Writing
materials in Ancient India
Today
the most common writing materials are pen and paper.
Typewriter has been in use for some 150 years. But now it
is the
computer-machine that is being used more and more for writing,
publishing and disslmination. The day is not far when humans
world
be conversing directly with the computers. In the twenty-first
century the responsibility of carrying and conveying human
thought
will rest mainly with the computers.
Writing materials have played a very prominent role in the
development of cultures. They have helped not only in preserving
the
history and culture of mankind, but have also deeply influenced
the
scripts, languages as well as man's mode of thinking. To
understand
ancient writing materials, therefore, is to understand ancient
cultures in a better light. In this article I will discuss
mainly
Indian writing materials.
Today paper is the main material used for writing, but its
origin is
not in India. Modern paper is a Chinese invention and the
word 'paper' is from Greek papyros, the tall paper-reed
plant once
very common in Egypt. The Hindi word Kagaja (paper) is of
Persian
origin. Paper is has been used in India only for about a
thousand
years. Before that the main writing materials in our country
were
birch-bark, palm-leaves and copper-plates. Besides these,
agaru-
bark, bricks, earthenware, shell, ivory, cloth, wood, etc.
had also
their uses as materials for writing. Today all the inscribed
materials from the past are in the custody of museums, both
Indian
and foreign. But we should always keep in mind that these
ancient
writing materials have served Indian literature and science
for more
than two millennia. Therefore, I will first discuss the
ancient
writing materials before taking up the history of paper.
Prehistoric rock paintings have been discovered at Bhimbetka,
Pachmarhi, Adamgarh, Mirzapur and many other Indian sites.
Here the
paintings, in vivid and panoramic detail, depict the day-to-day
life
of the cave-dwellers. These paintings, which can be called
the early
pictorial writing, are done mostly in red and white and
occasionally
in green and yellow. The colours were taken from local minerals
and
were mixed with water and a fixative resin of some local
tree or
animal tallow. The brushes used were made of twigs or, for
fine
work, quills. Along with the rock paintings short Brahmi
inscriptions have also been found at Bhimbetka and some
other such
sites. It is, thus, evident that in ancient India stone
and natural
colours were used as writing materials for thousands of
years.
Indus inscriptions, usually short and numbering about 4000,
are
found on a variety of objects : (1) steatite seals, (2)
sealings on
clay, miniature stone, terracotta or faience tablets, (3)
copper
tablets, (4) bronze implements, (5) bone and ivory rods,
(6) pottery
graffiti, and (7) miscellaneous objects, such as the unique
inscription found at Dholavira lying face down on the floor
in front
of a crumbled gate and made of a white, crystalline material.
We do
not know the writing material the Indus people used in their
mundane
affairs or for composing their 'books'. The Sumerians and
Babylonians, contemporaries of the Indus people, used clay
tablets
for their cuneiform script, which scholars are able to read.
But the
Indus script, unfortunately, still remains undeciphered!
Before the discovery of the Indus Valley civilization (c.
2500-1800
BC) in 1921-22, many orientalists believed that the Vedic
Indians
did not have a writing system and they transferred their
scriptures
from generation to generation by the process of learning
by heart.
Thus, Max Muller says : "There is no mention of writing
materials
whether paper, bark or skin at the time when the Indian
Diaskeuasts
(= compilers) collected the songs of the Rishis; nor is
there any
allusion to writing during the whole of the Brahmana period."
Much
evidence has since been obtained to show that writing was
known in
the Vedic period. Shatapatha Brahmana refers to the Rishi
Vamadeva 'obtaining the Rig-Veda hymn by seeing it'. Aitareya
Brahmana says, the Rishi 'read the hymn' after he looked
at it.
Marking of the ears of cows (e.g.,'8-marked cows') is also
mentioned
in the Rig-Veda. These and several other references prove
that the
oral tradition was available also in writing. It is, however,
true
that in those days teaching was oral and study from manuscripts
was
not considered as the proper method of learning.
