History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c36.s2.11

v1.c36.s2.11

Leather (ajina) : While the parchment was commonly used as writing material in western Asia and Europe in early and medieval times, its use in India, if at all, was very rare. In some Buddhist texts, according to D’Alwis (Buhler, p. 114) skin is mentioned as a material used for writing upon. On this point Al- Biruni (Sachau pt. 1, p. 171) writes, “The Hindus are not in the habit of writing on hides, like the Greeks in ancient times.”