Hidden away in underground storage vaults for 164 years, more than 100 stunning Indian paintings from the Ramayana dating back to the 17th century went on public display for the first time last week at the British Library in London.

The Mewar Ramayana paintings were acquired in 1844 by the then British Museum Library in the form of bound volumes, but were kept in vaults. Until last week, they were only available to scholars.

When their condition began to deteriorate, the British Library had the paintings individually framed, and these are being exhibited.

They are part of 400 paintings and 24,000 verses of text in Sanskrit bound in seven volumes, of which the British Library has four, exhibition curator Jerry Losty said.

"I am thrilled that we are able to display the magnificent Mewar Ramayana manuscript. One of the finest manuscripts of the Ramayana epic ever produced, it vividly illustrates this great story," Losty said.

"This is one of the great secular texts of world literature. Its influence spread not just across India but the whole of Southeast Asia and endures to this day.

"The cumulative effect of seeing picture after picture packed with detail is truly remarkable."

The exhibition, titled The Ramayana — Love and Valour in India’s Great Epic, is expected to draw large crowds before it ends Sept. 14.

The nearly 120 paintings on display were given by Rana Bhim Singh of Udaipur to Col. James Tod, a historian of the Rajputs, who brought them back to London in 1823 and presented them to the Duke of Sussex.