The modern museum has multiple purposes - to curate and preserve, to research, and to reach out to the public. They challenge us and ask us to question our assumptions about the past or the world around us - Kate Williams
Thanjavur with its rich history and cultural heritage has an art gallery, library etc within the premises of the Royal Palace. The Royal Palace was originally built by the Thanjavur Nayaks. It also served as the seat of the Maratha rulers of Thanjavur who belonged to the Bhonsle clan. They patronized arts and literature and ensured that it passed on to the future generations.
I am a sucker for museums and artefacts of all kinds. I firmly believe that they are a treasure trove of learning besides serving as an inspiration. Though the reviews online gave a mixed opinion, I didn't want to deviate from my plan. Immediately after breakfast, I went to the museum. Because being an early visitor has its own advantages where you don't have to deal with any sort of disturbance.
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| Thanjavur Palace |
The first place in the 110 Acre campus is the art gallery that welcomes you with sculptures dating back to 7th century AD depicting Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma in avatars like Gaja Samhara, Nataraja to name a few. As you move into the quadrangle, you find the Arsenal Tower (Koodagopuram) which is a 190 feet pyramidal structure with 8 floors. Each floor had its own purpose like the top most being a watch tower, a floor for martial arts training, storing of arms and so on. The hall exhibhiting the bronze idols from the Chola Period and especially that of the Nataraja are worth mentioning for their intricacy. The artisans of the period were adept at making Bronze statues.
Lost Wax technique was incorporated where a wax model of the statue is first prepared, a mould is made around and then molten metal is poured from the crucibles into the orifices of the mould. This method ensured a higher flexibility in the design and enabled the artisans to demonstrate fine details in the statues.
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| Bronze Statue of Nataraja from the Chola Period (~1000 years old) |
The first floor of the palace housed the skeleton of a Baleen Whale that washed off the shore nearby, in 1932. At one end of the palace there's a Seven storeyed bell tower comprising arched pillars on all the levels and a comparatively lower ceiling. The bell tower once housed a mechanical clock and was therefore called Manikoondu (Clock Tower). It is believed to be a few levels higher but was destroyed by thunder and lightning though it didn't seem so. The durbar hall is a riot of colour with the paintings that adorned the walls and the ceiling. Most of them resembled coat of arms. A similar Durbar Hall with a portrait of the ruler Sarabhoji is present on the other side of the Palace. The articles of utility in everyday lives of the rulers from the early modern age are preserved. Some of the prominent ones include mortars and pestles, camphor boxes, mill stones, drums etc.
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| Bell Tower (Manikoondu) |
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| Durbar Hall with a statue of the ruler Serfoji (r.1798-1832) |
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| Mill Stones |
The literary museum housed a priceless collection of books, palm leaf and copper manuscripts, commentaries, and printed paintings belonging to various periods in history. A translation of Kamban's Ramayana into Sanskrit, a book containing Sanskrit text written in Burmese alphabet, Ashwashastra, a book on Chinese Punishments named Punitions de Chinos published in 1804, Prints of the city paintings by Daniel brothers from 1795, Portraits of the Thanjavur Marathas, Ferdowsi's Shahnama with Sanskrit translation, The Atlas of 1781, various books in German, Latin, French are carefully preserved and put on display. Photography is prohibited in this section. It is certain that one would put their mouth agape with incredulity knowing the kind of literary advancements a few centuries ago. The Saraswati Mahal library houses about 70000+ palmleaf manuscripts, copper plates and various books. It is proudly told that when the British asked Raja Sarabhoji for his wish before majority of his property was annexed, he requested to ensure that the library is not destroyed. And hence, we get to witness all that was carefully preserved.
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| Camphor Box used by the Marathas |
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| A cheerful little girl posing for a picture |
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| Tulaja Inscription |
A mere 50 rupee entrance fee enables you to visit all the places. What really hurts is the attitude of the visitors who spoil the walls and pillars by writing their names or even worse, engraving it using some object. When I asked the curator if this menace cannot be stopped, he says that there's a staff crunch and most of them are deployed where the artefacts are as that is indispensable. He further rightly points out that people have an equal responsibility before the government officials are blamed. And one who doesn't appreciate this can refrain from paying a visit thus saving their time, the monuments and the entrance fee. The fact that most of the visitors spend more time in taking selfies with the artefacts than actually reading or knowing about them questions the purpose of their visit. We have to be responsible towards these places that are our invaluable heritage. And these museums and art galleries are the places where manuscripts written by the scholars, artefacts made by the artisans exist together transcending the biases that existed and still continue to a significant extent.
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| One of those walls that bears the brunt of visitors |
🤘🏻🤘🏻
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