Database Creation of Palm-leaf Manuscripts of the Pāli Canon Reading and Data Entry of the Mahāvagga of the Dīghanikāya

Abstract

Palm-leaf manuscripts have been primary means of preserving the content of the Pāli Canon for a long time, and are valuable materials within Buddhism and Buddhist Studies. However, a large number of manuscripts
are not physically well preserved and are not recorded in a convenient mean for study or usage. Against to a long history of Pāli studies by modern scholars, the creation of a database for palm-leaf manuscripts of the Pāli Canon based has never systematically done, and is still a new area in the study of Buddhism and Pāli.
This article explains the knowledge acquired through actual working on database creation, based on collecting relevant information, interesting issues or problems, and those solutions during the tasks of reading and doing data entry of the Mahāvagga of the Dīghanikāya, and utilizing Khom and Tham manuscripts preserved in Thailand.