User talk:Atul Kr Thakur
Harimohan Jha: Renaissance men of Maithili Literature
Harimohan Jha, Renaissance man of the language of great Vidyapati and Jyotireshwar Thakur was born on September 18, 1908, third after two elder sisters and among four sisters and two brother, his father Pandit Janardan Jha “Janshidan” was a great scholar and had credit of being first novelist in Maithil language besides ushering it to the modern pattern of literary craft. His maternal uncle Pandit Chandramani Kumar was hail from the famous ruling Oinwar dynasty although prosperity had been diminished till the Janardan Jha had attained the age to enter in worldly affairs. So, that phase was full of anxiety for Janardan Jha until was conferred patronage by the king of Srinagar (A Zamindari in Mithila region, modern Purnia district), Kamlanand Singh in 1901 who had been from generations relentlessly constituted the fabulous environment for art, culture and literature by awarding similar patronage to the luminaries of different field. Meanwhile Janardan Jha also established a regular correspondence with the Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi than the editor of pioneering Hindi magazine “Saraswati”; further he also penned for this magazine on several occasions, these curricular inheritance proved very beneficial in shaping of the mind of young Harimohan Jha who since his childhood developed great literary taste under the visionary guidance and proximity of his father. In 1919, Janardan Jha was appointed as editor of “Mithila Mihir” (Patronned by the Darbhanga Raj) and moved to Darbhanga where he remained until 1922; these years were formative for the child Harimohan as he saw and involved in top-notch contemporary scholaric circle of Darbhanga Raj. He was an avid informal learner from both the oral tradition as well as from modern practices; consequently he became able to produce his first published work “Ajib Bandar” at the little age of twelve and even before his formal joining of school straight to the standard tenth at G.B.B Collegiate School in Muzzapharpur in 1923.Guarduanships were paramount than and conventions considered conspicuous, so he had to married at the juvenile age of sixteen in 1924; next year he passed Matriculation with first class distinction from prestigious Patna University, than still Bihar and Orissa was a combined state. Meanwhile his father moved to Calcutta (1923) in search of livelihood and literary pursuits, albeit it was an emotional jolt over him nevertheless he constructively surpassed it and secured first class first in Combined State Intermediate Examination (1927) with complex subjects like-Sanskrit, Logic and History. Further he moved to Patna College for his university education and became a resident of historic Minto hostel, this time he experimented with his field of studies and opted subjects like-English (Honours), Philosophy and Sanskrit for under graduation. Than his Alma matter, Patna University was witnessing its golden time and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration that he too significantly epitomized the glorious story of this institution-both as student and later faculty throughout his professional stint. Although the British colonialism was on the brink of decline than, despite this the usual characteristics of elitist education were still in place; than the principle of Patna College was Mr. Horn and warden of Minto hostel was Mr. Armer who was also the head of English department and off course one more person A.P.Banerjee Shastri, who had despite been a teacher of Sanskrit, entirely accustomed in anglicized manners. Common things of these educationists were there hard discipline and focused approach for their role; in their inquisitions, they found young entrant Harimohan Jha with full of potential and snob like qualities-these impressions raised his chance to groom to a height in both academic and extra-curricular activities. Very soon he headed College team in All India Debate Competition in Allahabad where he topped and honoured to receive the prize from non other than the great educationist and doyen of Allahabad University-Sir Ganga Nath Jha who was than the Vice-Chancellor of this University. In 1929, he earned his graduation in second class albeit in entirely juxtaposed situation, where he received distinction in Philosophy but on the other side due to wrong time management and over answering he couldn’t replicate his erstwhile performances-possibly his scholaric commitment had outwitted the numeral incentives. Although he performed at his next stage in fine swing and succeeded to secure gold meddle at this academic ladder (M.A, 1932) in a sound Subject of Philosophy; meanwhile his father was back from the city of Calcutta and was in deep touch for son’s future prospects. Till than Darbhanga had been still availing the great fortune at many counts-so, likewise entrepreneurship and intellectualities were both in place-Ramlochan Sharan, indeed a very remarkable men and founder-operator of PUSHTAK BHANDAR, created an unparalleled hangout for book-lovers and scholars. For a considerable time, his shop was in fine pace albeit now it’s a matter of historical inquiries-Janardan Jha; father of Harimohan Jha was an ingredient component of that literary circle which greatly benefited the budding scholarships of Harimohan Jha. He spent his mean time in Darbhanga in close association with Pushtak Bhandar till he joined Bihar National College in 1933; afterwards a very glittering career had ahead of him. The year 1933 was also proved epoch making for Maithili literature and this great goes to Harimohan Jha since his magnum-opus novel “Kanyadan (Marriage)” stroked with the unprecedented wave of response from literary circle as well as of common folks and later it became a household name. It’s worthwhile to notice that this book he had penned during his undergraduate years in Patna University and even at the time of release he was only in his mid twenties; this novel proved crest milestone of success in Maithili literature besides in popularity and reach it remains unparalleled for everyone including of Harimohan Jha himself who’s successive work has been trailing much behind from such precedent mark. Though he adopted satirical canopy to express his dissatisfaction with the prevailing starkness and ignorance in the life of Maithili women’s; female protagonist “Buchhi Dai’s” close awareness of worldly knowledge reflects the contemporary grim situation of education and progressive approaches in Maithili society. Her devoid persona from the expectation of young University student groom “C.C.Mishra” earmarked the narration of entire further