Palmleaf
Palm-leaf manuscripts are manuscripts made out of dried palm leaves. Palm leaves were used as writing materials in the Indian subcontinent and in Southeast Asia dating back to the 5th century BCE.[1] Their use began in South Asia and spread to other regions, as texts on dried and smoke-treated palm leaves of the Palmyra or talipot palm.[2] Their use continued until the 19th century when printing presses replaced hand-written manuscripts
One of the oldest surviving palm leaf manuscripts of a complete treatise is a Sanskrit Shaivism text from the 9th century, discovered in Nepal, and now preserved at the Cambridge University Library.[3] The Spitzer Manuscript is a collection of palm leaf fragments found in Kizil Caves, China. They are dated to about the 2nd century CE and related to Buddhist hybrid Sanskrit.
Saraswathi mahal library
Saraswathi Mahal Library, also called Thanjavur Maharaja Serfoji's Saraswathi Mahal Library is a library located in Thanjavur (Tanjore), Tamil Nadu, India. It is one of the oldest subsisting libraries in Asia[1] established during 16th century by the Nayak kings of Thanjavur and has on display a rare collection of Palm leaf manuscripts and paper written in Tamil and Sanskrit and a few other indigenous languages of india (especially southern regional languages). The collection comprises well over 49,000 volumes, though only a tiny fraction of these are on display. The library has a complete catalog of holdings, which is being made available online. Some rare holdings can be viewed on site by prior arrangement.
Encyclopedia Britannica mentions the library as the "Most remarkable library of India"
Raghunatha Nayak (1600-1634) and Vijayaraghava Nayak (1633-1673), were both important kings in the Nayak period.
Raghunatha and Vijayaraghava are very important for us because we believe that the core of the library started during one of their reigns. And, interestingly, a fair amount of manuscripts that we have are also from the time of these two kings, especially the songs that they wrote.
Temple manuscripts
Hindu temples often served as centers where ancient manuscripts were routinely used for learning and where the texts were copied when they wore out.
In South India, temples and associated mutts served custodial functions, and a large number of manuscripts on Hindu philosophy, poetry, grammar, and other subjects were written, multiplied, and preserved inside the temples.[
Archaeological and epigraphical evidence indicates the existence of libraries called Sarasvati-bhandara, dated possibly to the early 12th century and employing librarians, attached to Hindu temples.
Palm-leaf manuscripts were also preserved inside Jain temples and in Buddhist monasteries.
Saraswati mahal manuscripts
In the city of Thanjavur in India, priceless palm-leaf manuscripts are preserved. The Saraswathi Mahal Library, established around year 1700 and located in the premises of the palace, contains over 30,000 Indian and European manuscripts written on palm leaf and paper. Over eighty per cent of its manuscripts are in Sanskrit and many of them are on palm leaves.