Descriptive Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts in Tanjore Vol 01

SR No.: 020226
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: P P S Shastri
Publisher: Government of Madras
Publication Year: 1928
Total Pages: 480
Language: English, Sanskrit
Classification: Catalogue
File Size: 20 MB

Page 8

attention of some wealthy patrons of learning from Overseas. And it would appear that arrangements were very nearly ready to sell the whole collection outright at an assessed value, when public attention was focussed on certain remarks of Dr. Burnell to the effect that "it would not be possible to form a collection like that at Tanjore at a less cost than £ 50,000". The parties cancerned had perforce to wake up and the deal was not immediately concluded. The public of Tanjore also began to interest themselves in the affair adequately. It was rightly considered as a question of National pride. The parties in O. S. No. 26 of 1912 on the file of the Subordinate Judge of Tanjore agreed that it was eminently fit that the Library should be preserved and maintained as a public Library in trust for the public and removed the Library and one lakh of rupees to provide for its upkeep, from the subject matter of the suit. The Government of Madras in G. O. No. 1306 Home (Education), dated 5th October 1918, accordingly took possession of the same under the Charitable Endowments Act and have framed a scheme for the management of the same.
Since the Library became a Public Trust there has been a marked improvement in the reception accorded to it by the public. Various liberal and generous-minded benefactors have come forward with magnanimous offers. The Library has been enriched with several very fine collections of manuscripts, every one of them rare, valuable and very interesting. The Kagalkar collection, Jambunātha Bhat Låndagai collection and the Patanga Avadhūta collection-all these three alone number 2181 manuscripts. Besides these, the Tygarāja Svāmi collection which alone contains more than 1000 manuscripts; then the minor collections—the Subrahmanya Sastri collection, Subrahmanya Rao collection, Ramachandra Ganapat collections-all are of great and paramount importance.
The manuscripts are either on palm leaf or on paper. They are of very different value and come from very different sources. A large collection of these are recent Nagari copies of Manuscripts in South Indian characters and are at least a century old.
These manuscripts are in more than eleven distinct alphabets being from all parts of India. On the whole, one may easily say that the total number of manuscripts now in this Library is likely to exceed 30,000.