text, obviously to a extant it was Harimohan Jha’s own experience that compelled him to write for female emancipation; only he slightly changed the locale and used Banaras Hindu University as Alma matter of protagonist instead of Patna University where he went through the feelings and conceptualization of his rock-solid thoughts for “Kanyadan”. Legendary mark of his first compelled him for its sequel “Dwiragman”, which came in 1949 and proved equally sensational since it was seen as footprint of women’s emancipation. Harimohan Jha was the men of focus with gifted multitasking instinct, so he also remarkably contributed to the stream of philosophy-“Nyay Darshan” in 1940 and “Vaisheshik Drshan” in 1943 was his humble contribution in that phage, it’s remarkable to find that along with the superb pace of writing, he equally hold his familiar responsibility. He kept these flamboyance till 1960 and produced iconic works like-“Pranamya Devta (1945)”, “Khattar Kakak Tarang (1948)”, “Rangsala (1949)”, “Tirth Yatra (1953)”, “Charchari (1960)”, “Nigman Tarkshastra (1952)”, “Bhartiya Darshan (Translation, 1953); this vigorous phase was of dual reality for him as had been availing great success in literary and academic circle, but on the other side he also struck through tragedies-sad demise of nephew (1947), brother (1949), father (1951), all these unexpected jolt weakened him internally and also weaken the pace of writing. In 1950’s he was promoted to the rank of head and later University professor besides through his extra-ordinary deliberations also nominated as council member of Indian Council of Philosophical Research (ICPR); on these behalf, he actively attended numbers of seminars-conferences and produced significant papers in his academic discipline. His wife Subhadra Jha, who was an esteemed lady with progressive ideas, had co-incidentally also shown her utmost interest for the development of Maithili language and literature; in this regard, she even headed to Delhi in 1955 as entourage of a delegation from Patna to attend a cultural festival in Akashwani (All India Radio) besides she also maneuvered with path finding act to enter on stage through “Chetana Samiti) in 1958…than such progressiveness was not less to a phenomenon for Maithil ladies. Prevailing conservatism was the cause of Harimohan Jha’s anguish which he thought as reason behind discriminatory dual treatment on the line of gender in contemporary Maithil society, that concern always pushed him for activism against these mindsets, both in the ambit of writing and academic sphere. His gifted oration greatly benefited him to deliver the monumental lectures on wide range of subjects across the Universities of India and Nepal; in 1948- Oriental Conference of Darbhanga, his explicit elocution on conservatism was indeed a daring step in contemporary socio-political order. He was true repository of verbal intelligence and had equal commitment for verses, he composed numerous meaningful poems to unleash the especialties as well as the prevailing social starkness of that time; his poems like-“Maach”, “Dhala Jha”, “Buchkun Baba”, “Pandit o Mem”, “Pandit” etc were constructed through vigorous energy and had wide catchment’s areas as Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Lal Nehru was greatly influenced through his poetic intellect which he noticed during chairing an exhibition cum poetry recitation from Maithili books in Delhi,1963-he avidly tried to unleash the meaning of many complex Maithili terms from a towering political colleague from Bihar and than Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mr. Satya Narayan Singh. Indeed he fetched great moments in Maithili along with his contemporaries’ like-Baidyanath Mishra “Yatri” (Nagarjun), Fanishwar Nath “Renu”, Rajkamal Chaudhary, Lalit, Dhumketu etc through great literary activities in their lifetime, this period could be recalled as golden time of this ancient language. He kept his creative fervor till the end of his life, his research work “Trends of Linguistic Analysis in Indian Philosophy (Post retirement) justifies this assertion; the only regret of his creative life remains the cinematic adaptation of his magnum-opus novel“Kanyadan”-its alien direction and cold response from viewers further restrained him to allow such more experiments. Things were in good shape until the death of mother Janani Devi (1975) at the age of 92; just a year after he struck through a massive tragedy by loosing his loving grand children (Daman Jee), merely at the age of six in 1976 which entirely shattered him in old age. That adversity hardly hit him whom he couldn’t survive for long time; he passed away in late nineteen eighties in the city of Darbhanga at the residence of his son-in-law Prof. Shailendra Mohan Jha. Harimohan Jha was a men with great family values which he uphold throughout his life and spent even his last years in same light amidst his children’s and could solace in his mind to see their next generations involvement in literary fields. Son, Rajmohan Jha and son-in-law Shailendra Mohan Jha lightened the further ray of hope in this regard; they succeeded with some qualities of Harimohan Jha and replicates with some of matured literary pieces. Harimohan Jha had an additional quality of editing which he displayed in “Jayanti Smarak” (Pushtak Bhandar, 1942) along with the Acharaya Shivpujan Sahay and Achutanand Datta; this work is so unique in some manners that it’s become sacrosanct during the in-depth historical inquiries of Mithila region; it’s stuffed with vital insights in fine compilation. Indeed his vision is relentless and would remain undeniable through his prominent literary presence-numbers of noveles, dozens of stories and poetries, numerous articles, memoir, travelogue etc are suffice to sensitize the minds of every entrant in this field. His literary journey was like soul-searching of his loving region…he precisely tried to cover all intricacies such as-life style, food habits, humors, oral tales, pseudo characters, ignorance, intellects, pastorals etc through a new dynamicism which pushed the inferences straight to the mind of his readers. He was out rightly a fun loving, food loving and a great oral traditionist with philosophical put of “Mimansa” (a philosophical arm, originated from Mithila)…”khattar Kakkak Tarang” is best outcome of that experimental metaphors which justifies the Maithil’s beliefs of their social life; such close inquiries of life style is even difficult to canvass in voluminous philosophical work. For true finding on Mithila region, one must go to the literary world of Harimohan Jha where the tells is contrast to idleness and closer to the dynamic lives.
