A
Tanjore Art Gallery has beenestablished in 1951, where fine specimens of Gods and
Goddesses of different places have been kept to be shown to the public. Figures made out
of pith, placed in the Art Gallery, both coloured and natural, are of exquisite beauty,
exhibiting the finest skill of workmanship and art.
The Saraswati Mahal, which contains a big library, is considered to possess the largest
number of Sanskrit and vernacular palm leaf manuscripts, to the tune of 33,433, beginning
as early as the middle of the 16th century. Maharajah Sarabhoji (19th century)established
it. The manuscripts number 24,627 in Sanskrit, 1,953 in Marathi, 1,206 in Tamil and 816 in
Telugu, on a variety of subjects such as Vedas, Vedanta, Grammar, Music, Dancing,
Architecture, Astronomy, etc. Dr. Fernall, who compiled the first
catalogue of the Sanskrit manuscripts, said in 1855 that it was perhaps the largest and
the most important. in the world and that it contained a great many useful and very rare
or nearly unique books many of which were quite unknown or procurable only with great
trouble and expense. |
