South-Asian Bindings

Abstract

South Asia has a rich history of book production. Whilst the earliest texts were primarily transmitted orally, the region was home to diverse written traditions that produced loosely-bound or unbound books most commonly written on pieces of birch bark or palm leaf. This chapter will first outline early forms of book production from the Sanskritic tradition and the features of Indic manuscripts. In the far north, Buddhist communities added their own regionally specific innovations. Tibet will be discussed as an important region in this context. Tibetan books have been generally modelled after the Indic palm-leaf manuscript although books and documents found in other formats will be discussed too, such as the scroll, concertina, and the codex. Nepalese books are not detailed here as they are mainly based on the palm leaf format. In north-western areas, the codex format was hybridised with a variety of earlier formats. In Kashmir, birch bark codices were produced from the 11th century. These will be described both structurally and stylistically. Finally, Sikh bindings will be presented as a tradition that drew on all the earlier forms of book production to produce codices that were worshipped as the living embodiment of the Guru.