Saraswathi Mahal Library

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The Thanjavur Maharaja Serfoji's

Saraswathi Mahal Library

 

Thanjavur-613009, Tamil Nadu, India

 

 

 

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The Thanjavur Maharaja Serfoji's Sarasvati Mahal Library is one of

the few medieval Libraries that exist in the world. It is an

unbounded repository of culture and inexhaustible treasure-house of

knowledge built up by the successive dynasties of Nayaks and Marathas

of Thanjavur. It contains very rare and valuable collection of

manuscripts on all aspects of art, culture and literature The

Encyclopaedia Brittanica in its survey of Libraries of world mention

this as "the most remarkable library in India. "

 

 

The Library was started as a Royal Palace Library during the Nayak

Kingdom over Thanjavar (1535-1673 A. D.) and was developed by the

Maratha Kings of Thanjavur (1676Ñ1855 A D.). During the reign of

these two dynasties Thanjavar was a centre of art and literature and

the kings were the patrons which led to enrich the collection of the

library, in various fields.

 

Maharaja Serfoji II

 

Among the Maratha Kings, Maharaja Serfoji II (1798Ñ1832 A. D.) was an

eminent scholar in many branches of learning. In his infancy he came

under the influence of a Danish missionary Father Rev. Schwartz, who

was his father's friend and guide Serfoji II had his early education

under him. With a great enthusiasm he took special steps for the

enrichment of the Library. When pilgrimaged to Benares, he employed

many Pandits to collect buy and copy a vast number of works from all

the renowned centres of Sanskrit learning in the North and other

areas. It is a fitting tribute to the Great Collector Serfoji, that

the Library is named after him.

 

Administration

 

Till the survival of the last Maratha Queen, the Library was a palace

property. After the death of the last queen, the Library together

with her properties formed the subject of litigation in civil courts

The public of Thanjavar began to interest themselves in making this

library as a National pride, The Government of Madras in their G. O.

Ms. No. 1306 Home (Education) dated 5th October 1918 accordingly took

possession of the library under the charitable Endowment Act and have

framed a scheme for the management of the Library. A five member

committee under the ex-officio Chairmanship of the District Collector

was appointed to maintain the Library. The name of the Library was

changed from "The Sarasvati Mahal Library" to "The Thanjavur Maharaja

Serfoji's Sarasvati Mahal Library "

 

In 1983, the Library was declared as an Institution of National

Importance. The Government of Tamilnadu ordered to abolish the five

member committee of administration and to register this under the

Reistered Society Act of 1975. The Society consists of Ex-officio

members of both Central and State Governments, nominated scholars,

member from the Royal family and Director of the Library. The is the Secretary to the Society The Library receives funds

from the Government of Tamil nadu for the maintenance of the Library

and from Government of India for develo'Jmental activities.

 

Organisational Structure

 

This Library is situated in the centre of Nayak palace and it was

opend for public in 1918. Various sections were started in 1979 such

as Pandits section, Conservation section, Microfilm section,

Publication section, Marketing section, Printing section, Binding

section and Reference Book section. A small Museum is also there for

the visitors.

 

Pandit's Section

 

Language Pandits for Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Modi and Sanskrit are

working in this section. Their nature of work is cataloguing, editing

and maintaining the manuscripts accordingly The Library has the

richest collection of manuscripts which reflect the culture of South

India. In addition to the Main collections the Library also came in

possession of the private libraries of several Pandits and their

Patrons who were living in and around Thanjavur or elsewhere. Even

now, this library is receiving manuscripts from generous people. It

has more than 46,695 manuscripts in the form of palm-leaf and paper.

 

Collection of Manuscripts

 

The manuscripts of this library represent:

a. The collection of works on art, science and literature of Tamil

from time immemorial.

 

 

b The Collection of works of the Vijayanagara renaissance brought

under the Nayak rulers of Thanjavur between 1535 to 1673 A.D

 

 

c. The collection of works brought by the Maratha rulers of Thanjavur.

 

 

d The collection of works written by scholars in the country of the

Nayak and Maratha Kings of Thanjavur between 1535 to 1855 A D.

 

 

e. The collection made by Maharaja Serfoji from all over India and

 

 

f. The later collections from the families of great scholars.

 

I. Collection of Sanskrit Manuscripts

 

More number of the manuscripts in this library is in Sanskrit

language i. e. 39,300 manuscripts out of 46,695 belongs to this

language. The Sanskrit manuscriptsc ollection of this library has a

unique value, in that in preserves the literary works of authors

spread over 400 years. The scripts used for Sanskrit are Granthˆ,

Devanagari, Nandinagari, Telugu and a few in Malayalam, Kannada,

Oriya etc. This collection covers almost all branches of Sanskrit

literature.

 

Dr. A. C. Burnell prepared a Iist for the Sanskrit manuscripts of

this library and des cribed this collection thus "It may perhaps be

asked of the library is worth the labour spent on it. I can answer

unhesitatively that itis. It is now a recognised fact that nearly all

Sanskrit works of importance, exist in different recensions The

Library is unrivalled in this respect. It contains several good

manuscript of all the most important ones known as yet including a

few that are new Sanskrit manuscripts have long been very dear and;

the cost of making paper transcripts is now very heavy. As far as I

can judge it would not be possible to form a collection like that at

Tanjore at a less cost than £ 50,000 but many manuscripts are

unquestionably unique."

 

II. Collection of Tamil Manuscripts

 

There are about 3,518 Tamil manuscripts in this library. ` They are

in palm-leaves and belong to the following categories.

 

 

a. Rare commentaries on Sangam works.

 

 

b Unpublished portions of classics.

