A second medical treatise in Sinhala script
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The manuscript dates from the end of the 19th century or beginning of the 20th century. It is composed of 53 palm leaves held together by a string of between two carved wooden covers, of size 17.6x3.2cm. The leaves are identified in the left margin of the recto using arabic numerals, which is rather unusual since most manuscripts on palm leaves use a set of 544 non-numerical letters for numbering. When we acquired the manuscript, the leaves were held together in random order and orientation. There are many missing leaves, and it seems that the last leaf does not belong to the manuscript. Part of the text of leaf 21 recto (numbered 69) is repeated upside down on leaf 46 verso (numbered 148).
The leaves were photographed slightly tilted with respect to the camera in order to obtain the best contrast between text and background. Even so the text is difficult to read. The contrast was thus enhanced by a technique of unsharp masking.
This page will be updated as we learn more about this manuscript.
Click on the images to access the manuscript.
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