SARASWATI MAHAL LIBRARY
India in its ancient times glowed with its cultural and literary knowledge that even today is an intellect and spiritual guide to wisdom. All this knowledge had been emblazoned on palm-leaves and copper sheets which are being preserved by the archaeologists and other authorities. Books are the products of knowledge gained by scholars during various eras which quench the thirst of today’s ignorant man. Library, the Indian “Granthalaya”, or “Saraswati Bandar” is where we get this nectar of knowledge.
The Thanjavur Maharaja Serfoji's Sarasvati Mahal Library established by the Nayak rulers in 1700 A.D. and further developed as The Royal Palace library by Marathas is one such unbounded repository of manuscripts located in Thanjavur. It is one of the oldest libraries in Asia. Most part of its development is credited to the Maratha King Serfoji(1798-1832), who was a prominent scholar in many disciplines of learning and arts. In his early age Serfoji learned many languages including English, French, Italian and Latin. He passionately took special interest in the enrichment of the Library and employed many Pandits to collect, buy and copy a vast number of works from all famous Centres of Sanskrit learning in Northern India and other remote areas.
DOCUMENTATION
Indian scholars were keen about documentation of their work for future use and flow of knowledge through epochs. The manuscripts on paper or palm leaf carry post-scripts containing historical, biographical and other information regarding owners, copyist, date of copying, etc.The Manuscripts have been classified as
PALM LEAF MANUSCRIPTS
During ancient days, before the invention of paper, the common writing material used were palm leaves and were known as tada patra, tala patra or panna. The leaves of the palm tree were collected, dried and cut into the same convenient length all over India. Two holes were made to pass a string, which united the leaves together.
PAPER MANUSCRIPTS
The invention of paper travelled to India quite late, but had appeared by the time Ekoji I took over Thanjavur. However it was made by hand from cellulose vegetable material. Masi or mela was the ink used for writing, available in red, black, gold and silver. The permanent black ink was prepared by mixing the lamp soot of sesame (Sesamum indicum) oil with the gum of acacia and rainwater. The pens were made of either wood, bamboo or goose quill. Indians also knew the techniques of preservation. They dipped the paper manuscripts in turmeric water for protection from insects and durability.
THE SARASWATI BHANDAR
The Saraswati Mahal Library is a priceless repository of culture, art, music and literature. The library houses a rich collection of manuscripts in Sanskrit, Tamil, Marathi and Telugu.
SANSKRIT MANUSCRIPTS
The Sanskrit Collection of the Saraswati Mahal dated back to 16th century A.D is the largest in the collection comprising 39,300 out of the total 46,695 manuscripts. It contains not only the Vedas but also especially noteworthy history of later Sanskrit literature and copies of works which were produced directly under the patronage of the Telugu and Maratha Rajas of Thanjavur. The manuscripts are in palm leaf and paper form which are written in Devanagari, Nandinagari, Grantha and Telugu scripts.
Few outstanding works whose manuscripts solely belong to the Sarasvati Mahal are as follows:
- Rare and short lexicons
- The grammar of the rare dialect called Bhandira-bhasha
- The play Jambavatiparinaya of King Krishnadevaraya, Vivaranadarpana of Rangaraja
- The prose work of KrishnaCharita of Agastyapandita
- The allegorical play Bhavanapurushottama of Ratnakheta Srinivasa Dikshitar
- Some rare works of the great Appayya Dikshitar, Tattvachintamanivyakhya by Dharmarajadhvarin
- Poetess Ramabhadramba's biographical poem on her patron King Raghunatha Nayak, Vatttikabharana (mimamsa) of Venkatamakhin
- Short Advaita-Prakaranas in large number
- Puranic accounts of the sanctity and legends of the great shrines and sacred villages and towns in which the Cauvery delta abounds
- The oldest manuscripts in the Library are the Adwaita work, Bhamati of Vachaspatimisra, which was copied in Banaras in 1468 A.D
The Library has a collection of 3076 Marathi manuscripts written during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries by hierarchy of the Saints of Maharashtra belonging to Sri Ramadasi and Dattatreya Mutts. The Marathi manuscripts are mostly on paper. Later on, when the Library was opened for public in 1919 A.D., Marathi Manuscripts from Pandits and Scholars besides those of the Mutts, were received as donation and even now preserved well. They are 1220 in number. The total number of 3076 Marathi Paper Manuscripts are compiled in 6 volumes of catalogues called "The Descriptive Catalogue of Marathi Manuscripts" and classified into many subjects like Philosophy, Literature, Drama, Music, Lexicon, Medicine, Science etc. The Marathi Manuscripts which deal with Marathi musical dance dramas in palm leaf are written in Telugu script.
