Palm-leaf Manuscripts in Libraries from Hindu Dharma

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Palm-leaf Manuscripts in Libraries from Hindu Dharma

 

In the old days palm-leaf manuscripts were preserved in almost every

house. They contained the texts of the epics, the Puranas, Sthala

Puranas, and so on. When the palm-leaves were in danger of being

damaged, their contents would be copied with a stylus on new leaves.

The damaged leaves would be consigned to the Kaveri or some other

sacred river, or to some pond on the occasion of Patinettam Per [see

next para]

 

The 18th day of the Tamil month of Adi (July-August) has a special

significance for the Kaveri. The river would be in spate. The

swelling waters on this day are called Patinettam Perukku or

Patinettam Per.

 

Our forefathers went on inscribing on palm - leaves with their stylus

until their hands ached. They copied old texts to be preserved for

posterity. This tradition lasted until perhaps the time of our

fathers. People of our generation have thrown these precious

manuscripts into the river without making copies of them. So much so

it is doubtful whether the texts of many Puranas will ever be

available to us. Not only Puranas, but also a number of sastras.

However, some scholars have taken great pains to go from place to

place to collect manuscripts and preserve them in libraries. The

Sarasvati Mahal Library in Tanjavur, the Oriental Manuscripts Library

and the Adyar Library, Madras, have good collections of manuscripts.

The Theosophical Society Library, Adyar, has done commendable work in

this respect. Sarabhoji and other rulers of Tanjavur took great

trouble to collect manuscripts for the Sarasvati Mahal.

 

The palm-leaf is called edu in Tamil. It has two sides with a rib in

between - either of the two sides after the removal of the rib is

called an edu. The plantain leaf also has a rib. When it is split

across the rib, each part is an edu. For long the palm-leaf was our

paper, nature's paper which was not easily damaged. The letters had

to be inscribed on it with a stylus.

 

The palm-leaves containing the text of Jnanasambandhar's Tevaram

compositions went upstream against the current of the river Vaigai

and were laid ashore. The spot where the manuscript lodged itself is

called "Tiruvedakam" ("Tiru +edu + akam"). Here the deity lord Siva

is called "Patrika Paramesvara". Nowadays the word "paper" is

understood as a newspaper, magazine, periodical, etc. "Patrika" means

a magazine today. The lord associated with the spot where the palm-

leaves, nature's paper, were laid ashore is "Patrika Paramesvara",

which could be taken to mean "the Lord the journalist". "Patra"

and "Patrika" mean the same, a leaf. In the past letters were written

on palm-leaves. That is why a letter also came to be called "patra".

 

There is an interesting story about the Sarasvati Mahal. In olden

days the worst injury an invader thought he could inflict on a

country was to burn down it's libraries. When the treasury is to the

economy of the nation the library is to its culture; indeed the

library represents its cultural treasury. Since there was no printing

press then, there would not be many [palm-leaf] copies available of

works, and of some works there would be only a single copy. To

destroy the library of the nation, containing rare works, would be a

greater outrage than looting its treasury or dishonouring its women.

We must be proud of the fact that our sastras on policy strictly

forbid the destruction of an enemy country's treasures of knowledge

and it's places of worship, nor do they permit the dishonouring of

its women.

 

When Jainas like Amarasimha lost to Hindu religious teachers in

arguement, they themselves wanted to burn their books. But great men

like our Acarya stopped them from doing so. Holding the hands of

their opponents they requested them not to destroy their books. Their

attitude was that no work must be destroyed whatever the philosophy

or religious system it upholds.

 

Conquerers belonging to other countries took special delight in

setting fire to the libraries of the conquered land if it was known

to be culturally advanced. They perpetrated such outrages without

reflecting for a moment on the fact that knowledge is common to all,

even such knowledge as possessed by an enemy. They could cause

anguish to the people intellectually superior to them by destroying

their books. It was thus that during the 15-16th centuries Muslim

invaders set fire to the library in Alexandria in Egypt (it had books

collected from the time of Alexander) and the library in

Constantinople (Istanbul) which had been built up over the centuries

by the Greeks and the Romans. Once old Sangam were swept off when the

sea rose - it was an act of nature. But it is due to their cultural

backwardness that foreign forces destroyed the libraries of the

country they invaded.

 

The Sarasvati Mahal of Tanjavur was once under threat when Muslim

forces had spread all over the south and the Nawab of Carnatic had

the upper hand. For the Muslim invaders burning down the Sarasvati

Mahal library was equivalent to destroying the great temple of

Tanjavur. At that time there was a Maharastrian Brahmin called Dabir

Pant who was a minister to the Maratha Raja (the Maratha rulers here

belonged to Sivaji's family). An idea occured to him just in time to

save the library. He said to the vandals: "This library has ofcourse

Hindu books. But it also has many copies of Qur'an. What? The

Qur'an also? " the invaders cried. " We won't set fire to the library

in that case, "so saying they departed.

 

Then came to India Englishmen, Frenchmen and others. They had a

thirst for knowledge and research and were anxious to learn even from

foreign sources. The Germans came to our country and searched for

palm-leaf manuscripts to take home with whem. We must be grateful to

some of these foreigners through whose efforts a number of our

sastras were redicovered. There was, for example, Mackenzie who was

surveyor-general of India. He went from place to place to collect

palm-leaf manuscripts. There was at that time no speacial department

to deal with them but Mackenzie had them read by experts and took

steps to have them preserved. Mackenzie's men even came to our Matha

at Kumbakonam to gather information.

 

It is believed that Westerners took with them some of our science

manuscripts from the Sarasvati Mahal espeacially those pertaining to

the art of warfare. It is further claimed that Hitler made some type

of weapons and aircraft on the basis of knowledge contained in these

texts.

 

There are palm-leaf manuscripts still with us like Bhojaraja's

Samarangana Sutra. From these we learn that we had long ago not

only "astras" to be employed with mantras but also "sastras" that

were product of science. Digests like Varahamihira's Brhatsamhita

bring together the various disciplines of our land.

 

Some of our ancient palm-leaf manuscripts contain texts not only of

our religious systems but also of various arts and sciences. Also the

Puranas. But we have lost many of our Sthala Puranas. We must do our

best to preserve what remains and, at the same time, continue the

search for more manuscripts.

 

The Puranas give us instruction, in the form of engrossing stories,

on the truth of the Paramatman proclaimed by the Vedas, the dharmas,

and the moral and ethical codes of conduct that they lay down. The

teaching they impart touches our very hearts. The lessons of the

Puranas, the stories of noble men and women contained in them, have

shaped our lives. The Puranas have indeed served as a source of our

inspiration for our people from time immemorial. We must no longer be

apathetic to them and must make a determined effort to preserve them

as a treasure. Let us make a comparative study of puranic literature

and take an integrated view. This will be to our own benefit as well

as to that of all mankind.

http://www.kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part14/chap20.htm,