Atul Kumar Thakur
Blog: www.onesstandpoint.blogspot.com Mail: atul_mdb@rediffmail.com
December26th 2009, New Delhi
Dhumketu : An Unexposed Giant of Maithili Literature
Life: -
On 25th January 1932,Bholanath Jha ”Dhumketu” was born in an elite family of village Koilakh; then this village was the part of Raj Darbhanga. His forefathers were the resident of Ujjan village, but due to a matrimonial ties in the family of eminent scholar Umapati Upadhayaya, they were inhabited in Koilakh.Being born in an influential family he got a comfortable upbringing, but never influenced through the feudal manners. Though that phase of his village life provided him chances to enter in the arena of letters and traditional knowledge. Due to feudal leaning of his family he used to have chances to visit and spent sometimes at various Zamindari of Mithilanchal, but all such experiences could not altered his revolutionary and defying attitude towards the spoiling feudal order.
Indeed, he was a man of uncompromising nature….he kept it throughout his life; his transformation from Bholanath Jha to Dhumketu was an initiation of his revolutionary path and his consistent switching in his material life…which later even caused for his pauper material condition and premature death that remained the ultimate revelation of his struggle.Despite his nurtured family belongings, he was not a man of destiny. When he reached the age of institutional learning, he could not get proper backing from his conflict ridden family.
He earned his education through hard means .He got first class in his Matriculation exam in 1949, in 1951 he earned second class in his intermediate exam from Madhubani; this falling academic performance was caused by his active involvement in progressive activism and extremely resonant association with local communist leaders.
He further proceeded to prestigious Patna University for pursuing his higher studies, where he qualified B.A (1953) and M.A (1955) in Economics.After completion of his studies he started working in Aryavarta press in Patna where he kept working from 1955 to 1957.But he found the stint unsatisfactory because it was not justifiable to his intellects.
So, finally he got away from his short tenure in Journalism and moved to a new voyage in academics. He joined R.R Campus (Janakpur, Nepal) as a lecturer of Economics in 1957,and kept working for a considerable phase, which ended in 1973. Meanwhile he got struck through a major blow with the untimely demise of his wife in 1965;in 1968 he remarried.
Like Rajkamal Chaudhary he was also a man of contradiction, which is evident from his family life and creative productions where a lot of gap could be found between his revolutionary belief and its pragmatic action.
Though he spent a remarkable time of his academic working life in Nepal, but after the break of his stint in Janakpur (Nepal) due to his resistance against the discriminatory Panchayati System introduced in Nepal; he moved to his native place in Madhubani where he did two remarkable work by founding the two colleges in near by areas, despite this he remained unmindful for a stable career.
In 1980,he moved again to Tribhuvan University (Kathmandu, Nepal) as an Associate Professor of Economics where he continued working till 1984 .He again got back to his home in 1984 because of personnel reasons, afterwards kept himself aloof from any institutional profile until 1997,when he again joined his alma matter (Tribhuvan University) as Professor Emiratus where he keep working until close to his death on 6th August year 2000. Once he quoted saying of famous philosopher T.S Elliot about the life ”Where is the life, we are lost in living”, indeed he refrained himself from absorbing in narrow aim of pleasure instead he lived in universal frame and remained an universal seekers for understanding the true meaning of life; really he was an alluring adventurist.
Literary Journey: -
Dhumketu was a gifted story teller; he endowed with great lingual skill with his wide range of studies in different languages including the world classics and humanities, that immensely contributed the development of Maithili language. Since initiation he was oriented towards prose, his first published story in Maithili was Didi(sister,1952),which got high acclaim in literary circle further induced him for more literary productions. Though he was inclined towards the prose but later he was also found taste to pen some great poetry in Maithili like “Dak Peen(Postmen,1956)” and “Ek Ber Pher Rajdhani Main(Once again in the capital,1977);which deserves a lot of consideration.
Dhumketu have had too much impact of Freudian Psychology like his contemporary great writer Rajkamal Chaudhary; they have many similarities in their ideology. Both defied the orthodox pattern of Maithil society and tried to penetrate in very complex corner of human mind.
Dhumketu believed story as a struggle between ID and EGO, so inner conflicts of mind canopied every theme of his literary stuffs. Once he write that I have no commitment to languages or literature only I am committed for peoples; who are real cause of my creative engagement. He remained a peoples oriented writer throughout his life.
He has written two memoir in fond memory of his contemporary Rajkamal Chaudhary. First,”Vishwasht Avishwashniya (Confident Incredulous) and second, Suryapatan (Sunset) both were published in Mithila Mihir just after the premature demise of his contemporary friend. Even these two obscure articles of him posses all the elements of a master craft.
It was quite unfortunate for a great writer like him to see only one published collection of stories (Agurban, 1980) in his life time, even though he masterly written more than forty stories, two novels and dozens of poems besides some memoir, Travologues and Articles .One among his novel “Sannipat” serially published in an obscure Magazine”Bharti Mandan”, and his second novel “Mor Par(On Turning,Year2000) could be published only after his death. Two more work of him was published posthumously “Udyast (collection of stories2002-03) and second one was “Nav Kavitak Navinta (Novelity of New Poems); though it could be a matter of solace for him but definitely he deserves more credit for his life long contribution in literature.
