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Paramaththa

Paramaththa

This Sri Lankan Buddhist organization has a created a substantial online repository containing hundreds of digitized palm-leaf manuscripts drawn from Buddhist viharas and private collectors. The collection is separated into Pali and Sinhala categories. The Pali includes texts from the Tiptaka, commentaries, sub-commentaries, grammars, poetry, and paraphrases. The Sinhala collection is separated into categories of literature, medical treatises, astrological treatises, and commentarial paraphrases. The Sinhala literature category is sub-divided into prose and poetry—both of which have deep catalogues. Prose texts include Sinhala translations or re-creations of Pali suttas and jataka tales, as well as mantras, astrology, histories, grammars, and more. There is also an unidentified Tamil manuscript. The Sinhala poetry includes classics like Kāvyaśkara and the sandeśa poems, as well as unique books of unidentified original verse, and many ritual compositions used to invoke deities or tame yakkas. Some books include fine examples of palm-leaf art inscribed on opening pages, such as a copy of the Pali grammar Bālāvatāraya.