Product Description

Balinese Palm Leaf Manuscript 2

Material: Lontar palm leaves, cotton string, bamboo cover, Chinese coin
Style: Bali, Indonesia
Size: Height 40 cm, Width 20 cm
Order Number: MHSABPLM2

Traditional Indonesian manuscripts are made from the leaves of the lontar palm tree (Borassus flabellifer). The leaves are all cut to the same size, usually between 9 to 18 inches (25 to 50 centimetres) long and 1 to 1.5 inches (2.5 to 4 centimetres) wide.

Characters are inscribed on the leaf with a special knife. The surface of the leaf is wiped with oil mixed with burnt candlewood soot. The soot remains in the grooves. The leaves are wiped clean and the black text can then be read. Few survive more than 100 years in Bali’s tropical climate.

The leaves are bound and held together through holes cut in the leaves by string and a Chinese coin called a kepeng. They are protected by an outside board of bamboo or wood.

One side has an image of the goddess Dewi Saraswati in traditional Balinese wayang style and the back is blank. Dewi Saraswati is an important Balinese goddess and consort of the creator god Brahma. She is the goddess of learning, knowledge and writing, especially for lontar manuscripts. On her day, the last day on the Balinese calendar, lontar manuscripts are ritually purified and honoured. Nobody should read or write on that day.

Saraswati has 4 arms and hands. She plays a musical instrument, holding it with one hand, and playing it with the other. She also holds a lontar manuscript and a rosary. There are 2 geese at her feet, which are her vehicle. She wears a crown with an aura around it.

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