Descriptive Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts in Tanjore Vol 19

SR No.: 020244
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: P P S Shastri
Publisher: Government of Madras
Publication Year: 1934
Total Pages: 260
Language: English, Sanskrit
Classification: Catalogue
File Size: 14 MB

Page 13

Mahrathas captured Tanjore and ruled it from A. D. 1676 to A. D. 1855 when the British annexed it.
Thos for a period of about 350 years from A. D. 1500 to A. D. 1850, the Tanjore Kingdom enjoyed complete peace and prosperity at the hands of its Nåyak and Mahratha rulers who encouraged learning and the learned arts so very ungrudgingly and with real love and enthusiasm that within this short span of about 350 years we find that more than a hundred and twentyfive anthors poured forth their first-rate literary output in more than five hundred works of permadant value besides their contribution to the development of the Fine Arts, like Music, Painting etc etc.
The greatest of these Nayak and Mahratha rulers of Tanjore is undoubtedly Ma hårája Serfoji (1800-1832). He is the founder of the world famous Tanjore Maharaja Serfoji Sarasvati Mahal Library, which, in respect of number and quality of the Sanskrit Manuscripts it enshrines is pre-eminently the foremost Sanskrit Manuscript Library in the world *
Under the direction of the Government of Madras and with grant.in-aid sanctioned by them, the Administrative Committee of the Tanjore Palace Library have just finished publishing & catalogue in nineteen volumes cantaining descriptive notices of 24432 Sanskrit manuscripts. As the Editor of this Catalogue, I was very much struck with the rich and varied character of the manusoript treasure enshirded in tbis Library. The Descriptive Catalogue has been issued under various subject-headings, begin. ning from Vedic Literature. A table giving a bird's-eye-view of the volumes and their contents is given under Section II. It will be seen that the authors and works have been treated bistorically from the point of view of the development of each branch of Sanskrit Literature.
From the manuscripts described in the above volumes, it has been possible to reconstruct a ruoning history of the develope ment of Sanskrit Literature in the South, under the aegis of the Nåyak and Mahratha rulers of a single kingdom like the Tanjore Principality, for an unbeoken period of 350 years from 1500 A. D.
* (For a historical account of the origin and development of the Library see "General latroduction").