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The Jain Manuscript and Miniature Tradition
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in an oblong format) style. The bark of the aloe tree (sanci, Aquilaria agallocha) was also used in the Assam region but no remains have survived which predate the eighteenth century.
Cloth
Cotton and silk were also used for writing manuscripts. A folio of a pothi written on silk said to be of Indian origin is the only example recovered, from Sinkiang in North-west China. Palaeographically it has been dated to around the eighth century. A complete manuscript of the Dharmavidhi-prakaraņa, a Jaina text dated 1361, is another extant example written on cotton in the Hemacandrācārya Jñāna Bhandāra, Patan (Gujarat).
Paper
Paper was invented in China in 105 CE. It must have travelled via the silk route to Iran and should have been known in India. The above-mentioned Gilgit treasure has revealed the existence of paper manuscripts, which were produced in Kashmir in the sixth century. Paper was also produced in Nepal, as is evident from two manuscripts of 1105 and 1185 in the Ashutosh Museum, Kolkutta (Calcutta). The Jaisalmer bhaņdāra also has a paper manuscript dated 1189. Muni Punyavijaya reported a Kalpasūtra manuscript dated 1360 in the Ujjamphoi Collection, Ahmedabad, which was copied from a manuscript dated 870, according to the colophon. In earlier times, paper was imported from Persia. From the sixteenth century Daulatabad, Ahmedabad, Kashmir and Karachi became the major production centres for paper. After its introduction in India paper continued to be used in the narrow pothi format of the palm-leaf. It was only from the fifteenth century that manuscripts became broader.
Gold
Leaves of gold were also used for writing. But this was not common, for gold has always been a precious metal. An inscribed gold leaf that was found in a Buddhist casket is written in Kharosthī, a script used in Gandhara in the Northwest (modern Afghanistan) Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only
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