In the Buddhist Jatakas there are many references to the
art of
writing. Panini (c. 500 BC) in his Ashtadyayi refers to
granth
(book), lipikara (writer) and Yavanani lipi (Greek script).
In
Panini's grammar writing was an essential element in the
technical
arrangement of his rules. Several times he asks the reader
to 'see'
other rules of his composition. It is, thus, certain that
this
grammatical work of Panini was available in the form of
a
manuscript. But we have no definite knowledge of the writing
materials used in those days.
Stone was the principal writing material in use in ancient
India.
Engravings on stone, as emperor Ashoka himself expresses,
are "such
as to endure for a long time". Such engravings were
made on rocks,
slabs, smoothed or rough pillars, images, caskets, vases,
etc. Stone
slabs or columns used to be inscribed with grant-deeds,
royal
eulogy, proclamations, agreements between individuals or
kings and
even with literary works. For example, the Kurmashataka,
a poetical
work in Prakrita by the scholar-king Bhoja of Dhara (Malwa)
is
engraved on stone slabs.
Before inscribing or engraving, the stone used to be dressed
by
chiselling and polished by rubbing it with another stone
having a
smooth surface. Engraving on rough surface was not uncommon.
The
letters were then written on the surface of the stone with
ink or a
piece of chalk or painted with brush. Finally, the engraver
incised
the letters on the inked or painted portion. Any damage
in the
course of inscribing was immediately filled up with some
sticky
material.
Putting inscriptions on stone pillars is a very old tradition.
Emperor Ashoka (272-232 BC) got his edicts inscribed on
rocks and
also on stone pillars. Made of sandstone quarried from Chunar
(UP),
the pillars are monolithic and highly polished. Some of
the pillars
are 15 m high and weigh nearly 50 tons. These Ashokan pillars
can be
seen in Delhi, Allahabad, Lumbini and several other sites.
There are also other kinds of Pillars. The Dwajastambha,
which often
carried an inscription, was erected in the courtyard of
a temple.
The Jayastambha carried an eulogy of a victorious king.
The
Kirtistambha was erected to commemorate some pious deed.
Virastambha
was put up in memory of a warrior who died fighting the
enemy. The
sacrificial pillar, called Yupastambha, also carried inscriptions.
Bricks, Gold, Silver, Wood, etc.
A large number of inscribed bricks have been unearthed from
different places and are preserved in archaeological museums.
Some
inscribed bricks are related to the Ashwamedha sacrifices
performed
by various kings. Most of the early inscribed bricks carry
Buddhist
sutras, the letters having been scratched on the moist clay,
before
it was baked. Inscribed clay seals have been obtained from
Nalanda
and several other ancient sites.
Specimens of some inscribed ivory bars and conch-shells
have been
discovered. Precious metals, gold and silver have been used
for
engraving and casting with characters. The Buddhist Jatakas
often
mention the use of gold-plates for recording royal letters
and grant-
deeds. The Kanha Jataka states, "He (Kanha Kumar) took
in his hand a
golden plate, and reading upon the golden plate the lines
inscribed
by his kinsmen of the former days, 'so much of the property
gained
by such one, so much by another,' thought he ...".
A gold plate with
a Kharoshthi inscription has been found in a Stupa near
Taxila.
Likewise, a number of inscriptions on silver have also been
obtained, one among them being from the Buddhist Stupa at
Bhattiprolu. Also, there are inscriptions on a large number
of coins
made of gold and silver.
Wooden board, called phalaka, was widely used for writing
in ancient
India. On it characters were written with ink or chalk (pandu-
lekha). Phalaka was used by the students for learning to
write
alphabets and also for doing elementary calculations. Later
on the
term pati came to represent a wooden board and the word
patiganita,
i.e. calculation done on a pati, came into use. Alberuni,
the
Central Asian savant, writes, "They (Hindus) use black
tablets for
the children in the schools and write upon them along the
long side,
not the broad side, writing with a white material from the
left to
the right". Mathematical calculation was also called
dhuli-karma
(dust-work), because the figures were written on dust spread
on
wooden board or on the ground. A finger of the hand or a
piece of
reed was used to write on the layer of the dust.
