In spite of accelerating digitization, we scholars are still heavily dependent on texts written or printed on paper, as both primary and secondary sources. Especially for some of us specializing in textual studies, including history, Indology or the like, old texts transmitted through manuscripts are essential to our research. However, we pay little attention to the media or carrier which enabled their transmission. Konishi has addressed this “blind spot” of ours through his extensive research on the history and the other aspects of handmade paper in South Asia, for which he has traversed vast areas of the subcontinent over more than three decades. The culmination of all his efforts is the monograph to be reviewed below, an unprecedented work dealing with the subject in a comprehensive manner.
As he emphasizes in the introduction (pp. xxv–xxxix), Konishi intends to make a historical investigation on papermaking in South Asia through enquiring into (1) the origin of the papermaking tradition in India; (2) the traditional methods used in certain papermaking centres; (3) alternative papermaking traditions other than the one introduced by Muslims; and (4) the modern “revival” of the handmade paper industry in relation to colonial policy and Gandhi's Swadeshī movement. For the first question, he outlines in the Introduction the origin of papermaking in China and the two possible routes of its diffusion to South Asia, through Islamic West Asia into West and Northwest India and through Tibet to Nepal and Northeast India. He emphasizes the connection of the former route with the Islamization of India. The introduction is followed by the first chapter dedicated to the pre-history of paper, namely, “Writing Materials Used in South Asia before the Introduction of Paper” (pp. 1–20), in which Konishi minutely discusses carriers of writings other than paper such as palm-leaf and birch bark, with a description of the ink used for them. He also describes the writing materials used in Harappan culture, which are chronologically too far from his main concern and rather unrelated.
Konishi's main discussions start with the second chapter, “Early Knowledge about Paper, 12th–15th Centuries” (pp. 21–44), in which he first gives details of the diffusion of papermaking technology, which is characterized by the extraction of pulp by pounding old rags and sackings, from West Asia to India. Through the analysis of the textual evidence, he evaluates earlier theories on the beginning of papermaking and traces the two routes of diffusion, namely, the one from Samarqand to Northwest India, especially Kashmir, and another through the seaborne trade route to Gujarat, West India. He also describes its further diffusion in North India. He then proceeds to a discussion of the extant examples of early paper, which leads him to the possibility of another route of diffusion through Nepal. This is followed by a brief description of the Tibeto-Nepalese tradition of papermaking.
In the third chapter, “Establishment and Spread of Papermaking Technology during the Mughal Era” (pp. 45–83), Konishi deals with the mature phase of papermaking in South Asia under Mughal rule. He first gives an overview of the several uses to which paper was put and the types of paper produced for them. He then discusses the papermaking centres of this period, with remarks on the technological aspects if any accounts are available on them. He also analyses early European accounts of paper and papermaking in India.
The portion of the book just reviewed, which pertains to the pre-modern history of papermaking and its diffusion to and within South Asia, is mainly based on textual evidence in Chinese, Arabic, Persian and other languages. As Konishi himself admits (p. xxvii), he is not specialized in those literatures and accordingly has to rely on English translations, which also could have been updated from old ones such as those of Elliot and Dowson. Nevertheless, the routes and processes of diffusion conjectured by him are quite persuasive, incorporating proper evaluation of earlier studies. It is the same for his interpretation of the accounts of papermaking technology of the time, supplemented by his remarks on subtle differences in respective centres based on fieldwork at some of them.
The following four chapters can be read as a narrative of the decline of traditional papermaking. In the fourth chapter, “Records on Traditional Papermaking during the 19th and Early 20th Centuries” (pp. 84–110), Konishi minutely describes the technology of handmade paper in different centres of the subcontinent, based on the accounts of colonial officers with additional input again from his extensive fieldwork. He also detects in these accounts some symptoms of decline, which are fully discussed in the fifth chapter, “Decline of the Handmade Paper Industry” (pp. 111–32). In this chapter, he first highlights the technological invention and innovation in papermaking in Europe during the industrial revolution and the demand for paper in British India catered for by imports from abroad. Both resulted in the establishment of paper mills in India and the introduction of “Jail Paper”, the low-quality handmade paper produced by prisoners at low cost. Konishi considers competition with both mill-made paper and jail paper to be one important cause of the decline of the handmade paper industry. He takes the use of waste paper for pulp in the production of handmade paper, introduced to compete with cheap paper, as another cause, for it compromised the quality which differentiated the traditional paper from the others. In this connection, he is also critical of the lack of technological innovation due to jāti organization of the traditional papermakers, though he does not substantiate his opinion with data.
His critical edge is sharpened in the sixth chapter, “Gandhi's Swadeshī and Khādī Grāmodyog Movements” (pp. 133–56), in which he explores aspects of these movements beyond politics and ideology, in their technological content with the handmade paper industry as an example. Konishi draws our attention to the contradiction between Gandhi's ideal of village cottage industry, which aimed at providing subsistence to unskilled lower-class people, and the tradition of handmade paper, which required high skills inherited through generations. The result was the introduction of machines in most phases of the process of papermaking by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), which jeopardized the definition of handmade paper. He correctly points out the irony that the “revival” policy of village industries initiated by Gandhi finally became a death blow to traditional papermaking. His evaluation of the contemporary activities of the KVIC and the other agencies in the seventh chapter, “The Present State of Handmade Paper and the Scope” (pp. 157–72), cannot help being critical and bleak, though he tries to be optimistic. He rather seems to find a better prospect for the papermaking tradition in Nepal, which he discusses in the eighth chapter, “Tibeto-Nepalese Tradition of Handmade Paper” (pp. 173–95). Based on his extensive fieldwork, he minutely describes the technology of this alternative tradition especially characterized by cooking the bark of certain types of daphne for extracting pulp. He also charts the possible routes of diffusion of this papermaking tradition from Tibet to Nepal and further to Northeast India. He concludes the chapter with an evaluation of the recent changes introduced especially by mutual influence between India and Nepal. He rounds off his work by “Concluding Remarks: Results and Further Issues” (pp. 196–200), in which he summarizes the previous discussions and expresses his expectations for younger scholars. It is followed by the glossary (pp. 201–5) and the extensive bibliography with introductory note (pp. 209–26), which is of most help for future researchers as he intends. The many photographs attached as plates, which attest to Konishi's intensive and extensive fieldwork, are precious records in themselves, together with many attached figures, some of which are drawn by himself.
The present work surely has limitations in the interpretations of textual evidence, which should be confirmed and elaborated by future scholars specialized in the respective languages. But this is more than compensated for by Konishi's insights acquired through his extensive fieldwork and by his acquaintance with the papermaking traditions of many cultures. It should also be admitted that such a work could only have been accomplished with his versatility and wide range of interests, which traverse many disciplines. His attachment to paper and papermaking, which motivated him to write the present book, is also remarkable. It was this which enabled him to expose the contradiction surrounding the concept of village life held by Gandhi and his followers and provide another dimension to the discussions on Gandhism.
The present work by Konishi can be taken as a milestone from which further studies on the papermaking tradition of South Asia should start. It should be read by any scholars working on South Asian manuscripts for its rich information and insights. It is also valuable for scholars dealing with Indic texts in any forms, including myself: after reading this book, you may never stop noticing the carrier of your texts.
