Glimpse from the ongoing Kathmandu Literary Jatra: Maithili literature

SEP 16 – Certain salient facts make one realise the weight and significance of the heritage of Maithili literature. Its vast canon includes four of six Indian philosophies—Nyaya (Logic), Shankh (Cosmology), Vaisheshikh (Philosophy of Soul and Reincarnation), Mimangsha (Philosophy of Dharma) and several volumes of the Upanishads, written in the language. Poet Vidyapati Thakur’s verses, known for their lyricisms on eros and ecstasy, can only be appreciated truly in the language. The literary tradition to which these works and poet belong has soared whenever it found strong patronage and support from the states of its speech territories. But such has not been the case in present day Nepal—the Maithili speaking regions of which have been significant in the flourishing of the literary canon.

The Maithili language itself, having approximately 25 million speakers, is a prominent one in the world map. Today, Maithili is spoken in Bihar, Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, Saharsa, Bhagalpur, Purniya, Northern Mungare, Jharkhand, Godda, Devdhar and Anumangal in India, and Morang, Siraha, Sarlahi, Saptari, Rautahat, Mahottari and Dhanusha in Nepal. Commonly known to be the second most widely spoken language here, the modern state of Nepal, however, has not been wholly supportive in developing its literary traditions. Simple facts such as there being only 11 books on Maithili culture and literature published by the Nepal Academy—the Premier National Academic Institution—in the last 60 years, reflect this truth. Scholars of Maithili literature and culture in Nepal thus validly lament the lack of state support and recognition of its literary works. The Maithili canon dates back to the start of the Mithila Kingdom under the Janak Videha dynasty and its progression till this modern day and age proves its survival of the political vicissitudes fated to the Kingdom.

Some of the battles and conquests endured by the Maithils include the Tibetan invasion of the 6th century, the Oinwara and Karnat dynasties of the medieval era, known as the golden age of Maithili literature and philosophy and the Islamic conquests of the 14th century, when the Maithils were threatened enough to have to flee to Nepal. That an invaded culture risks losing its strength with time does not seem to apply to Maithili. Its language and literature instead experienced an unbroken continuity in the regions of Bengal, Orissa, Assam and Nepal. This, scholars would say, is attributed to the culture’s profundity and significance to human life. As Radhakrishna Chaudhary’s paper A Survey of Maithili literature states, “Mithila is associated with the name of Janaka Videha and stands apart pre-eminently as the land given to intellectual pursuits and consequently to speculations about the spiritual well-being of man.” A major part of Maithili literature and culture is known to focus on transcendence for attaining Moksh.

Dr. Rajendra Bimal, an independent researcher of Maithili Literature and a PhD in Linguistics (concentration in the Morphology of Indo Aryan Languages), gives a few pointers that reflect this: “A philosophy of the illusionary nature of the world is found in Maithili culture; the name of Mithila’s first dynasty, ‘Videha’, which means ‘beyond body’ is itself representative of this.” But in what seems to be a paradox, a majority of works by the medieval era poet Vidyapati, which belong to the most common and important type of Maithili poetry, Tirhuti, comprises of deep, amorous verses that stem from Sanskrit poetry and erotic conventions. Translations from publications issued by the Nepal Academy tell the English reader that Vidyapati wrote at length about the beauty of the female form. His speciality, in fact, lay in the Batagamini classification of Tirhuti poems, where verses portray “the nayika (heroine) in abhisara, or when she goes to meet her lover.” Vidyapati’s understanding of women’s emotions in love and their sexual energies often makes his poetry inappropriate to teach in the classroom, shares Bimal. But the immense sensual pleasures inherent in them, at the same time, reflects an essence of Mithila’s cultural philosophy that “one attains Moksh through the body.” The general idea is that one must plunge into the ocean of ecstasy when one finds it, but the soul should remain above—an axiom often depicted in the Korobar paintings of Maithili wedding ceremonies. Vidyapati, who flourished as a poet during the Oinwara and Karnat reign, also recited in the courts of the Malla Kings of Nepal. Like the last Kings of the Karnat dynasty, he fled from the Islamic invasions and came to Nepal, and subsequently lived here for 12 years. Vidyapati’s travel to Nepal, preceded by the Karnat King Shyamsingh Dev’s daughter’s marriage to Prince Ashok Malla of Bhaktapur, and the 11th century Karnat King Nanyadev’s Kingdom being established in Nepal, led to Maithili becoming a language of the Malla Kingdoms. And what is known to be the great renaissance of Maithili literature in Nepal, took form with the Malla Kings’ admiration for Vidyapati’s poetry. The dramatic arts in particular, flourished with interesting multilingual productions.

There were plays where the upper caste characters spoke in Sanskrit, the aristocratic in Maithili and the common men in Newari, according to Krishna Sundar Malla, writer and researcher of Nepal Bhasa literature. The patronage of King Pratap Malla, in particular, stands out for his own involvement as a playwright and director of the dramatic arts. The King’s play, according to Malla, is also taught in courses today at the Patna University. Bimal states that such was the patronage of the Malla Kings of Maithili literature, that if one eliminated the manuscripts that emerged from the era, the entire canon would be bereft of a major section. “But what has been translated in Nepal is meagre when you compare it to the vastness of the canon,” he adds. Maithili literature saw a dark period with the onset of the Shah dynasty and one much worse during the Panchayat era. But the 1950s saw figures such as Pt. Jeevnath Shah, Pt. Ramakant Jha and Sundarnath Shashtri emerge with writings influenced by Sanskrit and British traditions. Further, the 1960s—a period marked as the “Navasuradaya” according to Bimal—unleashed the works of the Marx-influenced Dr. Dhirendra Jha and the Freud-influenced Dhoomketu, a name taken with soaring admiration by Bimal. The Nepal Academy may not have been prolific in producing Maithili writings, but this generation of writers, followed by that of Bimal’s own, and yet another junior to them, have published essays, short stories, poems, prose and news magazines in Maithili, and some, such as the Simhavlokan fortnightly edited by Janakpur native Kularaj Ghimire, which publishes articles and essays on Maithili culture in the Nepali language. Aside from some of these landmark figures, periods and names recorded of the vast universe that Maithili literature is, one will notice the stark absence of women writers in Maithili literature. This is yet another paradox in the truth of things, for it was the women who preserved the folklores, folk art as well as Vidyapati’s poetry, according to Bimal. The absence of established women writers in the language speak of a more severe suppression of women in Maithili societies. It is, however, reassuring to know that scholars from western universities pursue studying the folklores preserved and generated by Maithili women. Of these, Professor Coralynn Davis of Bucknell University is currently working on a book of folk tales recorded from women in Janakpur, which will “reveal how Maithili women are pitted against one another in their pursuit of security and resources in the context of patrilineal formations.” Such personal initiatives are significant in the absence of state support. However, it would be difficult to revive a suppressed culture without significant aid from public institutions. With the National Academic Institution showing up with a meagre volume of work on Maithili literature, the full revival and recognition of its granduer seems to have a long time to come.

Shahani Singh

Source: The Kathmandu Post

http://www.ekantipur.com/the-kathmandu-post/2011/09/16/features/maithili-literature–glimpse-of-a-journey/226415.html