Indian Epigraphy c9.t1.11

c9.t1.11

In the 7th century, the Chinese pilgrim Hiuen-tsang spoke of the general use of palmyra leaf as a writing meaterial throughout the country.³ The popularity of this material is also indicated by the fact that the birch-bark sheets of the Bower manuscripts as well as such early copper plates as the Taxila plate⁴ of Patika (21 A.D.) are cut according to the shape of a palmyra-leaf sheet. According to a Buddhist tradition, the canon was written on palmyra leaves immediately after the Buddha's death.⁵