Indian Epigraphy c9.t3.2

c9.t3.2

Pieces of cotton cloth (called paṭa or kārpāsika-paṭa in Sankrit), cut according to the required size, were used for writing after applying on it a paste of rice or wheat powder and making its faces smooth by rubbing them with conch- or cowrie-shell, etc. The Bhaḍlī or Gurḍe astrologers of Rajasthan are stated to have prepared illustrated almanacs on such cloth sheets, which they explained to the public for earning their livelihood.⁶ The mercantile community of the Mysore region are stated to have prepared their account books with such sheets of cloth seasoned with a paste made out of the powder of tamarind seeds and afterwards blackened with charcoal.¹ These books, called Kaḍitam or Kaḍatam, are said to have been written with chalk or steatite pencil so that the writing became white or black. Such account books of several centuries are preserved in the Sringeri Maṭha.² A copy of Śrīprabha-sūri's *Dharmavidhi* (with Udayasiṃha's commentary), preserved in a Jain library at Anhilwada Patan, is written on 93 sheets of cloth, each of them 13 inches long and 5 inches broad.³