For proper evaluation of his Maithili stories we will have to back for a while to see his work in a new light, because like Baidyanath Mishra” Yatri (Nagarjun, popularly known in Hindi literary world) and Rajkamal Chaudhary he had also shown immense effort to cultivate the old orthodox plot of Maithili Society. His every work has binding with the lower strata of society and their daily struggle for existence besides this he also exposed the pseudo moral constraint of authoritative class. His three stories “Manukhak Devta (Men’s God), Kulta (Characterless) and “Bihairi (Storms) are genuinely deserves to be ties with‘Yatri’s Paro (A short novel) and Rajkamal Chaudhary’s”Sugna Sagun Bichare”.
A very minute depiction of relationship which is often crossed the socially approved threshold are unique characteristics of these stories. Dhumketu made utmost efforts to unleash the ugly orthodox norms of Maithil society, sometime even he sound overtly too much vocal and impatient about the existing deformities. Two other less known story “Hamara Aaur (We People)”and “Shivir (Camp)” present a very candid delineation of deteriorating morale.
There is a wide range of diversity in his creative plot, which being unleashed from reading his some more stories. Like, “Dansh” presents a very complex relationship in a long span of time frame from Childhood to Young hood within a canopy of desire between its male and female protagonist.
“Sanbandh Bodh” and “Manukhak Devta” presents two very different and unusual attitude towards relationship; “Sambandh Bodh” visualize a forgetting relationship to an extreme level. On the other end ”Manukhak Devta (Mens God)” narrates an awkward relationship between a maritally disturbed daughter and an aged widower father. The story constructed around the very close social fabrics but demonstrate very hard and unpleasant transaction of conditions; this is an extremely serious story of Dhumketu, by which he tried to assault on the discriminatory matrimonial structure of Mithila. It’s ended with many question marks on social institutions. His, an other story “Pita” focused a very alluring relationship between father and son, in which father ethically superceded and formatted a fine balance in family order.
In my views three of his stories deserves a lot of credit for it’s relentless pursuit of sensibilities throughout its theme, first ” Bauasin (Daughter in law)” depicts an acute picture of falling feudal structure in which its lone survivor represents as a metaphor of its demise. Second “Vightan (Separation)”lucidly visualized the child psychology and its imperative on religious occasions, which ended with the honest confession from its every prime characters.
Third, ”Udyast” establishes a micro observation of disabled and people’s life, which are generally overlooked from social inclusion. Indeed, Dhumketu proved his commitment towards peoples aspirations, which assisted him to broaden his horizons and set out his desired creative world.
Dhumketu, reached to the zenith of his creativity by writing most comprehensive and detailed novel in Maithili language “Mor Par (On Turning, year 2000)” which is based on time frame between 1945-1970,though also consists some pictures of 1942 movements as well.
The novel emerges from the transformational phase of independence and in later course with the development of happenings; it raises questions on relevance of Indian Independence. Like all the previous work, Dhumketu reset the landscape of falling feudal order in which he analyzed the post independent rural India through creating a family construct inside.
The protagonists ‘Sadashiv Jha (Sada Bhai)’and Guna, illustrates a complex set of relationship between them. Guna being the cousin, daughter of Daijee and widow of fellow comrade Dukhran; impulses Sada Bhaito share in her unfortune and tried best for her emancipation, but as the novel ended with the suside of Guna, his efforts turn into a void. Before such outcome Dhumketu very carefully dealt the class separation rather cast or religious separation in Zamindari of Lal Bachha and his successor Bhaiya Jee.
Yashodar, father of sada presents typical position of a confident under a limit of relationship, a class divides frequently occurring during the entire novel on the other hand second mother of Sadasiv represents unique woman character of maithli society, because of her ethical and affectionate character without inclusion of any personal lust.
Dhoomketu also successfully shown the contradictory characters of revolutionary by comparing SuriBhai and Dukhran; breakthrough of opportunities and defeat of sacrifice superbly produced by comparing these two phase of communist movement.Indeed, his novel “Mor Par”is a masterpiece in Maithili language, which authoritatively characterized the subtle incidents of Maithili society in a very responsive manners... no doubts he heightens the limit of literature in judging the social and individual ills.Dhumketu, like his name secured his position in Maithili literature and awaken the mass people for their upliftment from impractical social and moral constraints.
He dreamt for a tolerant and egalitarian society for which he relentlessly pursuit throughout his life. A man can only perform his duty; it is up to successive generation how they rated their work…. Work of Dhumketu deserves a fresh look from literary commoners and luminaries.
