The Rylands collection includes a significant number of manuscripts attributed to the Theravada canon and many have been published by the Pali Text Society. They are the primary historical sources that chronicle the linguistic, cultural and technological development of Sri Lanka and its people and are of both anthropological and theological value. Such palm-leaf collections record important Buddhist scripture and early indigenous knowledge of medicine, literature, agriculture, astrology and the arts. Most of the Pali manuscripts are written on palm leaves, but there are also manuscripts written on paper. The manuscripts date from the 17 th-19 th centuries and include some unusually complete copies made by Sri Lankan scholars for the scholar T.W. The collection primarily concerns Theravada Buddhism, but texts cover a range of subjects. The John Rylands Research Institute and Library holds over seventy manuscripts from Sri Lanka, the majority of which are in the Pali language in Sinhalese script. Detail from Pali MS 79, Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna-sutta Palm leaf Manuscript
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