Cloth :
Cotton cloth (called karpasika-pata or simply pata in Sanskrit)
was
also used as writing material in ancient India. Nearchos
(c. 326
BC), an admiral of Alexander's fleet, has mentioned that
the Indians
wrote letters on well-beaten cotton cloth. Cloth was prepared
for
writing by putting on it a thin layer of wheat or rice pulp
and
polishing with a conch-shell or a smooth stone after the
same was
dried. Writing on the pata was done with black ink. In Rajastan,
almanacs and horoscopes were prepared on scrolls of cloth.
In Kerala
till recently cloth was used by traders for maintenance
of accounts
of a permanent nature. In Karnatak a till the last century
processed
cloth known as kaditam was in use. It was covered with a
paste of
tamarind-seed and afterwards blackened with charcoal-powder.
Chalk
or steatite pencils were used for writing on this black
cloth.
At times silk cloth was also used for writing. Alberuni
writes, "I
have been told that the pedigree of this royal family (the
shahiyas
of Kabul), written on silk, exists in the fortress of Nagarkot,
and
I much desired to make myself acquainted with it, but the
thing was
impossible for various reasons".
When it became difficult to procure papyrus from Egypt,
the Greeks
in the second century BC developed parchment, a prepared
but
untanned animal skin, as a medium for writing. It was a
commonly
used writing material in western Asia and Europe in early
and
medieval times. In India, animal skin, being considered
impure, was
not very often used for writing. However, in some Buddhist
texts,
skin is mentioned among the writing materials. From a passage
in
Subandhu's Vasavadatta (c. 600 AD) it is possible to infer
that skin
(ajina in Sanskrit) was used for writing. On this point
Alberuni
writes, "The Hindus are not in the habit of writing
on hides, like
the Greeks in ancient times". But during the Muslim
period a very
thin parchment called charba was used for copying, drawing,
etc.
Metals :
Only a few inscriptions on iron have been discovered, the
most
famous among them being on the iron pillar at Mehrauli,
near Delhi.
This Sanskrit inscription in Gupta Brahmi letters of the
5th century
AD consists of six lines and mentions a king whose name
is 'Chandra'. In the courtyard of the Gopeswar temple of
Garhwal
there is the five-metre high iron Trishula which has a 7th
century
Sanskrit inscription incised on it.
Of all the varieties of metals, copper was the most commonly
used
material to write on in ancient and medieval India. The
copper-
plates were known as tamrapata, tamrapatra or tamrashasana.
Fahian
(c. 400 AD) records the existence of copper-plates in the
Buddhist
monasteries dating back to Buddha's time. Another Chinese
pilgrim,
Yuan Chwang (629-45 AD), asserts that King Kanishka got
the sacred
books of the Buddhist faith engraved on copper-plates. One
of the
earliest copper-plates, the Sahgaura plate, dates back to
the
Mauryan period.
Two methods were followed in preparing copper-plates : (1)
by
hammering, and then engraving; (2) by casting in a mould
of sand.
Most of the copper-plates have been fashioned with the hammer
into
the required shape and size. The contents were then written
with ink
and then the coppersmith or goldsmith engraved the letters
or
incised them with a chisel. Sometimes the letters were inscribed
with a punch in the form of dotted lines.
The other method of preparing a copper-plate was to cast
it in a
mould of sand, in which the letters and the emblems had
been
previously scratched with a stilus or a pointed piece of
wood.
These, therefore, appear on the plate in relievo. The Sahgaura
plate, the oldest tamrapatra known, has been cast in a mould
of
sand.
When the document was lengthy, more than one plate was used
and held
together with copper rings. For protecting the writing,
the rims of
the plates were usually thickened and slightly raised. The
first
side of the first plate and the last of the last plate were
left
blank. Usually the number of plates in a decree or grant
varies from
two to nine.
Palm-leaf :
Till paper was introduced in India sometime in the eleventh
century,
palm-leaf was one of the most important materials used for
writing
purposes. The palm tree, which gives palm-leaves for manuscripts,
is
of two types -- Shritala or talipot palm (Corypha umbraculifera)
and
Kharatala or tad or palmyra palm (Borassus Flabelliformis).
