Burmese Gold Laquered Kammavaca - Late 19th Century

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IM-11731: Complete 19th century Burmese Kammavaca manuscript. It is composed of two outer covers, and sixteen lacquered tablets written in Pali language.  The covers and individual lacquered leaves each measure 5.25 x 22.25 inches – 130 x 5650 mm. From Burma (Myanmar), circa 1850-85.

The Kammavaca is a sacred manuscript from the Indian subcontinent of disciplinary formulae for the regulation of Buddhist monastic life - among the most sacred of Burmese texts. It is written in the Pali language, typically on gold lacquered palm leaves. Around the latter half of the 17th century a square type of writing executed in thick resinous black lacquer (called “tamarind seed”) became the preferred script for Kammavaca - which reached their apogee during the Konbuang Dynasty (1752-1885).

Ref:  Albertine Gaur: A History of Writing, p. 114, and British Library: “Kammavaca is a Pali term describing an assemblage of passages from the Tipitaka –  the Theravada Buddhist canon –  that relate to ordination, the bestowing of robes, and other rituals of monastic life. A Kammavaca is a highly ornamental type of manuscript usually commissioned by lay members of society as a work of merit, to be presented to monasteries when a son enters the Buddhist Order as a novice or becomes ordained as a monk.” 

Nice antiquarian condition as shown in the photographs. There is some wear to the decoration from devotional use. The hole in each leaf is original and facilitates a string that would hold the leaves in order. This is an original artifact, not a reproduction, and comes with a certificate of authenticity. 

  • Inventory# IM-11731
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