There is no picture on this folio but it is notable because it is a rare example of a palm-leaf manuscript. Early Jain writings were inscribed on palm leaves but comparatively few have survived to the present day. Natural materials such as plant matter frequently do not survive for long periods of time, particularly in tropical climates. Palm leaf has continued to be largely used as writing material in south or eastern India, but not in western India. Examples of palm-leaf manuscripts from western India are especially scarce in libraries outside India.
The text belongs to Śvetāmbara Jain scriptures. It is an old technical treatise for monks dating back to approximately the 6th century. It deals with the punishments a monk must face if he breaks a vow or regulation that governs the mendicant lifestyle.
There is often a double foliation numbering in Jain manuscripts. Here it is in the form of letters in the left-hand margin and ias numbers in the right-hand margin. These are both placed inside a red decorative disk.
In the centre is a hole through which a string was threaded to hold together a number of palm leaves that make up a manuscript. It has a rough oval of orange pigment around it.
There are a few interesting characteristics of the script used here:
The Jīta-kalpa-sūtra is one of the Śvetāmbara Jain scriptures. It is an old technical treatise for monks dating back to approximately the sixth century. It deals with the punishments a monk must face if he breaks a vow or regulation that governs the mendicant lifestyle.
This particular manuscript has the conventional format of a page in palm-leaf Jain or non-Jain manuscripts – a long, narrow rectangle. With adjustments, this format continued to be used for Jain manuscripts when paper became widespread.
The earliest available Jain manuscripts in western India date back to the 11th to 12th centuries. They were written on palm leaf. Hardly any such manuscripts are found in libraries outside India, so this is a precious specimen.
British Library. Or. 1386. Śrīcandra. 13th century