Palm leaf, paper, and kadata manuscripts constitute a substantial portion of this repository. The palm leaf corpus reflects a long-standing documentary tradition in the Indian subcontinent, encompassing pedagogical texts, administrative records, accounts, ritual manuals, and other genres. Inscribed on treated palm leaves with styluses, these materials preserve multiple regional and linguistic traditions and serve as key primary sources for the study of historical, social, and intellectual practices.

From the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries onward, paper manuscripts became increasingly prevalent, and numerous works were transcribed from palm leaf counterparts either to ensure textual continuity or to as means of perservation. Our collection include such paper manuscripts alongside earlier formats.

Kadata are traditional, folded, black-surfaced manuscripts, particularly associated with the Karnataka region, employed for administrative, legal, and temple record-keeping. Produced from cotton cloth coated with charcoal paste and tamarind seed powder and written upon with white chalk like pencils.