Indian Epigraphy c9.t1.9

c9.t1.9

¹ Al-Bīrūnī says, "They (i.e. the Indians) bind a book of these (i.e. palmyra) leaves together by a cord on which they are arranged, the cord going through all the leaves by a hole in the middle of each......... They write the title of the book at the end of it and not at the beginning" (Sachau, loc. cit. and p. 182). The string holding the leaves of a manuscript together was called *sūtra* or *śarayantraka* (cf. *Vāsavadatta*, Hall's ed., p. 250).