Anonimo - Lontar, manoscritti a foglia di palma, Cambogia, Khmer, Budda - 1850

6 Wonderful manuscripts called Lontar composed in Cambodia and densely handwritten on both faces.

They are made on dried palm leaves with Pali - Khmer script, a sacred language of Buddhism; they contain sacred Buddhist writings or Buddhist materials, such as prayers, sermons, or monastic rules.

Used in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia as a written support at least since the 5th century B.C., these palm leaves are known by the term Lontar — a term derived from the ancient Javanese ron (“leaf”) and tal (“palm”).

Their production required a long and meticulous process: the leaves, after boiling and drying, were incised with a metal stylus. A pigmented substance was then applied to the engraved surface; once the excess was removed, the pigment remained impressed exclusively in the grooves of the strokes. The individual leaves were punched in the center to pass a cord and a coin fixed at each end, thus creating a modular binding system.

Being an organic medium, the durability of these manuscripts ranged from a few decades up to a maximum of about 700 years, before succumbing to the devastating action of humidity, mold, and wood-boring insects. To preserve their contents, the texts were periodically copied onto new supports: a complex and costly practice that required more than a month of work just for copying, on top of the delicate preparation of the raw material. To ensure the flexibility of the leaves and protect them from deterioration, a protective coating based on citronella oil and Maluku nut powder (candlenut) was finally applied.

Dimensions: 540 x 45 millimeters

Minor defects and small holes are noted; please refer to the many photos included, which are an integral part of this description.

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