Banana Leaf - As A Writing Surface

As A Writing Surface

Banana and palm leaves were historically the primary writing surface in many nations of South and Southeast Asia. This has influenced the evolution of their scripts. The rounded letters of many of the scripts of southern India (such as Oriya and Sinhala), of Burmese, and of Javanese, for example, are thought to be such an influence: Sharp angles and tracing straight lines along the vein of the leaf with a sharp writing implement would risk splitting the leaf and ruining the surface, so rounded letters, or letter with straight lines in only the vertical or diagonal direction, were required for practical daily use.

In such situations, the ribs of the leaves function as the dividing lines of ruled paper, separating lines of text. It is believed that this was so influential in the development of rongorongo of Easter Island that the more elaborate wood tablets were fluted to imitate the surface of a banana leaf.