Indian Epigraphy c10.s6.1

c10.s6.1

The custom of wrapping up letters in cloth and of sealing the packet is referred to in the Jātakas.⁵ According to Bāṇa's Harṣacarita,⁶ the lekhahāraka or lekhahāra (i.e. letter-carrier) tied each packet separately to a strip of cloth and wound the cloth round his head. Ordinary letters written on palm leaf or birch bark were folded, the ends of the leaves or sheets being split and joined and the whole being tied up with a thread.⁷