India even now possesses a wealth of manuscripts running into many millions. Tradi-
tionally, they were written on materials such as birch bark (bh¯urja pattra) and palm
leaves. Birch bark was mainly used for north Indian scripts, and the writing was done
with ink made of finely ground charcoal powder in a medium of gum, or soot from oil
lamps. With palm leaves, there was no ink; rather, a sharp point was used to tear the
leaf’s surface film; it would then be smeared with a paste of charcoal powder mixed
in oil.
The art of paper making was introduced into India by the 11th century CE, perhaps
from China through Nepal. The earliest extant Indian paper manuscript is dateable
to 1105 CE; it was made from the fibers of a mountain plant. By the later half of
the 15th century, Kashmir was producing paper of attractive quality from the pulps
of rags and hemp, with lime and soda added to whiten the pulp. Sialkot, Zafarabad,
Patna, Murshidabad, Ahmedabad, Aurangabad and Mysore were among the well-
known centers of paper production.