Kammavaca ordination book. Sutra
€1700,00
- Early 19th-century Burmese ordination manuscript, complete with 16 “olles” (tallipot or latan leaves) and 2 covers.
- Kamavaca are Buddhist texts or canons that govern life in monasteries, a Pali term describing a collection of passages from the Tipitaka (Tripitaka, Triple Basket: The Theravada Buddhist Canon) relating to ordination, the bestowal of robes and other rituals of monastic life. It is usually commissioned as a work of merit and presented to monasteries when a son enters the Buddhist order as a novice or is ordained a monk.
- The Pali text is written in black lacquer in ornate Burmese characters, known as the “tamarind seed” script, or “square” script, which differs from the usual round Burmese script. The 16 double-sided boards are red lacquered, with finely incised decorations and gold ornamentation.
- The two wooden covers of this copy are still held in the remnants of a monastic robe, and the whole is pierced with a hole, once used for binding with thread.
- Provenance: Estate of collector and art dealer Claude de Marteau
- Sold with certificate of origin.
- Very good condition. Very rare wear marks.
- L 56 cm x W 11 cm x H 4.5 cm
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