Elements of South-Indian Palæography, from the Fourth to the Seventeenth Century A.D. c8.s1.38

c8.s1.38

*5. Prepared cloth.* This is the earliest writing material in India so far as trustworthy historical information goes, for it is described by Nearchus⁴, who says that the Brahmans wrote: ἐν σινδόσι λίαν κεκροτημέναις. This is obviously the ‘paṭa’ or ‘kārpāsika paṭa’ of the Smṛitis and compilers of the Digests⁵, and must, therefore, have been in use down to comparatively recent times, but I have not met with a specimen of it, nor have I anywhere met with a description of this substance.