The manuscript writing tradition has a long history in India. Natural mediums like palm-leaves, cloth, paper, wooden-planks, stones, birch-bark, copper plates, silver plates and gold plates, etc. were used as surfaces to write upon. Earlier, the holy Jain texts were written on palm-leaves. Painted wooden book covers that were made around the eleventh century have been discovered in several locations. In India, from the north to the south, palm-leaves were easily available, making it a popular material for writing. Paper was introduced in India much later, until which; palm leaves were popularly used in the Jain writing tradition. According to the evidence, Jain texts were written on palm-leaves until the 13th century CE but later, from 14th century CE onwards, they had been documented on paper as a result of the availability of paper. The oldest Palm-leaf Jain manuscript found in India is from 1062 CE.

In the Jain tradition, books that were written were called ‘Patli and Pothi’. There were five different types of books found in this tradition — Gandi, Kacchapi, Mushti, Samput Phalak and Chedapati.

Image: A palm-leaf manuscript.
Image Link: Brahaccurnivyakhya (Or. 1386) a manuscript written on Palm-leaf.
Image Source: Jainpedia (2014).
Image Copyright: The Jain universe online at http://www.jainpedia.org/ . Creative Commons Public Domain.
 

Image: Kalpa-Sutra manuscript.
Image Link: Kalpa-sūtra – Section on Mahāvīra.
Image Source: Jainpedia (2014).
Image Copyright: The Jain universe online at http://www.jainpedia.org/ . Creative Commons Public Domain.