Manuscripts Project

A Khmer Buddhist Foundation has provided $1 million in grants to digitize and preserve the largest surviving collection of Cambodian Buddhist palm leaf manuscripts.

A Khmer Buddhist Foundation is proud to announce that it has provided over $1 million in grants to the Buddhist Digital Resource Center (BDRC) to source, preserve, restore and digitize nearly 1.5 million pages of palm-leaf manuscripts — the largest collection of Cambodian Buddhist palm leaf manuscripts in the world.

The manuscripts offer a snapshot of the cultural and spiritual landscape that existed in Cambodian society before the country was ravaged by war. A Cambodian and Southeast Asian tradition, Buddhist texts were etched onto palm leaves, which made them vulnerable to insects and fire. 

The project aims to preserve the rich history of the Cambodians and the Buddhist religion for future generations. Digitization of the manuscripts began in 2019, thanks to an initial grant from A Khmer Buddhist Foundation to the BDRC. 

The images of the Khmer manuscripts have been made available to the public online through BDRC’s main site and also a user interface designed for the Khmer community, http://khmer-manuscripts.bdrc.io (in development). The new, free digital resource will preserve a priceless record of Cambodian society and history.

For more information, read the news release here.