Flowers for the Dhamma: Painted Buddhist palm leaf manuscript covers (kamba) of Sri Lanka

The majority of the wooden covers or kamba (singular: kambaya) used to enclose Buddhist palm leaf manuscripts have been painted with “floral subjects.”1

However, previous studies have not explored important issues such as themeaning of these floral subjects, their cultural and ritual uses, the relation between the painting and the intended purpose of the manuscript to preserve and transmit the Dhamma (Skt. Dharma), or dhammaka¯ya (the body of doctrine) contained in the manuscript. Moreover, current art historical interpretation has reduced the purpose of the kamba paintings to mere ornamentation.