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The Jain Manuscript and Miniature Tradition : 107
They were usually covered with a variety of fabrics, including printed cotton or brocaded silk etc. Very often they were embalmed with embroidered textiles. Some book covers carried good examples of paper cutting on their interior side. These manuscripts were wrapped; in a square piece of red cloth tied with a braid, sometimes with verses or the name of the owner woven into it.
To protect the manuscript from direct contact with hands (sweat and dirt), manuscript folders (puthun) were used. They have one broad and one narrow side. Such folders were made of sandalwood, wood covered with richly ornamented sheet silver, or paperboard covered with velvet or brocaded silk.
Certain aromatic herbs were used as insect repellent, such as neema leaves (Azadirachta indica), tobacco leaves (Nicotiana tabacum), and ghoḍavaj (Acarus calamus). The warpped manuscripts were stored in tightly closing wooden boxes painted with lacquer and having beautiful floral designs. These wooden boxes were larger than those made of papier-mache or leather. The papier-mache boxes, which are known from the early seventeenth century, were also illuminated with miniatures. The so-called leather boxes are actually made of paperboard but covered with hide. Other manuscript boxes were made of plain or carved sandalwood or copper. The latter is referred to in the Vasudevahindi (c. sixth century). Such metal boxes can still be seen in some manuscript libraries, or bhaṇḍāras.
The scribes also cared for the manuscripts by writing oftrepeated verses at the end of a work to remind the reader to protect it, since it had been written with great toil. One such verse reads, "Protect (me) from oil, protect (me) from water, protect (me) from loose binding; and never let a fool (careless person) handle (me), so says the manuscript. "In another variant of the same verse the manuscript calls for protection against fire and rodents. Some verses have used similes to demand their care. One such verse says. "Bedeck (the manuscript) like your own beloved child; guard (it) from others' hands like your own virtuous wife; treat (it) like a wounded limb of
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