Dear Andrew,
I see that Beschi's Tamil-Latin dictionary (finished in 1742 or 1743) has an entry செந்திரிக்கை [centirikkai]
(this is from the edition printed in 1882)
(this is from a manuscript dated 1778, preserved in Copenhagen)
and that Proença's Vocabulario Tamulico, printed in 1679 in
Ambalacata has
The page is online on the Vatican web site at
https://digi.vatlib.it/view/MSS_Borg.ind.12/513
Best wishes
-- Jean-Luc
https://www.tamilex.uni-hamburg.de/team/chevillard.html
Dear all,
Thanks very much for the references you've passed on (both on- and off-list). It looks like plenty of "palm-leaf rolls" survive, mostly from Nepal, but also from South India. One reference I found useful is this paper by S. R. Sarma: https://brill.com/display/book/9789004223479/B9789004223479-s012.xml
The only thing I've seen which discusses the way that such rolls are referred to in primary sources is Eva Wilden's 2013 article on "Eight Uses of Palm Leaf": https://www.csmc.uni-hamburg.de/publications/mc/files/articles/mc05-articles-wilden.pdf There she mentions the words maṭi (veḷ ōlai) and muṭaṅkal (in the Akanāṉūṟu and the Cilappatikāram respectively). Nothing (so far) on candrikā or its equivalents, or other terms for the envelope or fastener of palm-leaf rolls.
Andrew
On Thu, Jul 10, 2025 at 4:45 AM Michaels, Prof. Dr. Axel via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
Dear all,
the earliest palm-roll in Nepal is from 11th century. The title of Bernhard Koelver’s book mentioned by Michael Witzel is: Documents from the Rudravarṇa-Mahāvihāra, Pāṭan. 1. Sales and mortgages. VGH-Wissenschaftsverlag, Sankt Augustin 1985 (Nepalica, Band 1). The Heidelberg Nepal Research Group is working on scanning and restituting a private collection of 430 palm rolls from the 13th to 18th century. The term candrikå is not used in this context.
The oldest palm leaf document from Nepal is probably described by Kamal P. Malla: “The Earliest Dated Document in Newari. The Palm leaf from Uku Bahãh NS 235/AD 1114”, Kailash 16 (1–2): 15–25.
Best greetings
Axel Michaels
From: INDOLOGY <indology-bounces@list.indology.info> on behalf of "indology@list.indology.info" <indology@list.indology.info>
Reply to: Michael Witzel <witzel@fas.harvard.edu>
Date: Friday, 4. July 2025 at 09:20
To: Manu Francis <manufrancis@gmail.com>
Cc: "indology@list.indology.info" <indology@list.indology.info>
Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] Candrikā
Dear all
In Nepal we have hundreds of rolled up sealed palm leaf strips
The oldest probably from 1,420 CE
However they are tightly rolled up with no visible air space and then sealed. I will look for an example
They usually contain records of land sales, rent and the like
Many have been published by my late friend Bernhard Kölver
I vaguely recall that even older ones have been found in a Patan/lalitpur monastery. Will look it up.
Michael Witzel ( residence : Zushi Japan)
Sent from my iPhone
On Jul 4, 2025, at 00:04, Manu Francis via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
Dear Andrew,
Here is an example of rolled and sealed leaves from the BnF:
And attached an article by Eva Wilden. See p. 70.
Yours.
Manu
-----------------------------------------
Emmanuel FRANCIS-GONZE
Chargé de recherche CNRS
Centre d’études sud-asiatiques et himalayennes
2 Cours des Humanités
93322 AUBERVILLIERS
bureau A222
✆ 01 88 12 01 82
Le jeu. 3 juil. 2025 à 00:04, Andrew Ollett via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> a écrit :
Dear colleagues,
Another question: I've seen one reference (below) to something called a "candrikā" in Sanskrit that was apparently used as a kind of cover for a written palm-leaf. It has entered several dictionaries in this sense (Kannada candrike, Telugu candrika, Tamil cantirakam). Does anyone have any further references for this? Or some references for the practice of rolling up written palm leaves and sealing them, which I suspect is what's going on here?
Primary sources:
- Sundarī and Kamalā's Camatkārataraṅgiṇī (comm. on Rājaśēkhara's Viddhaśālabhañjikā)
Andrew
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