THE THANJAVUR MAHARAJA SERFOJI’S SARASWATHI MAHAL LIBRARY

THE THANJAVUR MAHARAJA SERFOJI’S
SARASWATHI MAHAL LIBRARY

The Thanjavur Maharaja Serfoji's Sarasvati Mahal Library (TTMSSML) is located in Thanjavur in Tamilnadu. It is one of the oldest libraries in Asia and has on display a rare collection of palm leaf manuscripts and papers written in Tamil, Hindi, English, Telugu, Marathi and a few other languages indigenous to India. The collection comprises well over 60,000 volumes, though only a tiny fraction of these are on display. The Saraswathi Mahal library started as a royal library for the private pleasure of the Nayak Kings of Thanjavur who ruled 1535 - 1675 AD. The Maratha rulers who captured Thanjavur in 1675 patronised local culture and further developed the library until 1855. Since 1918 it has been a possession of the state of Tamilnadu. Its official name of the Library was changed to The Thanjavur Maharaja Serfoji's Sarasvati Mahal Library in honour of the great royal Maratha patron. Its logo has goddess Saraswathi in the centre with a circular border in which ‘Saraswathi Mahal’ written in Tamil, Devanagari and English and ‘Thanjavur’ in Tamil. Below this on a white border ‘Katranaithu Urum Arivu’ in Tamil meaning ‘More the Learning More the Knowledge’.