The Saraswathi Mahal Library Museum is located within the Thanjavur Maratha Palace Complex and houses Maharaja Serfoji II’s impressive collection of palm-leaf paper manuscripts, books and paintings. What started as a private collection in the 16th century soon became a storehouse of information, thanks to Serfoji II's scholarly interests. While most manuscripts are in Sanskrit, there are a sizeable number of Telugu and Tamil manuscripts as well. A rare collection of over 60000 palm-leaf manuscripts and papers are also part of this library, which is open to the public. It also makes efforts to publish rare manuscripts from the collection, and most activities have been computerised. Besides the remarkable collection, it was the beautiful coloured exterior and wall murals painted in bright hues that caught my attention.