"It was a wonderful experience interacting with you and appreciate the way you have planned and executed the whole publication process within the agreed timelines.”
Subrat SaurabhAuthor of Kuch Woh Pal
Mithila, the birthplace of Sita, is well known from Vedic times for her learning, scholarship and spirituality. Today it forms only a cultural region, extending to two countries, India and Nepal. Among the illustrious sons consisting of sages, thinkers, philosophers and literary giants, Mithila is also proud of its very wise son named Gonu Jha. He can be labeled as Mithila’s own version of Birbal or Tenali Raman or Gopal Bhar of Bengal. He is believed to have lived in Bharwara village of Singhwara block of the present day Darbhanga district of Bihar in India during the 14th Century. He is a household name famous for his wit and humour.
While there are several good compilations of Gonu Jha tales in Maithili language and a few in Hindi as well, the English version is almost non-existent. In the modern age of e-books, it is totally absent on that platform.
I have attempted to bridge this gap by providing a modest collection of tales about Gonu Jha for the benefit of society at large where neither Maithili books are available nor it is possible for people to read them. While I have benefitted from earlier compilations in Maithili and Hindi, I have added several tales which I had heard in my childhood but did not find them in the available compilations in any language.
A very brief introduction to Mithila and its culture has been included at the end. This also provides background material to help appreciate the subject matter of the tales.
Yogendra Pathak Viyogi
Yogendra Pathak Viyogi, born in 1948 at Laufa village in Madhubani district of Bihar in India, is a retired scientist of the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India and a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy and the National Academy of Sciences (India). He specializes in writing popular science articles in Maithili which appear in various Maithili journals regularly. These articles have been compiled in two books. In addition he has written short stories, novels, drama, science fiction, satires and travelogue in Maithili. He has translated the Maithili novel ‘Bhartik Biladi’ in English under the title ‘Bharti’s Cat’. He has so far published a dozen books including Folktales of MIthila in English.
He is a recipient of ‘Tirhut Sahitya Samman’ of Mithila Sanskritik Parisad, Hyderabad, Sahityiki Samman and ‘Sulabh samaj seva puraskar’of Chetna Samiti, Patna.
He is also engaged in mentoring school students and giving them lessons in laboratory techniques in his home district of Madhubani in Bihar (India).
