The Khmer people's palm leaf script heritage will be digitized.

The project in An Giang province aims to protect and pass on to future generations the unique values ​​of the intangible cultural heritage of Khmer people's knowledge and techniques of writing on palm leaves, as well as the participation of the people in preserving and promoting the value of this heritage.

According to the plan, in phase 1 from 2022-2026, An Giang will focus on evaluating, collecting, verifying, classifying, and restoring heritage; researching and determining whether the writing on palm leaves is ancient Balinese or ancient Khmer; and providing guidance on methods for preserving and safeguarding the written texts on palm leaves.

During this period, the province will also document and digitize the Khmer people's palm leaf script heritage in An Giang province; create new versions of some Buddhist scriptures to serve heritage education and tourism development; translate some contents of the palm leaf scriptures; and strengthen the promotion and development of heritage to attract all social resources…

Phase 2, from 2028-2033, involves An Giang province developing a dossier to register the recognition of the documentary heritage of knowledge and techniques of Khmer writing on palm leaves as part of UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme for the Asia-Pacific region.

The knowledge and techniques of writing on palm leaves by the Khmer people in An Giang are a form of folk knowledge, containing within them an invaluable treasure of human knowledge: Buddhist scriptures. These Buddhist scriptures, written on palm leaves by the Khmer people, are called the Palm Leaf Sutras (Xatra Slấkrít). This is a rare and valuable ancient text inscribed on palm leaves, written in Old Khmer or Balinese (according to the Thomanadut and Mahainikai schools), dating back to the 19th century.

The Khmer art of carving on palm leaves is very special. Palm leaves are selected while still buds on the tree and grafted onto a frame to allow them to grow as desired, avoiding sunlight for 3-5 months. After that, the leaves are cut, dried, and used. To write scriptures on palm leaves, an iron pen is used. After writing, a cloth soaked in charcoal mixed with pine oil and then dipped in kerosene is used to brush over the carved characters. The uniqueness of palm leaf scriptures lies in the durability of the leaves, combined with the skill, meticulousness, and dedication of the writer, allowing the characters to be depicted on both sides of the palm leaf.

Each set of palm leaf scriptures consists of 4-10 volumes, each volume containing 20-60 palm leaf scrolls, with 5 lines on each side, containing approximately 150 characters. Palm leaf scriptures possess technical, aesthetic, and artistic value and hold significant importance in the spiritual and religious life of the Khmer people.

In An Giang province, palm leaf scriptures are still preserved in 30 out of 65 Khmer temples in the two districts of Tri Ton and Tinh Bien, with over 100 sets of Buddhist scriptures. However, for many years, palm leaf scriptures have not been written due to the lack of palm leaves. Furthermore, due to difficulties in preservation and inadequate protection against environmental factors, the scriptures have deteriorated over time and are at risk of disappearing.

Currently, very few Khmer monks in An Giang know how to engrave characters on palm leaves. Learning this skill requires patience and long-term practice. To be able to engrave, one must have a thorough understanding of the content of each type of scripture, as most palm leaf scriptures are engraved in ancient Khmer or Balinese script. This poses considerable difficulty for monks and lay Buddhists who wish to learn Buddhist scriptures from palm leaf texts.

Additional information:

An Giang is a multi-ethnic province, with approximately 29 ethnic groups, including four main groups: Kinh, Khmer, Hoa, and Cham. The Khmer people are a long-standing minority ethnic community in An Giang, concentrated most heavily in the two mountainous districts of Tri Ton and Tinh Bien, possessing a rich and diverse cultural heritage.

The Khmer ethnic group in An Giang has two intangible cultural heritage items that have been included in the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism: "The Bay Nui Bull Racing Festival" in 2016, and "The knowledge and techniques of writing on palm leaves of the Khmer people in Tri Ton and Tinh Bien districts" in 2017.

Huyen Chau (according to Tuoi Tre newspaper, image from the Internet)