Atul Kumar Thakur New Delhi April3, 2009 atul_mdb@rediffmail.com Blog: www.onesstandpoint.blogspot.com
Geniusity of Rajkamal Chaudhary
[edit]Geniusity of Rajkamal Chaudhary
Maithili language and literature has been culminating through a long walk in history until it started to find a new genre of literature in mid part of last century. Uprightly that could be memorize as next golden phase after the great Jyotireshwar Thakur-Vidyapati age; the factor of overlooking some more remarkable phase of achievements are the exuberant manifestations from that new literary generation which was unlikely to preceded in near past. Looking back to that generation and recalling giants like Baidyanath Mishra”Yatri” (Nagarjun), Harimohan Jha, Lalit, Dhumketu, Fanishwar Nath”Renu”could be very solacing for a literary enthusiast which would be grew more exulting by shout of praise for foremost among them Rajkamal Chaudhary. He was a stock genius who accepted niche role to beguiling Maithili literature to a new posture which was dragging previously and largely failing to extrapolate the numerous unconventional approaching problems from changing social dynamics. Rajkamal Chaudhary is doyen of Maithili literature and even one among Indian literature albeit if the barrier of language could be burst than of course his work is worth of universal claim with myriad of universal concern it entrusted. Rajkamal Chaudhary undoubtedly has most prolific presence in Sunnyside of Maithili literature along with quite symmetric resemblances from his name. His family members deserves utmost credit for tracing the jewel like quality in an infantile and naming such meticulously as Rajkamal, Manindra, Phulbabu (Traditional Maithili call name for loving one)much before his attainment to scholarship and fame. As par with contemporary trend Rajkamal Chaudhary was also born at his maternal place in Rampur haveli in east Mithila (North Bihar) on 13th December 1929; although his ancestral village was Mahishi in Saharsa district that is world famed for its intellectual tradition. Rajkamal’s early childhood was spent in his village but later he moved with his father, who was a Sanskrit teacher in middle Bihar’s town Gaya; he passed matriculation with high distinction from there. Further phase of his life was full with experiments and wandering albeit finally he passed B.Com from prestigious Patna University; meanwhile he also married with Sahikanta Chaudhary in Chanpura village (In present Madhubani district) .Through his sharp instinct and voracious learning, he proceeded much above from his academic and professional achievements since he never conquered a suitable institutional position for himself. Reason might be his immaterial nature and particularly his short life span that led to fiendish eventuality. However that couldn’t extrude Rajkamal to write a new chapter in literary history and force to expurgate the existing maladies in Maithil society with superb universal connotations. In his literary voyage, he was a man of word with amazing farsightedness; hence he aspired and succeeds in three major domain of literary expression like, novel, story and poetry. Comparatively prose was his major thirst, despite this he penned numbers of poetry in both Maithili and Hindi language albeit many of them failed to appear in physical shape. In spite of concealment, we are presently capable to clasp his six collection of poems, namely as Kankavati, Audit Report, Mukti Prasang, Vichitra, Sargandha and Macchli Jall and many more may be in future if proper strive would be made to retrieve it. Rajkamal was a promising creationist who barely allowed any frills to enter in his literary productions; likewise his poetry reveals it and its epithet which consisting utmost sensuality with diverse humane plights sounds in immaculate manner. It would be quite imperative here to recall that Rajkamal Chaudhary had conceived the conceited view about his Maithil identity and he never stepped down to derive metaphors for his creative vision from his native milieu. There were many reasons to postulate such affection for strife ridden Mithila through expounding the contemporary harsh realities in its territory and even in entire country. That was the phase of chaos at many fronts like, political, social, economical, ethical etc... Disillusionment was quite rampant from newly earned democracy which started to gloom and force an entire young generation especially of its intelligentsias towards unrest. Quite naturally Rajkamal was too much integrated with that intellectual class who used to keep eagle watch on worldwide movements and persuade to modify the faulty axioms. Rajkamal has been upbeat the criticism for his daring and unconventional stand throughout in his life time that indeed seemed awes trucking. He was an astute visionary in Indian literary community who pronounced inner contradiction of humane mind as catalyst for all external complexities of social relationships; further he emphasize on western way of psychoanalysis and enviously drew inferences from Sigmund Freud to unleash the hidden as well as rudimentary conceived sinful relationships. At both personnel and creative level he has been up fronting with elegiac concern for harsh realities besides enjoined with intention to solve the persisting maladies; further he kept his vehement opposition to the nexus of its causes like, feudalism, poverty, floods, sinful eliticism, improper matrimony, male chauvinism, jealousness, personifications etc.
He poignantly followed and tried to curb its ramifications through his novels in Hindi; “Machhli Mari Hui” and “Taash Ke Pattoon Ka Sahar” are foremost among them, which try to contempt on fabrication of immoralities and illicit relationships within the elitist circle. Both his novels were ahead of its like of Aldus Huxley’s “Brave new World” and George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty Four”, hence at first moment couldn’t desirably vindicate albeit it has remain open for ”re-reading” as Jacques Derida suggest to find new meaning out of every fresh reading exercise. His rest novels in Hindi (“Nadi Bahti Thi”, “Sahar Tha Sahar Nahi Tha”, “Agni snan”, “Aadikatha”, “Bis Ranion ke Bioscope”, “Dehgatha( Suno Brijrani), “Ek Anar Ek Bimar” are also similarly resembled the concerns. “Andolan” was his lone novel in Maithili that was based on Maithili’s language movement in the city of Calcutta; it also marked his own involvement in the movement to raise the