PALM LEAF MANUSCRIPT

Palm leaf manuscripts are manuscripts made out of dried palm leaves. Palm leaves were
used as a writing material in the Indian subcontinents and Southeast Asia dating back to 5 th
century BC.

 Making process of palm leaf manuscripts

The palms are initially cooked and dried. There is a specific tool used to inscribe texts onto
the palm leaves, the tool is called the stylus. Most of them are made of bronze. The writer
uses the stylus to inscribe letters and words on the palm leaves. Natural colourings are
applied on the surface of the palm leaves so that the ink will stick in the grooves. These
were then cut into pages and tied together.

MORE ABOUT THALI OLA GRANTHAS

Palm leaf manuscripts are one of the oldest forms of writing and they have a life span of
about 300 to 350 years. The first palm leaf manuscript museum in India is about to be
opened in Trivandrum, Kerala. It will have over one crore palm leaf manuscripts, that
includes official administrative documents , political and social documents from Travancore,
Kochi and Malabar.
Palm leaf manuscripts are called “ THALI OLA GRANTHAS” in Kerala and has been used in
large numbers. They were mostly found in hermitages, palaces, private collections and in
temples too.
PADMANABHASWAMY TEMPLE AND IT’S SIX VAULTS

There is a famous temple in my city Trivandrum, Kerala called the Padmanabhaswamy

temple. It is called world’s richest temple. The reason why it is called the richest temple is
because the temple has six hidden or secret vaults constructed underground inside the
temple designated as A, B, C, D, E and F. All the vaults except vault B were opened. It is
believed that the B vault has a mystical curse over it and opening it is nothing short of
inviting a disaster to the state. No one dared open the B vault. All the other five vaults were
opened and inside them were enormous amount of treasure collection of valuable objects
like gold ornaments, thrones, crowns, coins and among them were these palm leaf
manuscripts dating back to 8th century CE. These riches belonged to the former king of the
Travancore kingdom. From that we can understand that the royal officials and
administrators used palm leaf manuscripts to keep record of events and other activities in
the kingdom. Palm leaf manuscripts were a relevant part of the Travancore culture.