(C) Copyright of Prabuddha Biswas
1. FOR INTRODUCING HINDI (KHADI BOLI) TEXTBOOKS IN THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM OF BIHAR IN THE SECOND HALF OF 19TH CENTURY
2. UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF BHUDEV MUKHOPADHYAY,
(i) A DICTIONARY OF HINDI WORDS WAS COMPILED,
(ii) A SYSTEMATIC GRAMMAR WAS PREPARED.
(iii) TEXT-BOOKS ON GEOGRAPHY, HISTORY, ARITHMETIC, GEOMETRY AND MENSURATION WERE WRITTEN AND PUBLISHED.
STATUS OF HINDI (KHADI BOLI) IN BIHAR, DURING FIRST HALF OF 19TH CENTURY
1. Today, Bihar is one of the ten Hindi-speaking States, although Hindi or Khadi Boli is used as a language of speech by only a thin upper class educated elite.
2. The mother tongue of the bulk of the people of this State is either Maithili, Magahi, Angika or Bhojpuri or some tribal language.
3. Prior to the large scale acceptance of Khadi Boli as vehicle of literary expression Brajbhasa and Awadhi were the accepted literary media in what is now called Hindi-speaking region for several centuries.
4. It should also be borne in mind that Khadi Boli was language of prose only for several decades while Brajbhasa remained the language of poetry.
5. Significantly, Brajbhasa and Awadhi were more or less alien to Bihar and Khadi Boli even up till first half of 19th Century had not become the day-to-day spoken language of over-whelming majority of Biharis.
STATUS OF HINDI (KHADI BOLI) IN BIHAR, DURING SECOND HALF OF 19TH CENTURY
1. There is evidence of earliest Hindi (Khadi Boli) prose being used as medium of letters in Bihar and he was Kumudanand Mishra. In 1860, he translated the ‘Surya Sidhanta’ of Jaydeva Mishra in Hindi much before the ‘Bharatendu Yug (1868-1893)’ started.
2. Next comes ‘Nasiketopakhyan’ of Pandit Sadal Mishra, a resident of Arrah and taught Hindi in Fort William College, Calcutta. Sadal Mishra had been ranked high among the first four pioneers of Khadi Boli and they were Lallu Lal, Sadasukhlal, Insha Alla Khan and Sadal Mishra.
3. In addition to these, Christian missionaries were also unconsciously lending a hand in evolution and development of simple Hindi prose as a medium for their missionary activities.
4. A Hindi weekly, ‘Bihar Bandhu’ was started from Patna under the editorship of Pandit Keshav Ram Bhatta, who worked relentlessly for next three decades to standardise and popularise Hindi among masses.
5. But Urdu remained the language of courts and it was also enforced as medium of instruction in schools.
6. BUT THE CAUSE OF HINDI HOWEVER GOT STRONG SUPPORT FROM AN UNEXPECTED QUARTER AND HE WAS SHRI BHUDEVA MUKHOPADHYAY, WHO TOOK OVER AS ‘INSPECTOR OF SCHOOLS IN BIHAR IN 1875, AND UNDER HIS ENCOURAGEMENT AND SUPPORT A NUMBER OF HINDI WRITERS PREPARED TEXT-BOOKS FOR SIMPLE AND CHASTE HINDI.
7. UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF BHUDEV MUKHOPADHYAY,
(iv) A DICTIONARY OF HINDI WORDS WAS COMPILED,
(v) A SYSTEMATIC GRAMMAR WAS PREPARED.
(vi) TEXT-BOOKS ON GEOGRAPHY, HISTORY, ARITHMETIC, GEOMETRY AND MENSURATION WERE WRITTEN AND PUBLISHED.
BRIEF LIFE SKETCH OF BHUDEV MUKHOPADHYAY
Bhudev Mukhopadhyay (1827-1894) was a writer and intellectual in 19th century Bengal. His works were considered ardent displays of nationalism and philosophy in the period of the Bengal renaissance.
Whereas the Young Bengal movement was more concerned with the dynamics of social change, their younger contemporaries, a group, to which Bhudev Mukhopdahyay belonged, also came out from the same college with western education, and joined the quest for literary achievements. There was a kind of balance between differing sensibilities - Michael Madhusudan Dutt against Bhudev Mukhopadhyay, Rajnarayan Basu against Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay[1]
EARLY LIFE
He was born in Chinsurah, Hooghly on 22 February 1827 to Pandit Biswanath Tarkabhusan, a renowned Sanskrit scholar. He was a student of Sanskrit College andHindu College, studying at the same time as other Bengal renaissance figures such as Michael Madhusudan Dutt. After completing his education at Hindu College, Bhudev became the headmaster of the Hindu Hitarthi School in 1846. He later founded Chandannagar Seminary and taught there.In 1848, he joined Calcutta Madrasa as English teacher. In 1856, he was selected for the post of Principal of Hooghly Normal School through a competitive examination for which his former class-mate Michael Madhusudan Dutt was also a candidate.
LATER CAREER
In 1862 he was appointed Assistant Inspector of Schools. He was later appointed Inspector of Schools and served in the states of Bengal, Bihar and Odisha. Recognizing his services, Mukhopadhyay was awarded the CIE (Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire) in 1877 by the British.
In 1882 he was appointed as Director of Public Instruction and was also nominated to the Lt.-Governor's Council and the Education Commission later that year. Mukhopadhyay retired from public service in 1883. He was also involved with several educational journals including Shiksadarpan O Sangbadsar and the Education Gazette, which he edited. This involvement lasted from 1868 until his retirement.
His sense of nationalism was so strong that the English principal of Presidency College once noted, “Bhudev with his CIE and 1500 a month is still anti-British.”
HIS WRITINGS
Mukhopadhyay was a renowned writer and thinker and combined nationalism with rationalism in his works. He strived to reform Hindu customs and family laws to synergize with modern times. He had an immense knowledge of Sanskrit, as evidenced by his numerous essays, and critiques of Sanskrit literature. He wrote several books for young people, historical novels and fused many different philosophies into characters he portrayed.
1. Paribarik Prabandha (1882) - essay
2. Samajik Prabandha (1892) - essay
3. Achar Prabandha (1895) - essay
4. Prakrtik Bijnan (in two parts, 1858 & 1859) - Book
5. Purabrttasar (1858) - Book
6. Englander Itihas (1862) - Book
7. Romer Itihas (1862) - Book
8. Banglar Itihas (3rd Part, 1904) - Book
9. Ksetratattva (1862) - Book
10. Puspanjali (1st part, 1876) - Book
11. Aitihasik Upanyas (1857) - Historical Novel
12. Svapnalabdha Bharatbarser Itihas (1895) – Novel
REFERENCES AND EXCERPTS
1. Hindi Literature in Modern Bihar, Comprehensive History of Bihar, Volume III, Part II (KPJRI)
2. Acharya Nalin Vilochan Sharma in “Bihar Through the Ages’ (KPJRI)
3. Wikepedia
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