concern for Mithila region. He was among finest story teller of his generation and a landmark for succeeding literary generations; this is truly amazing to see the huge number of stories in both Maithili and Hindi, he managed apart of many plays and hundreds of essays in such short span of time. His commitment was worth of extolation since his literary deliberations never extricated from its goal and proceeded in felicitous manner; indeed he had importunate response for fetishism in action and thought. Some Maithili stories of Rajkamal Chaudhary is very essential to capitulate the deeper understanding of his works; his first published story “Aprajita (Vaidehi, October1954)”, presents subtle account of perennial natural tragedy of Mithila {Floods} and its repercussions on human lives through a desperate train journey; “Andhakar (Vaidehi/ May1953)”, tells on contradictory relationship under the shadow of religion, partition and sin, “Phulparaswali (Vaidehi/August1955) could be remembered as his magnum opus which illuminates the moral strength of Maithil women in even distressed phage. Rajkamal reached to his zenith through depicting Rickshaw puller protagonist Shadashiv as his cousin and woven a very meticulous set of relationship between them including Phulparaswali, symbolize Mithila’s ethical virtue. “Lalka pag (Vaidehi / Katha Visheshank1955), which also had its dramatic revelation, reveals untold moral victory of first wife over heart wrenching male chauvinism ended with one sided sacrifice of Mithila’s women; “Kirtaniya (Vadehi/January1956)”, sketches the life of beggars; “Kopad (Vaidehi/May1956)”,ended with progressive ideas of inter caste marriage; “Damyantiharan (Vaidehi/July1956),” comes with a story of conditionally deprived family indulged in flesh trade for survival which strike with similar delineation of east Bengal’s refugees plights in Ritwik Ghatak’s cinema like “Bari Theke Paliye”; “Channar Das (Vaidehi/September1956)”,told the incarnation of a beggar’s pair for new life out from their existing profession; “Kiranmayee(Rachna Sangrah/1956-First all India Maithili literary conference)”, narrates the premature widowhood, sacrifice and many empathies for theirs plight but inability to materialize in absence of proper resources; “Satti Dhanukain (Pallavi/May1957)”,depicts the betrayal of husband with a commuted wife; “Kharid- Bikri (Pallav/June1957)”,raised the concern for immorality of perception with a wretched women affected by the partitions; “Babu Sahebak Tik (Vaidehi/July1957)”,witnessed the metamorphosis of a falling feudal amidst the market pressure and leverages of city life “Sahastra-Menka( Mithila Darshan/Visheshank1957)”,reveals the ill social treatment with helpless widows and wretched of Mithila;“Mugdha-Vimugdha( Pallav/March1958)”,lights on debacle of unmatched marriage,” Mallhak Tol: Ek Chitra(Vaidehi/August1958)”,concerned with the plight of Mallah(fishermen) community who possess an ingredient place in Mithila’s fish crazy society, in very short space he became successful to capture their actual reality; “Yatrak Aant(Mithial Darshan1958)”,leads to a scenario of impoverished socio-economic structure of Calcutta in which a helpless parents caught in severe daily struggle to save their ill son and dignity of daughter in law; “Kamalmukhi Kaniyan(Kathaparag collection1958)”,candidly attacks on pseudo perception of dominant male community over the decent albeit feeble Maithil women’s, it’s a forward attack on male chauvinism; “Aakash-Ganga(Mithila Darshan/Visheshank1959)”,is an account of a falling feudal father and his relationship with estranged daughter who gone away for a matrimonial ties against of his wishes, story concludes with his proactive and judicious move which also marks the inception of flexibility in feudal structure; “Kadambari Upkatha(Vaidehi/March1960)”,have a frank bearing of humanity by a childless widow who crossed all the artificial boundaries of caste, opportunism, jealousness etc; “Panidubbi(Mithila Mihir/10th May1964)”,reflects the inner state of a newly wedded women during her first journey on steamer, she simply lost in her circle of belongingness that recalls the closed nature of contemporary Maithil women; “Surma Sagun Bichare Na(Mithila Mihir/9th May1965)”,is moving around the infatuation for bereaved wife that seems like a dutiful sacrifice and also transcend his honest deeds in all relationships; “Ghari(Mithial Mihir/30th January1966)”,tells the romance in inter religious web which eventually conclude with the interference of domestic compulsions; ”Maach(Mithila Mihir/30th January1966)”,is a spectacular delineation of craze for auspicious fish among Maithil’s,this story is loaded with heavy symbolism and sophisticated representation of Maithil life philosophy before a cross cultural debate;”Sanjhak Gaach(Mithila Mihir/13th March1966)”,has stuffed with the gloomious inferences from its protagonist who caught in wrenched contradiction about his prospective role with belongingness, accidental death of his sister in law leads to an in-depth synthesis of someone’s helplessness ; “Samudra(Mithila Mihir/11th September 1966), presents a confrontation of female protagonist with the wider concern for her existential being…it’s a saga of unmatched matrimony;”Param Priya Nirmohi Balam Hammar Pranpati(Mithila Mihir/30th October1966)”,is consists with a marathon letter of newly wedded wife to her husband about their expectation and mixed fortune ended through overt numerous account,it was characteristics of Rajkamal Chaudhary to presents a serious theme in humorous way… indeed he was an accomplished user of satire;”Kichho Alikhit Patra(Maithili Darshan)”,written on the pseudo name of Anamica Chaudhary in extraordinary and candid craft to expose the plights of subjugated women’s of Mithila,it’s an ultimate height of fiction;”Gamme Rati Rati Me Gam(Bharti Mandan)”, virtually breaking the illusion from villages, he found same sinful habitual practices in villages as they frequent in urban spaces;”Bahindai,Aspatal,Bangam Aa Kono Ekta Sapna(Mithila Mihir/30th April1967)”,narrates the story of Bahindai,a young widow faces a new proposal of material life but remained undetermined…an another jolt on unmatched matrimony that create such plot;”Ekta Champakali Ekta Vishdhar(Mithila Mihir/15th June1975)”,appeared posthumously which reached behind the real cause of improper marriages…involvement of lust remains the utmost cause of females misfortune in Mithila.
