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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Any Jewelry, post: 9515749, member: 2844&quot;]Those are scenes from the Hindu epic Ramayana.</p><p>It is the beginning of the story, where exiled king Rama is out hunting, and demon king Ravanna turns himself into a golden hind to lure Sita, Rama&#039;s wife, towards him to abduct her.</p><p>Jatayu, the king of the vultures, has witnessed the abduction but was unable to come to Sita&#039;s aid, so he warns Rama.</p><p><br /></p><p>Lontar is a palm species native to Indonesia. These books are made from and named after the palm: lontar or lontar books.</p><p><br /></p><p>The text is in Javanese Hanacaraka script. </p><p>Hanacaraka is related to other Brahmic (Hindu) scripts, but the letters are more curly and rounded, which is why it looks so elegant. It is said that the round shapes of the letters were developed to prevent tearing of the lontar leaves due to straight cuts in the leaf.</p><p><br /></p><p>Chinese cash coins were used as secondary currency in parts of Indonesia, up til the mid-20th century. In Javanese they are called kepéng, a term that is generally used.</p><p>On Bali they are often used with religious items like lontar books.</p><p>The other end of the string would also have had a kepéng tied to it, so if you come across an old one, by all means use it to prevent the string from slipping out.</p><p>When closed, lontars are tied with the string, and kept in special boxes.</p><p>This is one of mine:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]451448[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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