English: Shisyalekha (IAST: Śiṣyalekha) is a 5th-century Sanskrit literary work of the Buddhist grammarian and poet Candragomin (guru of Ratnakirti). It consists of an ornate kavya (poem) in the epistolary genre. The poem is about a monk who has broken his celibacy vow through a love affair with a princess.

While the poem is fine in itself, this text is significant for using a well developed Devanagari script in 1084 CE. The text was copied within decades, and several versions of these Devanagari manuscripts have survived (one is now at Tokyo University Library, another at St Petersburg Saltykov-Schedrin Library.

This version of the palm leaf manuscript was purchased by Daniel Wright in May 1875. It is now preserved at the Cambridge University Library ( MS Add.1161 ). The manuscript shows signs of aging, peeling, insect damage and edge fraying. The holes above in the leaves is the place to pass a string through to keep the talapatra pages in order, and then tie them together into a book, just like other palm leaf manuscripts. Each leaf has coloring daub marks, which identifies the dandas (verse's end) and puspikas. The manuscripts also has a few places where Nepalaksara script title and other archival information is marked, which were added much later.

Language: Sanskrit

Script: Devanagari

The photo above is of a 2D artwork created in 1084 CE, itself a copy from a text that was itself authored more than 1,500 years ago. The manuscript that was purchased before 1875 CE in Nepal by Daniel Wright. The artwork and this 2D photograph therefore fall under Wikimedia Commons PD-Art licensing guidelines. Any rights I have as a photographer is herewith donated to wikimedia commons under CC 4.0 license.