Somehow list became longer but his contribution is so sacrosanct that it’s very difficult to left one peace of literature over another. In his very short life span, he did exemplary job through his creative means to express his deep concern with desperating elements of Maithil society; indeed his initiative was epoch making especially the manner in which he visualized the complex cognition of human mind and their ambiguous outcomes like, improper marriages, sinful relationships etc. His concern was broad, so he canvassed them in same dedication with punishing hardship on personnel front albeit nature shaped its cruel verdict for this epoch maker that, its eventuality was his untimely departure from this mortal world on 7th June1967 at Rajendra surgical ward, Patna Medical College and Hospital. Rajkamal or Phool Babu was to loving among his folks, his premature demise through combating deadly disease left deep strain among entire literary circle in Mithila an even whole country. But even after four decades he yet to have the place he deserved …his contribution is great and comparable to the great works of Premchand, Muktibodh, Sharat Chand Chattopadhyaya, Moppsant (Spainish), Loo Soon (Chinese); his work deserves for exposition before the larger masses, which would be the real homage for him.
Baidyanath Mishra”Yatri”(Nagarjun),was dejected through passing of his loving successor Rajkamal, commemorate a poem in his fond memory that best reflects the contention of void after Rajkamal’s missing from scene…crux is, there could be and was only one Phool Babu in Mithila, we may have to wait for generation to fill his positions. Those who acquainted him personally, still recalls his generosity and involvement in community life…indeed he was intended to lift rural life out of chaos; so, despite possessing elite qualities he chosen to represent bottom pyramids. His works more than introductions reveals his geniusity much better.
Atul Kumar Thakur
Blog: www.onesstandpoint.blogspot.com Maail: atul_mdb@rediffmail.com
4th October2009s, New Delhi
Dhumketu : An Unexposed Giant of Maithili Literature
[edit]Dhumketu : An Unexposed Giant of Maithili Literature Life: -
On 25th January 1932,Bholanath Jha ”Dhumketu” was born in an elite family of village Koilakh; then this village was the part of Raj Darbhanga. His forefathers were the resident of Ujjan village, but due to a matrimonial ties in the family of eminent scholar Umapati Upadhayaya, they were inhabited in Koilakh.Being born in an influential family he got a comfortable upbringing, but never influenced through the feudal manners. Though that phase of his village life provided him chances to enter in the arena of letters and traditional knowledge. Due to feudal leaning of his family he used to have chances to visit and spent sometimes at various Zamindari of Mithilanchal, but all such experiences could not altered his revolutionary and defying attitude towards the spoiling feudal order.
Indeed, he was a man of uncompromising nature….he kept it throughout his life; his transformation from Bholanath Jha to Dhumketu was an initiation of his revolutionary path and his consistent switching in his material life…which later even caused for his pauper material condition and premature death that remained the ultimate revelation of his struggle.Despite his nurtured family belongings, he was not a man of destiny. When he reached the age of institutional learning, he could not get proper backing from his conflict ridden family.
He earned his education through hard means .He got first class in his Matriculation exam in 1949, in 1951 he earned second class in his intermediate exam from Madhubani; this falling academic performance was caused by his active involvement in progressive activism and extremely resonant association with local communist leaders.
He further proceeded to prestigious Patna University for pursuing his higher studies, where he qualified B.A (1953) and M.A (1955) in Economics.After completion of his studies he started working in Aryavarta press in Patna where he kept working from 1955 to 1957.But he found the stint unsatisfactory because it was not justifiable to his intellects.
So, finally he got away from his short tenure in Journalism and moved to a new voyage in academics. He joined R.R Campus (Janakpur, Nepal) as a lecturer of Economics in 1957,and kept working for a considerable phase, which ended in 1973. Meanwhile he got struck through a major blow with the untimely demise of his wife in 1965;in 1968 he remarried.
Like Rajkamal Chaudhary he was also a man of contradiction, which is evident from his family life and creative productions where a lot of gap could be found between his revolutionary belief and its pragmatic action.
Though he spent a remarkable time of his academic working life in Nepal, but after the break of his stint in Janakpur (Nepal) due to his resistance against the discriminatory Panchayati System introduced in Nepal; he moved to his native place in Madhubani where he did two remarkable work by founding the two colleges in near by areas, despite this he remained unmindful for a stable career.
In 1980,he moved again to Tribhuvan University (Kathmandu, Nepal) as an Associate Professor of Economics where he continued working till 1984 .He again got back to his home in 1984 because of personnel reasons, afterwards kept himself aloof from any institutional profile until 1997,when he again joined his alma matter (Tribhuvan University) as Professor Emiratus where he keep working until close to his death on 6th August year 2000. Once he quoted saying of famous philosopher T.S Elliot about the life ”Where is the life, we are lost in living”, indeed he refrained himself from absorbing in narrow aim of pleasure instead he lived in universal frame and remained an universal seekers for understanding the true meaning of life; really he was an alluring adventurist.
Literary Journey: -
Dhumketu was a gifted story teller; he endowed with great lingual skill with his wide range of studies in different languages including the world classics and humanities, that immensely contributed the development of Maithili language. Since initiation he was oriented towards prose, his first published story in Maithili was Didi(sister,1952),which got high acclaim in literary circle further induced him for more literary productions. Though he was inclined towards the prose but later he was also found taste to pen some great poetry in Maithili like “Dak Peen(Postmen,1956)” and “Ek Ber Pher Rajdhani Main(Once again in the capital,1977);which deserves a lot of consideration.
Dhumketu have had too much impact of Freudian Psychology like his contemporary great writer Rajkamal Chaudhary; they have many similarities in their ideology. Both defied the orthodox pattern of Maithil society and tried to penetrate in very complex corner of human mind.
Dhumketu believed story as a struggle between ID and EGO, so inner conflicts of mind canopied every theme of his literary stuffs. Once he write that I have no commitment to languages or literature only I am committed for peoples; who are real cause of my creative engagement. He remained a peoples oriented writer throughout his life.
