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Art and Technique of Presentation of Manuscripts 123
it string was passed through the two holes pierced through to keep them in proper order. These wooden covers known as Pattikas or Patatis are sometimes painted and decorated with different designs or seemes in different colours. Such covers have a cultural and religious significance.
The mass with wooden book-covers were tightly tied up in a strong thick piece of cloth mostly the khadi-cloth with a string tightly tied round about and this is made dear in the light of a gain peverb which says that the mass are to be bound as tightly as an enemy would be bound tightly to gain no scope for freedom or wishful movement. This was done so as an antidote against the possible impact of damp or moist climate. To protect from the harmful effect of climatic warerings such bundles were locked in a from with stone-walls and bundles were placed on the shneshelves. In this connection in Jesalmer and Nagpur, sometimes the bundles were kept in wooden boxes for protection from climatic variations.
The wooden even are mostly made of teakared (Guj. Saga) or sisom (Guj Sisama) wood. Incidentally it may be mentioned that for protecting the mass from the wearing effect of a thumb or other fingers as well as an avil to memory of the reader where he/she stopped in reading page-protectors and page-markers were also
used.
In brief the above going points refer to the protection and presentation of mass from heat, cold and
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