Page 7 - Palm-Leaf-Manuscript-Wrap-in-Northeast Thailand

Preface

It has been sixteen years that our Manuscript Conservation Project began the
journey in 2003. Our team urgently started their initial working phrase in surveying and
evaluating the existing numbers of palm - leaf manuscripts in the temples. We found
that not only do the manuscripts inhabit the Tripitaka (Buddhist Scriptures), but they
also contained pharmacopoeia, law, traditions, rituals, superstitions, astrology, literature,
and other miscellanies. The making of the palm - leaf manuscripts, the conservation,
and other related processes were the reflection of the remarkable tradition in the Isan
region and the strong communal faith in Buddhism of the local people. We also
discovered chests and cabinets where the manuscripts were stored, and spotted
fabric wraps which were used to keep the manuscripts in longevity. In recent years,
many textile individuals and scholars have put their attentions in the fabric manuscript
wraps in Isan. Our team also found various types of manuscript wraps whether the
local fabrics or the foreign ones. As the author of this book, I would like to
conceptualize and illustrate the tradition of the manuscript wraps with the hope that
our authentic findings might underpin substantial knowledge within the field. This book
cannot be accomplished without the spontaneous collaborations from the surveying
team, the funding bodies from the Division of Research Facilitation and Dissemination,
Mahasarakham University. Also, I would like to thank you the Director of the Research
Institute of Northeastern Arts and Culture for his moral supports and
Assistant Professor Dr Pimyupa Praphan - together with her team - for their enormous
work in translating this work into English.
Finally, I would like to say thank you to everyone who involves in this project
and hope that this book can bring about the knowledge and understanding of the
manuscript wraps in Isan in different dimensions.

(Associate Professor Weenah Weesapen)

6 รองศาสตราจารย์วณี า วสี เพ็ญ
Associate Professor Weenah Weesapen