Descriptive Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts in Tanjore Vol 05

SR No.: 020230
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: P P S Shastri
Publisher: Government of Madras
Publication Year: 1929
Total Pages: 525
Language: English, Sanskrit
Classification: Catalogue
File Size: 19 MB

Page 7

"The manuscripts described in this Report belong to Jambunātha bhatta a Marātha, Brāhmaņa at Tanjore, who is the eldest son of a certain Mandambhatta. He is a no mean Sanskrit Scholar and knows the whole Rgveda by heart. As he is continually teaching the text of this sacred book to students, even bis blind daughter has learnd to recite portions of it. The existence of this Library was brought to my notice Mr. T. 8. Kuppuswami Sāstrs, of the Educational Department, who is favourably known to Sanskritiøte by his paper on Rāmabhadra Dikąta. During my absence on furlough in Europe, my First Assistant, Mr. V. Veokayya, M.A., was deputed to Tanjore in order to catalogue Jambanātha's collection. He spent three months at this work, in which he received the valuable aid of Mr. Kuppuswami Sāstrs. Both the list and the extracts testify to the thoroughness and care with which he has accomplished his task. From his Annual Report on Epigraphy for 1898--99 I quote the following details about Jambunătha's collection:
"He is the eldest of the three brothers and is descended from a family whose influence is reported to bave been very great when the Mahratha Kingdom of Tanjore was in existence. When manuscripts were obtained for the Palace Library from Benares and other places in Northern India, the ancestors of Jambunătha bhatta appear to have systematically used their influence to make their collection of Sanskrit works. This accounts for the existence in this collection of a large number of anciont manucripts evidently copied in Northern India. The texts were transcribed by the members of the family, who appear to have been learned men. This according to the present owner of this Library, was how this collection came into existence. The manugonipts are all written in Nagari characters and on loose sheets of