A study on some of the selected bibliographies compiled covering palm-leafs literature in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The history of the book, which is considered to be the most powerful tool in the transmission of human knowledge, goes back to the origins of the art of writing. It is believed that the origin of the art of writing took place about 5000 years ago (Gunasekara, 1990). Documents originated long before the advent of printing. They were handwritten and called as manuscripts. Writing can be described as the most powerful tool for providing information and knowledge to human beings. According to the Sinhala Dictionary, the art of writing is the writing of literary art and work. It refers to the art of writing articles and books according to a certain pattern or tradition (Sannasgala, 1961). Writing means cutting, scratching and digging (The Oxford Thesaurus, 2021).