Palm-leaf manuscript

An Ancient Meitei language palm leaf manuscript text, in traditional Meetei Mayek script

This palm-leaf manuscript from Nepal, which is one of the oldest known dated Sanskrit manuscripts, is a copy of the Pārameśvaratantra, a scripture related to Shaiva Siddhanta, which claims Shiva to be Pārameśvara. A note in the manuscript states that it was copied in the year 252, which some scholars judge to be of the era established by the Nepalese king Amśuvaran, corresponding to 828 CE. Cambridge University Library

16th-century palm leaf manuscripts in Odia script

16th-century Hindu Bhagavata Purana on palm leaf manuscript

A palm leaf Hindu text manuscript (Lontara) from Bali, Indonesia, showing how the manuscripts were tied into a book.

Palm leaves were used as writing material in the Indian subcontinent as early as the 5th century BCE. Their use began in Nepal and India and spread to other regions, such as Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, in the form of dried and smoke-treated Palmyra or talipot palm leaves. Their use continued until the 19th century when the printing press replaced hand-written manuscripts.

One of the oldest surviving complete palm leaf manuscripts is a Sanskrit Shaivism text from the 9th century, discovered in Nepal, and now preserved at the Cambridge University Library. The Spitzer Manuscript is a collection of palm leaf fragments found in Kizil Caves, China. They are dated to around the 2nd century CE and is in Buddhist hybrid Sanskrit.