He has written two memoir in fond memory of his contemporary Rajkamal Chaudhary. First,”Vishwasht Avishwashniya (Confident Incredulous) and second, Suryapatan (Sunset) both were published in Mithila Mihir just after the premature demise of his contemporary friend. Even these two obscure articles of him posses all the elements of a master craft.
It was quite unfortunate for a great writer like him to see only one published collection of stories (Agurban, 1980) in his life time, even though he masterly written more than forty stories, two novels and dozens of poems besides some memoir, Travologues and Articles .One among his novel “Sannipat” serially published in an obscure Magazine”Bharti Mandan”, and his second novel “Mor Par(On Turning,Year2000) could be published only after his death. Two more work of him was published posthumously “Udyast (collection of stories2002-03) and second one was “Nav Kavitak Navinta (Novelity of New Poems); though it could be a matter of solace for him but definitely he deserves more credit for his life long contribution in literature.
For proper evaluation of his Maithili stories we will have to back for a while to see his work in a new light, because like Baidyanath Mishra” Yatri (Nagarjun, popularly known in Hindi literary world) and Rajkamal Chaudhary he had also shown immense effort to cultivate the old orthodox plot of Maithili Society. His every work has binding with the lower strata of society and their daily struggle for existence besides this he also exposed the pseudo moral constraint of authoritative class. His three stories “Manukhak Devta (Men’s God), Kulta (Characterless) and “Bihairi (Storms) are genuinely deserves to be ties with‘Yatri’s Paro (A short novel) and Rajkamal Chaudhary’s”Sugna Sagun Bichare”.
A very minute depiction of relationship which is often crossed the socially approved threshold are unique characteristics of these stories. Dhumketu made utmost efforts to unleash the ugly orthodox norms of Maithil society, sometime even he sound overtly too much vocal and impatient about the existing deformities. Two other less known story “Hamara Aaur (We People)”and “Shivir (Camp)” present a very candid delineation of deteriorating morale.
There is a wide range of diversity in his creative plot, which being unleashed from reading his some more stories. Like, “Dansh” presents a very complex relationship in a long span of time frame from Childhood to Young hood within a canopy of desire between its male and female protagonist.
“Sanbandh Bodh” and “Manukhak Devta” presents two very different and unusual attitude towards relationship; “Sambandh Bodh” visualize a forgetting relationship to an extreme level. On the other end ”Manukhak Devta (Mens God)” narrates an awkward relationship between a maritally disturbed daughter and an aged widower father. The story constructed around the very close social fabrics but demonstrate very hard and unpleasant transaction of conditions; this is an extremely serious story of Dhumketu, by which he tried to assault on the discriminatory matrimonial structure of Mithila. It’s ended with many question marks on social institutions. His, an other story “Pita” focused a very alluring relationship between father and son, in which father ethically superceded and formatted a fine balance in family order.
In my views three of his stories deserves a lot of credit for it’s relentless pursuit of sensibilities throughout its theme, first ” Bauasin (Daughter in law)” depicts an acute picture of falling feudal structure in which its lone survivor represents as a metaphor of its demise. Second “Vightan (Separation)”lucidly visualized the child psychology and its imperative on religious occasions, which ended with the honest confession from its every prime characters.
Third, ”Udyast” establishes a micro observation of disabled and people’s life, which are generally overlooked from social inclusion. Indeed, Dhumketu proved his commitment towards peoples aspirations, which assisted him to broaden his horizons and set out his desired creative world.
Dhumketu, reached to the zenith of his creativity by writing most comprehensive and detailed novel in Maithili language “Mor Par (On Turning, year 2000)” which is based on time frame between 1945-1970,though also consists some pictures of 1942 movements as well.
The novel emerges from the transformational phase of independence and in later course with the development of happenings; it raises questions on relevance of Indian Independence. Like all the previous work, Dhumketu reset the landscape of falling feudal order in which he analyzed the post independent rural India through creating a family construct inside.
The protagonists ‘Sadashiv Jha (Sada Bhai)’and Guna, illustrates a complex set of relationship between them. Guna being the cousin, daughter of Daijee and widow of fellow comrade Dukhran; impulses Sada Bhaito share in her unfortune and tried best for her emancipation, but as the novel ended with the suside of Guna, his efforts turn into a void. Before such outcome Dhumketu very carefully dealt the class separation rather cast or religious separation in Zamindari of Lal Bachha and his successor Bhaiya Jee.
Yashodar, father of sada presents typical position of a confident under a limit of relationship, a class divides frequently occurring during the entire novel on the other hand second mother of Sadasiv represents unique woman character of maithli society, because of her ethical and affectionate character without inclusion of any personal lust.
Dhoomketu also successfully shown the contradictory characters of revolutionary by comparing SuriBhai and Dukhran; breakthrough of opportunities and defeat of sacrifice superbly produced by comparing these two phase of communist movement.Indeed, his novel “Mor Par”is a masterpiece in Maithili language, which authoritatively characterized the subtle incidents of Maithili society in a very responsive manners... no doubts he heightens the limit of literature in judging the social and individual ills.Dhumketu, like his name secured his position in Maithili literature and awaken the mass people for their upliftment from impractical social and moral constraints.
He dreamt for a tolerant and egalitarian society for which he relentlessly pursuit throughout his life. A man can only perform his duty; it is up to successive generation how they rated their work…. Work of Dhumketu deserves a fresh look from literary commoners and luminaries.
Atul Kumar Thakur New Delhi April3, 2009 atul_mdb@rediffmail.com Blog: www.onesstandpoint.blogspot.com