‘The Book of Bihari Literature’: A love letter to the homeland

Express News Service

At a time when the spoken language of the world’s once most powerful nation-state, Magahi, is midway to the fates of Sanskrit and Pali, it is an undiluted joy to find stories and poems in Magahi, Maithili, Bhojpuri, Bajjika, Hindi, and Urdu in this anthology, The Book of Bihari Literature.

It requires unmitigated bravery to try and capture the literature of a place with impermanent boundaries. How does one choose which work must represent an entire culture? The editor, Abhay K, carves out a path, leverages his extensive knowledge of writing from Bihar, and cleverly presents a deep, historical sweep, and through the words of the poets and authors, alternate sociological realities of ages past reveal themselves. Thus, the greatest strategist born in India, Kautilya, finds space for his cryptic worldly advice just as the great Baba Nagarjun, whose poetry fuses beauty into the political. 

The book admits it is no comprehensive compendium of a culture’s literature, but a sampler––a starting point to alert readers to what riches lie beyond the veil of languages similar to spoken Hindi, yet only limited to native readers. The editor has juxtaposed poems with short stories or chosen extracts from larger works with the aim of providing the vastest possible tasting menu. It is no mean feat to assimilate 61 disparate works into a slim volume.

Classic literature in any culture has an emotive, visceral connection. The oldest poems in the book written in Pali by nuns Mutta and Sumangalmata, and collected in an ancient anthology called Therigatha in the sixth century BCE, both express the rapture of being free, either in terms of spiritual bliss or in death. The Travels of Dean Mahomed is a precious relic. It is the first book in English published by an Indian. The two poems by Vidyapati are probably the crowning jewels of this volume.

As the collection moves into contemporary writing, it develops greater width. The short stories detail a miniature of a world that lingers all too briefly before being lost in arid reality. Human relationships in current times fill the frame in ‘Today’s Yudhishthir’ by Ravindra Kumar. The quandary of ‘A Hindu Parrot that Flies into a Muslim Home’ is a poignant tale by Surendra Pandey. Whimsical and delightful, the symbiotic bond between Patna and rats takes centre stage in ‘The Rats’ Guide’ by Amitava Kumar.

Arrah, Gaya, Vaishali, Amrapali, Baisath Chanpura, Nalanda, and other unnamed villages with unique stories host the reader. Many lost ways of life––postcards, train travel, pilgrimages, hidden loves––all return in magical ways. Reading through these pages is revisiting the evolution of thought and art on 
the hallowed land of Bihar.

<br /> At a time when the spoken language of the world’s once most powerful nation-state, Magahi, is midway to the fates of Sanskrit and Pali, it is an undiluted joy to find stories and poems in Magahi, Maithili, Bhojpuri, Bajjika, Hindi, and Urdu in this anthology, The Book of Bihari Literature.</p> <p>It requires unmitigated bravery to try and capture the literature of a place with impermanent boundaries. How does one choose which work must represent an entire culture? The editor, Abhay K, carves out a path, leverages his extensive knowledge of writing from Bihar, and cleverly presents a deep, historical sweep, and through the words of the poets and authors, alternate sociological realities of ages past reveal themselves. Thus, the greatest strategist born in India, Kautilya, finds space for his cryptic worldly advice just as the great Baba Nagarjun, whose poetry fuses beauty into the political. </p> <!-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v. 2.0.85 --> <div class="quads-location quads-ad200503 " id="quads-ad200503" style="float:none;margin:0px 3px 3px 3px;padding:0px 0px 0px 0px;" data-lazydelay="0"> <!-- WP QUADS - Quick AdSense Reloaded v.2.0.85 Content AdSense async --> <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block;" data-ad-format="auto" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7550963679842137" data-ad-slot="1823845571"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});</script> <!-- end WP QUADS --> </div> <p>The book admits it is no comprehensive compendium of a culture’s literature, but a sampler––a starting point to alert readers to what riches lie beyond the veil of languages similar to spoken Hindi, yet only limited to native readers. The editor has juxtaposed poems with short stories or chosen extracts from larger works with the aim of providing the vastest possible tasting menu. It is no mean feat to assimilate 61 disparate works into a slim volume.</p> <p>Classic literature in any culture has an emotive, visceral connection. The oldest poems in the book written in Pali by nuns Mutta and Sumangalmata, and collected in an ancient anthology called Therigatha in the sixth century BCE, both express the rapture of being free, either in terms of spiritual bliss or in death. The Travels of Dean Mahomed is a precious relic. It is the first book in English published by an Indian. The two poems by Vidyapati are probably the crowning jewels of this volume.</p> <p>As the collection moves into contemporary writing, it develops greater width. The short stories detail a miniature of a world that lingers all too briefly before being lost in arid reality. Human relationships in current times fill the frame in ‘Today’s Yudhishthir’ by Ravindra Kumar. The quandary of ‘A Hindu Parrot that Flies into a Muslim Home’ is a poignant tale by Surendra Pandey. Whimsical and delightful, the symbiotic bond between Patna and rats takes centre stage in ‘The Rats’ Guide’ by Amitava Kumar.</p> <!-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v. 2.0.85 --> <div class="quads-location quads-ad200503 " id="quads-ad200503" style="float:none;margin:0px 3px 3px 3px;padding:0px 0px 0px 0px;" data-lazydelay="0"> <!-- WP QUADS - Quick AdSense Reloaded v.2.0.85 Content AdSense async --> <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block;" data-ad-format="auto" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7550963679842137" data-ad-slot="1823845571"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});</script> <!-- end WP QUADS --> </div> <p>Arrah, Gaya, Vaishali, Amrapali, Baisath Chanpura, Nalanda, and other unnamed villages with unique stories host the reader. Many lost ways of life––postcards, train travel, pilgrimages, hidden loves––all return in magical ways. Reading through these pages is revisiting the evolution of thought and art on <br /> the hallowed land of Bihar.<br />