraṅgiṇī > <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__archive.org_details_in.ernet.dli.2015.79729_page_n179_mode_2up&d=DwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=tFXzIbyKS2C0TpVqKsMrj46qwsAermBN5wzaDe51So0&m=ax6oUvcnJVS2Mzkju2Td4wx9zNbrTC0CYdJmW2zJiT7H4Kf4-H69vWokK72wLyd8&s=-2GTyIK5UkFgkp72xBjM4k7flOWGBnxAxRt2VdB4Zhs&e=> > (comm. on Rājaśēkhara's Viddhaśālabhañjikā) > > > > Andrew > > > _______________________________________________ > INDOLOGY mailing list > INDOLOGY@list.indology.info > https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology > <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__list.indology.info_mailman_listinfo_indology&d=DwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=tFXzIbyKS2C0TpVqKsMrj46qwsAermBN5wzaDe51So0&m=ax6oUvcnJVS2Mzkju2Td4wx9zNbrTC0CYdJmW2zJiT7H4Kf4-H69vWokK72wLyd8&s=i0H-hT9FUcZT6uQy86-G_GzOfigFsLlLOFj9KGMJ8Ng&e=> > > > _______________________________________________ > INDOLOGY mailing list > INDOLOGY@list.indology.info > https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology > > > _______________________________________________ > INDOLOGY mailing list > INDOLOGY@list.indology.info > https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology >
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