Samut khoi

Folding-book manuscripts are a type of writing material historically used in Mainland Southeast Asia, particularly in the areas of present-day Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. They are known as ''parabaik'' in Burmese, ''samut thai'' in Thai or ''samut khoi'' in Thai and Lao, ''phap sa'' in Northern Thai and Lao, and ''kraing'' in Khmer.

The manuscripts are made of a thick paper, usually of the Siamese rough bush (''khoi'' in Thai and Lao) tree or paper mulberry and palm leaves, ''parabaik'' (ပုရပိုက်) were the main medium for writing and drawing in early modern Burma/Myanmar.Raghavan 1979: 4–14 The Universities' Central Library in Yangon houses the country's largest collection of traditional manuscripts, including 4,000 parabaiks.

There are two types of ''parabaik'': historically, black ''parabaik'' () were the main medium of writing, while the white ''parabaik'' () were used for paintings and drawings. The extant black ''parabaik'' consist of works of scientific and technical importance like medicine, mathematics, astronomy, astrology, history, social and economic commentary, music, historical ballads, fiction, poetry, etc. The extant white ''parabaik'' show colored drawings of kings and court activities, stories, social customs and manners, houses, dresses, hair styles, ornaments, etc.Raghavan 1979: 6 The majority of Burmese chronicles were originally written on ''parabaik''.Hla Pe 1985: 37 A 1979 UN study finds that "thousands upon thousands" of rolls of ancient ''parabaik'' were found (usually in monasteries and in homes of private collectors) across the country but the vast majority were not properly maintained.Raghavan 1979: 4–14 Parabaik were typically made from the bark of the khoi tree, which is a type of paper mulberry. The bark was soaked, pounded, and then made into sheets, which were glued together to create long rolls that could be folded up like an accordion.

Thailand

The use of ''samut khoi'' in Thailand dates at least to the Ayutthaya period (14th–18th centuries). They were used for secular texts including royal chronicles, legal documents and works of literature, as well as some Buddhist texts, though palm-leaf manuscripts were more commonly used for religious texts.

Illustrated folding books were produced for a range of different purposes in Thai Buddhist monasteries and at royal and local courts. They served as handbooks and chanting manuals for Buddhist monks and novices. Producing folding books or sponsoring them was regarded as especially meritorious. They often, therefore, functioned as presentation volumes in honor of the deceased. A commonly reproduced work in the ''samut khoi'' format is the legend of Phra Malai, a Buddhist monk who travelled to heaven and hell. Such manuscripts are often richly illustrated.

Cambodia

The paper used for Khmer books, known as ''kraing'', was made from the inner bark of the paper mulberry and the subsequent Khmer Rouge regime of the 1960s and 1970s, as many as 80% of the pagodas in Cambodia were destroyed, including their libraries. In Cambodia, only a tiny fraction of the original ''kraing'' of the Khmer Empire have survived.

See also

* Ho trai, library of Thai Temple
* Pitakataik, scriptural libraries in Myanmar
*Palm-leaf manuscript
* Orihon, a concertina-folded book format originating in China and popularized in Japan

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