Abstract
Two quite different kind of inks, carbon and iron-gall ink, were used for the writing of text in medieval manuscripts. Most of the European manuscripts in early middle ages were written with the carbon ink as at classical times. The transition from the carbon ink to the iron-gall ink was very gradual which began about the eleventh century, but the references to the iron-gall inks dates back to the pre-Christian ages, earliest of which is Philo of Byzantium, third century B. C., who described the method of ink prepared by mixing the tannin extracts from nut-gall with the solution of iron salt. Medieval literature on the iron-gall ink was written by Theophilus Presbyter, twelfth century. And, the ancient Indian people also have known this tannin-iron method of producing black dye or black stain. This is indicated in “Mahasanbhika-Vinaya”, a primitive Budohist canon, vol. 18 of Chinese translation, fifth century. The tannin was obtained from fruits and one of them is “haritaki”, “haritaka” in Pali language, which is known by European as “Myrobalan.”
