PANDIT HAVALDAR TRIPATHY, 'SAHRIDAY' BY PRABUDDHA BISWAS

(C) Copyright of Prabuddha Biswas

Thought for the day: -

REMEMBERING HAVALDAR TRIPATHY ‘SAHRIDAY’

FOR THE PEOPLE OF INDIA

1. HAVALDHAR TRIPATHY ‘SAHRIDAY’ WAS NO GEOGRAPHER BUT A GREAT SCHOLAR, AUTHOR AND POET BUT HE HAD WRITTEN A PIONEERING BOOK ON ‘CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY’ IN INDIA IN 1970s WHEN THIS STREAM WAS AT ITS INFANCY.

2. SECONDLY, THIS PIONEERING BOOK ON ‘RIVERS OF BIHAR’ WAS WRITTEN IN ‘HINDI LANGUAGE’ AND TILL DATE IT REMAINS ‘ONE OF THE CLASSICS IN INDIAN LITERATURE BUT IT CAN ALSO ACCOMODATE ITSELF IN THE WORLD LITERATURE’.

FOR THE PEOPLE OF BIHAR

1. HIS NAME WILL BE REMEMBERED IN GOLDEN WORDS IN THE FIELD OF CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY and HINDI LITERATURE FOR HIS ‘BOOK ON RIVERS (IN THREE VOLUMES)’ WHICH HAVE BECOME CLASSICS OF ALL TIME: -

i. BIHAR KI NADIYAN (AITIHASIK EVAM SANSKRITIK SARBEEKSHAN),

ii. DAKSHIN BIHAR KI NADIYAN: DHAR AUR KACHAR,

iii. CHOTONAGPUR KI NADIYAN.

2. IT TOOK HIM MORE THAN TEN YEARS TO COMPLETE THIS MONUMENTAL WORKS IN APPROXIMATELY 1500 PAGES IN WHICH HE HAS DEALT WITH ALL THE RIVERS (BIG OR SMALL) OF BIHAR HISTORICALLY, MYTHOLOGICALLY, CULTURALLY, GEOGRAPHICALLY AND ALSO UNDERTOOK COSTLY AND PAINSTAKING TRAVEL THROUGHOUT THE THEN BIHAR TO STUDY MOVEMENTS OF THE RIVERS.

3. “THE BOOK ON RIVERS OF BIHAR (IN THREE VOLUMES) WAS NOT ONLY THE RESEARCH-BOOK BUT IT WAS MY CREATIVE WORK OF PASSION,” ACCORDING TO HAVALDAR TRIPATHY.

4. HE COULD UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY, MUCH BEFORE THAN OTHERS. HE WAS AHEAD OF HIS TIME.

BRIEF REVIEW OF THE WORK OF PANDIT HAVALDAR TRIPATHY, SAHRIDAY

1. Late Sri Havaldar Tripathy was Hindi and Bhojpuri author, Poet, Great Scholar and freedom fighter and had written several books.
2. He has written a book ‘Boudh Dharm Aur Bihar’, in which he has dwell on the rise and fall of Buddhism for the last 2500 years, in the state of Bihar from historical, religious, social and local perspective and discussed the significance of Bihar.
3. He has successfully translated ‘MEGHDOOT’ OF POET KALIDASA in Bhojpuri language.
4. But the name of Havaldar Tripathy would be remembered in golden words in the field of CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY and HINDI LITERATURE FOR HIS ‘BOOK ON RIVERS (IN THREE VOLUMES)’ which have become classics of all time: -
iv. Bihar Ki Nadiyan (Aitihasik Evam Sanskritik Sarbekshan),
v. Dakshin Bihar Ki Nadiyan: Dhar Aur Kachar
vi. Chotanagpur Ki Nadiyan.

5. It took more than ten years for Mr. Havaldar Tripathy to complete this monumental work for which he had collected historical materials, mythological stories, and geographical documentation and also undertook ‘costly and painstaking travel’ throughout the then Bihar to study the movement of Rivers from one end to the other.

6. The author had admitted in his own words that “The Book on Rivers of Bihar (in three volumes) was not only the research-book but it was my creative work of passion.”

7. (i) When Havaldar Tripathy Ji had completed his manuscripts on ‘Rivers of Bihar’, there were 4 divisions and 17 districts in Bihar.
(ii) In the year 1977, when the first edition of the first volume was published; the state of Bihar was divided into 7 divisions and 31 districts.
(iii) Unfortunately, Tripathy Ji could not see his publication of other two volumes as he breathed his last.
(iv) The manuscript of the second volume was kept for 15 years and then it was published in 1998. First two volumes were published by ‘Bihar Hindi Granth Academy, Patna’.
(v) The third volume (rivers of Chotanagpur) was published in the year 2015.
8. He was hardcore Socialist and was follower of Ram Manohar Lohia and was emotionally attached with Jana Nayak Karpoori Thakur.

SIGNIFICANCE OF HAVALDARS BOOK ON ‘RIVERS OF BIHAR’

1. In the 20th Century, the mutual relation between Geography and Geological Sciences came into light in the study of Wales University, U.K.
2. In reality, ‘Mother Nature, Cultural Traditions and Human Beings’ are so intrinsically connected and enmeshed with each other that they can be hardly separated from each other.
3. This is the reason that Geological Sciences and Cultural Geography are so intimately attached.
4. That is why the significance of Human Civilization and Geographical Linkage of Human Cultures came to light in this century.
5. Now the study of the evolution of Human History has become a necessity in the context of Geography.
6. From 1960, the Cultural Geography has become part of the ‘Geography’ curriculum in American Universities.
7. Since, 1970s; Indian Universities also adopted the ‘Cultural Geography’ as a part of course.
8. Mr. Tripathy had already submitted the manuscripts of his first Volume (on Rivers of North Bihar) and was published in 1977.

HERE LIES THE SIGNIFICANCE OF PANDIT HAVALDAR TRIPATHY BECAUSE HE COULD UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY, MUCH BEFORE THAN OTHERS. HE WAS AHEAD OF HIS TIME.

MOST WIDELY HELD WORKS BY HAVALDAR

1. Bauddhadharma aura Bihāra ( Book, Study of Buddhism in Bihar, India (6 editions published between 1960 and 1998 in Hindi).

2. Bihāra kī nadiyām̐ : aitihāsika evaṃ sāṃskr̥tika sarvekshaṇa (in Hindi and English, 3 editions since 1977)

3. Mahākavi Bāṇa aura usakā kathā-gadya-bandha (3 editions published in 1995 in Hindi. Study of the works of Bāṇa, 7th century Sanskrit author)

4. Dakshiṇa Bihāra kī nadiyām̐ : dhāra aura kachāra (2 editions published in 1998 in Hindi, Rivers of south Bihar; a study; based on Sanskrit and Vedic literature)

5. Sana sattāvana aura Vīravara Kum̐vara Siṃha : smārikā( Book, 2 editions published in 1984 in Hindi, Souvenir published on the occasion of the 126th anniversary of the victory of Kum̐vara Siṃha, 1782-1858, hero of the 1857 Indian freedom movement, over the British forces in Bihar; comprises articles on his life and heroism)

6. Choṭānāgapura kī nadiyām̐ (1 edition published in 2015 in Hindi,
On various rivers of Chotanagpur, India)

7. Bhojapurī Meghadūta : (Kālidāsa ke amara kāvya M̀eghadūtam' ke samaślokī padyānuvāda : [mūla ke sātha]( Book , 1 edition published in 1979 in Hindi)

(C) Copyright of Prabuddha Biswas