Lontar: From Palm Leaf to Manuscript

Abstract

Two weeks ago, in the small reading room for manuscripts from the special collections at Leiden University, a researcher explored scripture on narrow long brown leaves. Both these leaves from a palm tree (Palmyra, Borassus flabellifer) and the manuscript they constitute go by the name of lontar. The technique was characteristic of the literary cultures on Java and Bali especially: "[...] the library in the sense of a collection of authoritative written texts cared for and consulted by special..