Folding-book manuscript

Along with paper made from bamboo and palm leaves,{{sfnp|EB|1878|p=556}} parabaik (ပုရပိုက်) were the main medium for writing and drawing in early modern Burma/Myanmar.Raghavan 1979: 4–14 The Universities' Central Library in Yangon houses the country's largest collection of traditional manuscripts, including 4,000 parabaiks.{{Cite web |date=2018 |title=The Documentary heritage of Myanmar: selected case studies |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000370600?posInSet=1&queryId=84896d88-79b6-4a07-92a4-82a6352fa98d |access-date=2023-02-28 |website=UNESCO}}

File:Bodleian MS. Burm. a. 12 Life of Buddha 03-12.jpg's life]]

There are two types of parabaik: historically, black parabaik ({{lang|my|ပုရပိုက်နက်}}) were the main medium of writing, while the white parabaik ({{lang|my|ပုရပိုက်ဖြူ}}) were used for paintings and drawings. The extant black parabaik consist of works of scientific and technical importance like medicine, mathematics, astronomy, astrology, history, social and economic commentary, music, historical ballads, fiction, poetry, etc. The extant white parabaik show colored drawings of kings and court activities, stories, social customs and manners, houses, dresses, hair styles, ornaments, etc.Raghavan 1979: 6 The majority of Burmese chronicles were originally written on parabaik.Hla Pe 1985: 37 A 1979 UN study finds that "thousands upon thousands" of rolls of ancient parabaik were found (usually in monasteries and in homes of private collectors) across the country but the vast majority were not properly maintained.Raghavan 1979: 4–14 Parabaik were typically made from the bark of the khoi tree, which is a type of paper mulberry. The bark was soaked, pounded, and then made into sheets, which were glued together to create long rolls that could be folded up like an accordion.

File:The monk Phra Malai converses with Indra in heaven Wellcome L0030798.jpg

The use of samut khoi in Thailand dates at least to the Ayutthaya period (14th–18th centuries). They were used for secular texts including royal chronicles, legal documents and works of literature, as well as some Buddhist texts, though palm-leaf manuscripts were more commonly used for religious texts.{{cite web|title=สมุดข่อย และคัมภีร์ใบลาน กรุสมบัติจากบรรพชน|trans-title=Samut khoi and palm-leaf manuscripts: treasure troves from our ancestors|url=http://www.ayutthayastudies.aru.ac.th/content/view/627/32/|publisher=Ayutthaya Studies Institute, Ayutthaya Rajabhat University|accessdate=17 October 2015|archive-date=31 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331095309/http://www.ayutthayastudies.aru.ac.th/content/view/627/32/|url-status=dead}}{{cite book|title=The Book: A Global History|chapter=Southeast Asia (2): The Mainland |first=Jana |last=Igunma |editor-first1=Michael F.|editor-last1=Suarez|editor-first2=H. R. |editor-last2=Woudhuysen|isbn=9780191668753|publisher=Oxford University Press|place=Oxford|year=2013}}

Illustrated folding books were produced for a range of different purposes in Thai Buddhist monasteries and at royal and local courts. They served as handbooks and chanting manuals for Buddhist monks and novices. Producing folding books or sponsoring them was regarded as especially meritorious. They often, therefore, functioned as presentation volumes in honor of the deceased. A commonly reproduced work in the samut khoi format is the legend of Phra Malai, a Buddhist monk who travelled to heaven and hell. Such manuscripts are often richly illustrated.{{cite web |last1=Igunma |first1=Jana |title=A Thai book of merit: Phra Malai's journeys to heaven and hell |url=https://blogs.bl.uk/asian-and-african/2013/09/a-thai-book-of-merit-phra-malais-journeys-to-heaven-and-hell.html |website=Asian and African studies blog |publisher=British Library |access-date=7 November 2021 |language=en |date=29 September 2013}} {{CC-notice|cc=by|url=https://blogs.bl.uk/asian-and-african/2013/09/a-thai-book-of-merit-phra-malais-journeys-to-heaven-and-hell.html|author(s)=Jana Igunma/The British Library}}

The paper used for Khmer books, known as kraing, was made from the inner bark of the paper mulberry tree. In what is now known as Cambodia, kraing literature was stored in pagodas across the country. During the Cambodian civil war and the subsequent Khmer Rouge regime of the 1960s and 1970s, as many as 80% of the pagodas in Cambodia were destroyed, including their libraries.{{cite news|url=http://www.phnompenhpost.com/post-weekend/palm-leaves-preserving-history |title=Palm leaves preserving history |author=Sen David and Thik Kaliyann |newspaper=The Phnom Penh Post |volume=6|date=19 September 2015}} In Cambodia, only a tiny fraction of the original kraing of the Khmer Empire have survived.{{cite journal|title=A Khmer Medical Text "The Treatment of the Four Diseases" Manuscript |author=K. R. Chhem and M. R. Antelme |journal=Siksācakr, Journal of Cambodia Research |pages=33–42 |volume=6|year= 2004}}

==See also==

• Ho trai, library of Thai Temple
• Pitakataik, scriptural libraries in Myanmar
• Palm-leaf manuscript
• Orihon, a concertina-folded book format originating in China and popularized in Japan

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{{commons category|Folding-book manuscripts}}

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• {{citation |contribution=Burmah |title=Encyclopædia Britannica|edition=9th|volume=IV|editor-last=Baynes |editor-first=Thomas Spencer |display-editors=0 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |location=New York |date=1878 |ref={{harvid|EB|1878}} |pages=551–559 }}.
• {{cite book | last=Hla Pe | first=U | title=Burma: Literature, Historiography, Scholarship, Language, Life, and Buddhism | location=Singapore | publisher=Institute of Southeast Asian Studies | year=1985 | isbn=9789971988005}}
• {{cite web | last=Raghavan | first=V. | title=Preservation of Palm Leaf and Parabaik Manuscripts and Plan for Compilation of a Union Catalogue of Manuscripts | publisher=UNESCO | year=1979 | url=http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0003/000362/036248eb.pdf }}

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Category:Books by type

Category:Culture of Myanmar

Category:Burmese Buddhist texts

Category:Culture of Thailand

Category:Thai literature

Category:Manuscripts by type