Palm Leaf Manuscript from Thailand

This manuscript made from palm leaves contains a canonical Buddhist text in Pali language with the title “Phra Mahāvessantarajātaka - Mahāballavannānitthitā Phuk 7” (in Khmer script: ព្រះមហាវេស្យន្តរជាតក្ក មហាពល្លវណ្ណានិដ្ឋិត្តា ផូក ៧; in Thai script: พฺรมหาเวสฺสนฺตรชาตก มหาพลวณฺณานิฏฺฐิตา ผูก ๗) which is the seventh chapter of the Vessantara Jataka. This is the last of the Buddha’s Birth Tales (Jataka) and the most popular Jataka across mainland Southeast Asia telling the story of the Buddha in his previous life as Prince Vessantara. Chapter seven describes how the Brahmin Jujaka approached the hermit Accala to find out where Prince Vessantara’s forest hermitage was situated. The text is in Khmer script, which was widely used for Buddhist scriptures in Thailand (formerly Siam) until the end of the 19th century. It was incised with a metal stylus on the surface of the palm leaves and then rubbed with a mixture of lampblack and oil, and afterwards wiped clean to leave the lampblack in the incisions only, thus making the text visible. The manuscript has wooden covers which were decorated with gold leaf on black lacquer in a technique known in Thailand as lai rot nam. Such manuscript covers were made during the reign of Rama III (1824-51) who commissioned an entire set of the Pali Buddhist canon “Tipitaka” equipped with such embellished covers. The decorations depict peonies and auspicious Chinese motifs including paper scrolls and vessels. The manuscript is wrapped in a custom-made textile; the lining of the wrapper is a piece of plain cloth in the yellow-ochre colour of a monk’s robe highlighting its religious value. Lacking a colophon or date, the manuscript is estimated to have been created between 1824 to 1838.