From The new York Times:
In West Bengal and Orissa in eastern India, palm-leaf paintings are common and cheap. Made from long, thin strips of dried leaves threaded together to fold up accordion-style, most have a single large image – of Ganesha, say, or Sarasvati, the goddess of books and knowledge – dashed off in fleet strokes.
The pictures are turned out by the thousands for tourists and they make ideal souvenirs. Sturdy and compact, they weigh next to nothing. The collapsible format protects them from dirt and light. Toss a dozen paintings in your luggage and the problem of finding all-purpose gifts for the folks back home is solved.
Such practical features – size, resilience, portability – help explain why a similar form of palm-leaf art, the illustrated book, was popular in India between the 10th and 13th centuries. And they suggest why such books and their illustrations have survived into the present, while painting in more perishable media has not.
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