Birthday barbecue...

[fajrdrako]

A few weeks ago, Lisa's family bought a nice big picnic table for their back garden, so the birthday dinner for Lisa's mother was eaten there, and cooked by David on their barbecue grill. It was utterly delicious - especially the grilled mixed vegetables, though the pork kebabs were lovely too. Eight-year-old Eleanor made the chocolate cake for dessert - and she even invented the recipe. It contained several kinds of chocolate, but not much sugar, since Elizabeth is diabetic.

I think 91-year-old Elizabeth had a really good time. In the end, I gave her a music CD, "The Best of Bing Crosby". It's one I would have liked myself. We talked about travels, and yoga - Elizabeth, Lisa, Beulah and I all practise yoga, and Beulah is in the same yoga class as Elizabeth. Elizabeth asked what substance the Vedas would have been written on in the first place, and I wasn't sure of the answer. Does anyone here know? What did ancient Indians use to write on?

Comments

[toraks.livejournal.com]

The Vedas were definitely passed on through oral tradition for a long time. But I don't know what they would have been written on when they first were written down.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's the question - I believe it was around 300 A.D. when they were written down (but that's going by memory, and my memory isn't good) - but I don't know what they used for writing then. A little research is called for!

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

Palimpsest?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Only if it were overwritten. Palimpsest is a method of reusing the writing material, not the writing material itself.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

Okay, if you say so. In my dictionary (the long-lived, well-thumbed one), palimpsest is also referred to as the writing material itself. An American thing?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

In my dictionary (the long-lived, well-thumbed one), palimpsest is also referred to as the writing material itself.

I've never heard that usage in all my years of studying history. The Open Dictionary says:

A manuscript or document that has been erased or scraped clean, for reuse of the paper, parchment, vellum, or other medium on which it was written. Many historical texts have been recovered using ultraviolet light and other technologies to read the erased writing.

My beloved Chambers says:

a manuscript in which writing has been rubbed out to make room for new; a monumental brass turned over to make room for a new inscription.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

But A manuscript or document that has been erased or scraped clean, for reuse of the paper, parchment, vellum, or other medium on which it was written. is exactly what I was referring to. Guess you and I saw those words and take them two different ways. Hm!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

The Vedas were holy books so it is highly unlikely they were ever erased. YOu said 'writing material' it isn't that, any more than a manuscript could be called 'writing material'. I think we were talking at cross-purposes!

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

I think we were talking at cross-purposes!

Yep!