The
former gives leaves that are long, smooth and supple. This
species
of palm grows abundantly on the Malabar coast, in Bengal,
Myanmar
and Ceylon. The Kharatala or tad leaves, on the other hand,
are
thick and they have a tendency to break very easily. The
fibres of
the Shritala leaves are more resistant to decay than the
Karatala
leaves. It is because of these reasons that Shritala leaves
have
been preferred to Kharatal leaves for writing manuscripts.
To prepare palm-leaves for writing they were first dried,
boiled in
water and then dried again. Then they were smoothened and
polished
with a stone or conch-shell. The leaves were then cut to
size, which
varied from 15 cms to 1 metre in length and 2 to 10 cms
in breadth.
In South India a pointed stilus was used to incise letters
on the
palm-leaf, and then lamp-black or some colour pigment was
rubbed
into the incised letters. The other method, followed mostly
in North
India, was to use pen and ink. Palm-leaves could not be
bound. One
or two holes were bored in the leaves and then cords were
passed
through them. The manuscripts were generally placed between
two
wooden boards and the cord passing through the holes were
wrapped
round the boards.
In a hot and humid climate the palm-leaves can not be preserved
for
a very long time. Therefore, earlier palm-leave MSS of Indian
origin
have been obtained mostly from Nepal, Tibet and Central
Asia.
According to a reference in the Life of Yuan Chwang, the
Buddhist
Canon was written on palm-leaves at the first council held
soon
after the passing away of the Buddha.The oldest palm-leaf
manuscript
was found in Sikiang, China. It is a drama by Ashavaghosha
and
belongs to the second century AD. An old Sanskrit palm-leaf
manuscript belonging to the sixth century AD is preserved
in the
Horiuzi temple in Japan. Several palm-leave MSS are preserved
in the
Darbar Library at Kathmandu. Mahapandita Rahul Sankrityayan
(1894-
1963) has discovered a large number of palm-leave MSS in
Tibet.
Numerous palm-leave MSS of 10th and later centuries have
been
obtained from Nepal, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
Birch-bark :
A very popular material for writing purposes in ancient
India was
birch-bark, called Bhurja-patra in Sanskrit. The birch is
moderate-
sized tree growing in the Himalayas at a height of nearly
14,000
feet. The inner bark of this tree was used for writing.
The Greek
writer of Alexander's time Q. Curtius mentions the tender
inner bark
of trees as serving the purpose of writing material. Kalidas
in his
Kumarasambhava mentions bhurja-tvak, birch-bark. Alberuni
states
that people in India use for writing the bark of Bhurja,
a kind of
tuz tree. He also records the method of preparation of Bhurja-
patra : "They take a piece one yard long and as broad
as the
outstretched fingers of the hand, or somewhat less, and
prepare it
in various ways. They oil and polish it so as to make it
hard and
smooth, and then they write on it. The proper order of the
single
leaves is marked by numbers. The whole book is wrapped up
in a piece
of cloth and fastened between two tablets of the same size.
Such a
book is called Puthi." Birch-bark leaves used to be
written upon
with a reed pen and specially prepared ink.
Most of the birch-bark MSS have been obtained from Kashmir
and
Orissa. The oldest Bhurja MS is the Dhammapada in Kharoshthi
script
from Khotan (Sikiang) and dates back to the second century
AD. Birch-
bark MSS have also been obtained from Gilgit, Central Asia
and some
stupas in Afghanistan. The Bakshali MS deals with mathematics
and
the Navanitakam MS with medicine, both written on birch-bark
and
belonging to the 4th century AD.
Agaru-bark :
The bark of Agaru tree, which is called sanchipata in Assamese,
has
been extensively used in north-east India for writing and
painting.
Preparing the Agaru-bark for writing is a laborious process.
Even
then a large number of sanchapati MSS have been found, some
of them
also in foreign collections. Gunakar Muley
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