 

 

c. Saiva, Vaishnava and Jain works.

 

 

d. Later poetry of all descriptions and

 

 

e. Medical works of exceptional value.

 

Some of the rare works belonging to Imperial Chola period are written

in manipravala style. The medical manuscripts are very unique and

valuable. Many of tbem based on the medical records and processes

made in Dhanvantari Mahal and written by famous Tamil scholars like

Kottaiyur Sivakolundu Desikar.

 

III Collection of Telugu Manuscripts

 

This Library has nearly 802 Telugu rnanuscripts which are mostly in

palm-leaf and a few in paper. These are the most valuable collection

of manuscripts particularly relating to thc Southern School of Telugu

literature. The important Telugu Classics - like Padya Kavyas,

Dwipada Kavyas, Prabandas etc., are available in this library.

 

IV. Collection of Marathi Manuscripts

 

The Marathi manuscripts of this library consists of thelworks of

South Indian Mahar ashtrians numbered about 3075, of the seventeenth,

eighteenth and nineteenth centuriŽs and the hierarchy of the saints

of Maratha country belonging to the Rnmadasi and Dattatreya mutts.

The works written by the great saints who adorned the mutts, the

poets during: the reign of Mahrattas had left hundreds of original

works and translations. The Marathi manuscripts are mostly in paper

and a few in palm-leaf. The paper manuscripts were wr~tten in Telugu

script (for Marath; language) These manuscripts deal with the

subjects like philosophy, literature, drama music, lexicon, medicine

and science.

 

V. Collection of Modi Documents

 

Modi is an ancient script used for Marathi language to record the

political and administrative documents of the Maratha Kings of

Maharashtra as well as Thanjavur They are also called 'Maratha Raj

Records' Approximately 850 bundles containing 2,55,UOO Modi documents

are available in the Library They are all paper manuscripts written

in Marathi language These are transcribed into Nagari script and

published with Tamil translation These are the only indigenous source

materials for the history of the Marathas of Thanjavur.

 

VI. Collection of Books

 

There is a Reference Library comprises of old books and new books The

old books were mostly collected by the king Serfoji during his life

time which consists of 4,500 books in English French, German, Italy,

Greek and Danish languages These books deal with many subjects.

 

The latter collection consists of more than 42,600 books, which are

in Tamil, English, Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi, Telugu and a few in

other Indian and Foreign languages These books are catalogued

according to the language and class)fied under various subjects.

 

Function

 

The main functions of this library are preservation, cataloguing.

publication and service to the scholars.

 

 

a. Preservation

 

In ancient days, copying of the original manuscript was the only

method for preserving the scripts and other bristled manuscripts Due

to the develop~nent of science and technology, preservation of

original in the form of microfilm and microfiche are prevalent. Since

1979, the facility of microfilming the manuscripts has been adopted

in the library.

Apart from this, modern conservation techmques like, fumigation,

lamination and de-acid)fication methods are being followed to avoid

decay by insects, acidity and other mechanical damages. Citra~lella

OiJ is smeared on~the palm-leaves to give flexibility to the leaves

and to get rid of the insects An indigenous preservative consisting

of the powder mixture of sweet flag, black cumin, cloves, pepper,

bark of cinnamon with camphor also used in the manuscript cup-boards.

 

 

b. Cataloguing

 

The earliest catalogue available in this 1ibrary was prepared in 1801

A D by Sadasiva Bhatta alias Gangadhara Bhatta by the order of the

King Serfoji which was only for palm-leaf manuscripts. There is a

separate catalogue for paper manuscripts of this library prepared in

the year 1807 AD Later in 1840 and 1857, catalogues were prepared by

the orders of Shivaji II and the then District Collector Forbbes,

accordingly. In 1857, by the order of the British Govt, Dr. A. C.

Burnell prepared a catalogue fo~ Sanskrit manuscripts which was

published in 1880 in two volumes. In 1920, the preparation of

Delcriptive Cacalogues for al1 the manuscripts was started and the

work is still going on. So far 23 volumes of catalogues for Sanskrit

manuscripts, 10 volumes for Tamil, 5 volumes for Marathi and 2

volumes for Telugu have been published. Apart from these a catalogue

for Rajah's collection of English books is also published and all

these catalogues are available for sale.

 

 

c. Publication

 

This library is publishing rare and unpublished manuscripts to spread

the knowledge contained in the manuscripts to the public with the

grant-in-aid from the Government of India. 354 books are published so

far in which 114 are in Sanskrit, 175 in Tamil, 40 in Marathi, 19 in

Telugu and 6 in English. A quarterly journal is also released by the

Library since 1939.Minor works and Research articles based on the

Library manuscripts are published in it.

 

Service to the Scholars

 

This Library renders the following services to the Research Scholars.

Transcribing service, Translation service, ReE,rography service and

Consulting service.

 

A few decades back, this library was merely an institution for

preserving the manuscripts and books but now it has become an active

centre for research in various disciplines. So scholars from a'!l

over the world are utilising this library for their research.

 

Museum

 

A small museum is situated in the library to expose the importance of

the library by displaying various rare artifacts available here. 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, Ramˆyana in miniature

paintings, Rare maps, sketches and prints are displayed in this

museum for the visitors.

 

An AppeaI

 

The Director and staff the Library request the people to donate kind

heartedly rare and valuable manuscripts, books, paintings and

artifacts to the Library which were not properly maiintained in the

villages, temples or in the mutts to preserve the cultural heritage

of this Country, for the future generation for study and research.

 

The manuscripts presented to the Library will be accepted and

acknowledged with pleasure and gratitude by the authorities of the

Library preserved with meticulous care and made available to

successive generations of readers and scholars.

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