Question

India books and manuscripts were written on perishable materials such as ___________
A. Cloth
B. Palm Leaves
C. The Bark of Birch Trees
D. All of these

Answer 1

Hint: Handwritten composition dating back to at least seventy five years that has significant scientific, historical or aesthetic value is called a manuscript. It must be noted that lithographs and printed volumes do not come in the category of manuscripts.

Complete answer: Cloth, palm leaves, the bark of birch trees and many other perishable items were used by Indians to write books as well as manuscripts. We can see the use of palm leaves as writing materials in South Asia and Southeast Asia and it dates back to the 5th century BCE.

Cambridge University Library has one of the oldest surviving palm leaf manuscripts of a complete Sanskrit Shaivism text and it is said to be from the 9th century and it was discovered in Nepal.

Knife pens were used to write texts in palm leaves and these used to be rectangular cut or cured palm leaf sheets. Colouring was then applied to the surface of these sheets and it was later wiped off, this would result in the ink being left in the incised grooves.

Sheets were tied together with a string and each sheet typically had a hole through which string could pass. The life of a palm leaf text varies from a few decades to about 600 years before it would decay.

Therefore the correct answer is option D.

Note: Printing press was introduced in the early 19th century and due to this the cycle of copying from palm leaves mostly came to an end. Preservation efforts are being made by many governments as this is an integral part of culture and history.