Public Lecture
The Cult of the Palm Leaf Manuscript:
Materiality, Devotion, and Ritual Practices
in Sri Lankan Theravāda Buddhism
Dr. Rev Madipola Wimalajothi Thero
About the speaker
Dr. Rev Madipola Wimalajothi Thero is an RGC Junior Research Fellow at the Centre of Buddhist Studies, Faculty of Arts, The University of Hong Kong. He completed his PhD at The University of Hong Kong in 2024. His research primarily focuses on Theravāda Buddhism—texts, Vinaya, rituals, and history. His expertise lies in textual criticism, palm leaf manuscript culture across South and Southeast Asia, and editing and translating Pali texts. His current research project is entitled “The Cult of the Palm Leaf Manuscript in Theravāda Buddhism: Investigating the Material Politics of Textual Transmission in Colonial Sri Lanka.”
Lecture abstract
Theravāda Buddhism in Sri Lanka maintains a unique and rich palm leaf manuscript culture. Historically, the Pali Tipiṭaka (Canon) and Buddhist literary texts have been preserved through continuous scribal transmission. These ancient palm leaf manuscripts function not only as sources of religious knowledge, but also as objects of veneration. Scholars have coined the concept of the “cult of the book” to describe the significance attributed to physical scriptures as sacred objects of worship in the Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna traditions. Drawing on this concept, I propose the notion of the “cult of the palm leaf manuscript” to examine palm leaf manuscript culture in Sri Lankan Theravāda Buddhism. In doing so, I highlight the unique forms of production, preservation, ritual and devotional practices, and materiality of palm leaf manuscript culture in Sri Lanka. In this talk, I will explore how ritual practices have shaped these palm leaf manuscripts as objects of veneration and merit-making.
Organizer: HKU Centre of Buddhist Studies
Sponsor: Tung Lin Kok Yuen
