Soot Paste
Giovanni Ciotti
When soot is combined with a concentrated binder, a paste-like ink is obtained that can be smeared over scratched palm-leaves with a piece of cloth. Binders mentioned in secondary literature are: mustard oil (Brassica juncea); sesame oil (Sesamum indicum); dudu oil (prepared in Sri Lanka by pressing the fruits of the hard pea, Cardiospermum halicacabum); dummela oil (prepared by distillating a fossil resin found in the soil in certain localities in Sri Lanka); more complex pastes, such as in India the mix of leaves of a bean plant (Dolichos lablab), false daisy (Eclipta alba) and the juice of thornapple (Datura stramonium or Datura fastuosa); and other juices of unspecified vegetable origin (Agrawal 1984, 31–33, 275–277).
Once smeared, the soot paste remains stuck in the incisions and enhances the readability of the writing. The leftover paste on the surface of the leaves is finally removed, for instance with sand. This practice is typical of South India, Sri Lanka, and South-East Asia, both Mainland and Maritime (Ciotti 2021).