Antique Burmese Buddhist Kammavaca Pali Manuscript
AGE: – 19th Century
LENGTH: – 59cm
WIDTH:– 14.5cm
HEIGHT: – 5cm
WEIGHT:– 2.6 kg.
#21a PRICE: AUD2,200 CONTACT
Antique Burmese Buddhist Kammavaca Pali Manuscript comprises two outer wooden covers and sixteen internal pages or leaves which make this a complete kammavaca Pali manuscript.
The outside covers are incised with Burmese mythological figures and gilded with gold leaf. These covers show kinaree and kinarar, two half bird half human figures. They are a symbol of the Karenni states in Myanmar. They also represent the symbol of true love. The inside covers are made up of lacquered cloth from a monk’s robe and a thick resinous black lacquer from the tamarind tree is used for the script.
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Plain red lacquer coats the inside of each wooden end cover. On the inside front cover, there is a dedication in Burmese script, this script would more than likely show the name of the monk and the year in which he entered the monastery. The Pali script is written with the black sap from the black varnish tree (Melanorrhoea usitata).
The outside covers are incised with Burmese mythological figures and gilded with gold leaf. These covers show kinaree and kinarar, two half bird half human figures. They are a symbol of the Karenni states in Myanmar. They also represent the symbol of true love.
The kammavaca manuscript is a traditional Burmese gilded Pali prayer manuscript different in style from the more common palm leaf manuscript which is quite plain. They are usually accompanied by a novice monk on his initiation into the monastery. Sometimes, these Pali manuscripts are presented to the monastery by the family of the novice monk during his dedication and ordination ceremony or gifted to the monastery to gain merit.