TAMIL MANUSCRIPTS
The Tamil Manuscript Section comprises of 3780 manuscripts of which 2083 are Literary and the rest are Medical. All these are in palm leaf and include rare works like Kambaramayana, Kalingathu Bharani, Moovarula, Saiva, Vaishnava and Jain works.
Until now, 20 volumes of Descriptive Catalogues are published. Some of the rare works belonging to the Imperial Chola period are written in Manipravala style. The medical manuscripts written by the Tamil scholars were based on the process made in the Dhanvantri Mahal Hospital. One of the oldest Tamil manuscripts is Sivarahasyam and was written during the reign of Serfoji I. The famous 18th century Kambaramayanam has 537 leaves and seven khandas.
TELUGU MANUSCRIPTS
The Tanjore Telugu manuscripts compose an unparalleled collection and represented the home productions of royal patrons of art, their court Pandits and other scholars domiciled in the Tanjore country. The collection also represents the southern school of Telugu literature. The Telugu Manuscript section deals with Padya Kavyas, Dvipada Kavyas, Satakas, Yakshaganas, Astrology, and Medical. The works of Nannaiya, Tikkanna, Bodanna, Krishnadevaraya, and Vijayaraghava Nayak are also available. These are the most valuable collection of manuscripts particularly relating to the Southern School of Telugu Literature. The Bhagavata mela tradition of dramas was first written in Telugu language and lot of dramas is available in palm leaf manuscripts.
MODI DOCUMENTS (MARATHI RAJ RECORDS)
Modi is a type of script used for writing the Marathi court language during the Maratha rulers of Maharashtra as well as Thanjavur. The court records - Orders, Letter correspondences, Daily accounts, Diaries, Petitions etc. are called Modi documents. Rare and important documents related to French-Maratha correspondence and Royal correspondences during 18th century are available in polished hand made papers with gold and silver spray works. Selected Modi documents are transcribed and translated for publication which are the only indigenous source materials for the history of the Marathas of Thanjavur.
HINDI MANUSCRIPTS
This Library also has more than 100 Hindi manuscripts, which deal with dramatic and historical subjects.
PERSIAN AND URDU
This Library has 22 Persian and Urdu manuscripts mostly of 19th century. Some of the manuscripts have illustrations. Important manuscripts in this collection are
- Firdausi's Shahnamah
- Life of Gajni Mohammed
OTHER MANUSCRIPTS
Along with the manuscripts in Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu and Marathi languages written in various scripts like Grantha, Devanagari, Nandinagari, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Oriya, Bengali, Burmese this Library also have few manuscripts in Persian, Urdu and Hindi languages.
COLLECTION OF BOOKS
The Saraswati Mahal also constitutes a reference section comprising of 4,500 old books collected by the king Serfoji during his life time in English, French, German, Italy, Greek and Danish languages which deal with many subjects.There is also a collection of new books more than 42,600 in number which are in Tamil, English, Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi, Telugu and a few in other Indian and Foreign languages
MUSEUM
A small museum is attached to the library to expose the importance of the library by displaying various rare artifacts available there. They include rare manuscripts, books, beautifully decorated Thanjavur style of paintings in paper, wood, glass and canvass, illustrated manuscripts like Gaja Sastra, Asva Sastra, Mythological paintings, Botonical specimen paintings, Military costumes, Ramayana in miniature paintings, rare maps, sketches and prints.
Saraswati Mahal Library with its inexhaustible treasure house of knowledge stands tall with grandeur.
