Gajendra Thakur
Gajendra Thakur (born 1971) is an Indian author. He writes in the Maithili language, a language spoken in Northern Bihar (of India) and South-Eastern Nepal. He is an author, lexicographer, historian (of Mithila- ancient Videha and of Maithili); and palaeographer, he has deciphered ancient and medieval palm leaf inscriptions in Tirhuta script of Maithili Language (Mithilakshar script). These panjis are genealogical records of Maithil Brahmin community of Mithila region and contain details of around 100 inter-caste marriages. Besides it provides written historical records of people and personalities, hitherto considered mythical ones. Besides he deciphered scripts inscribed on temples/ dilapidated buildings throughout the length and breadth of Mithila.
Gajendra Thakur | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 30 March 1971 Bhagalpur, Bihar, India |
| Occupation | Writer · Historian · Educationist |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Period | 20th–21st century |
| Genre | Literary critic, historian · Novelist, Dramatist, Poet · Lexicographer |
| Notable works | Sahasrabadhani Sahasrashirsha Shabdashastram Sahasrabdik Chaupar Par Genome Mapping- 450 AD to 2009 AD- Mithilak Panji Prabandh Videha-(Edited) 127 volumes |
| Spouse | Preeti Thakur |
| Children | Aum Thakur Astha Thakur |
He has also compiled an English-Maithili Computer dictionary. He has helped in preparing Unicode application for Mithilakshar (Tirhuta) script. His English-Maithili Dictionary is only such dictionary.
He has also contributed in social development work.
Literary activity
He wrote KuruKshetram Antarmanak, a work in Maithili Language -in seven volumes (Vol.I- Literary Criticism, Vol. II- a Novel- Sahasrabadhani- translated into English by the name The Comet, Vol.III Poetry collection- Sahasrabdik Chaupar Par, Vol.IV- Short Story Collection- Galp Guchh, Vol.V- Play- Sankarshan, Vol.VI- two long epic-verses (geet prabandh) Tvanchahanch and Asanjati Man, Vol-VII- Children's literature- grown-ups literature- Balmandali-Kishor Jagat). Thereafter his transcribed 11000 palm-leaf inscriptions were published in a single volume with an explanatory introduction as “Genome Mapping −450 AD to 2009 AD- Mithilak Panji Prabandh”.; later its sequel "Geneological Mapping-450 AD to 2009 AD- Mithilak Panji Prabandh vol.II" was released.[1][2] He also compiled "Maithili-English Dictionary" and "English Maithili Dictionary". The English-Maithili Dictionary was particularly notable as it included computer terminology, so far unavailable in any other dictionary.
He is editor of Videha, a fortnightly Maithili e-journal.
Traditional Mithilakshar, i.e., Tirhuta Script of Maithili language: He was pioneer in standardisation of Mithilakshar script. The Unicode encoding applicant (now the ISO has approved encoding of Tirhuta as Unicode) has acknowledged his contribution.[3] and has included in the references as well.[4][5]
He has also translated from Maithili into English. He has translated poems and stories into Maithili from Kannada (Of Ashok Hegde), Telugu (of N. Aruna, Sheikh Muhammad Sharif, Annavaran Devender), Oriya (of Basudev Sunani, Bharat Majhi) and Gujarati (of Babu Suthar, Ajay Sarvaiyya, Rajendra Patel, Hemang Ashwin Kumar Desai) through English.
He is a member of Maithili Lekhak Sangh, the organisation of authors of Maithili.
Major works
- Edited Works
English-Maithili Dictionary
Maithili-English Dictionary
Genome Mapping- 450 AD to 2009 AD- Mithilak Panjis Prabandh: (11000 palm leaf manuscripts containing genealogical records)
Videha:sadeha:1 Devanagari
Videha:Sadeha:1: Tirhuta
Videha:Sadeha:2: Videha Prabandh-Nibandh-Samalochna
Videha:Sadeha:3: Videha Katha
Videha:Sadeha:4: Videha Padya
Videha:Sadeha:5: Videha Maithili Vihani katha (Videha Maithili Seed Stories)
Videha:Sadeha:6: Videha Maithili Laghu katha (Videha Maithili Short Stories)
Videha:Sadeha:7: Videha Maithili Padya (Videha Maithili Verse)
Videha:Sadeha:8: Videha Maithili Natya Utsav (Videha Maithili Stage and Drama)
Videha:Sadeha:9: Videha Maithili Shishu Utsav (Videha Maithili Children Literature)
Videha:Sadeha:10: Videha Maithili Prabandha-Nibandha-Samalochna (Videha Maithili Research Papers/Essays/Criticism)
Braille Maithili: (his novel Sahasrabadhani- Ist Maithili book in Braille).
222 issues of Videha Ist Maithili Fortnightly e Magazine- ISSN 2229-547X
- Authored
KurukShetram Antarmanak- a seven volume work in Maithili Language:-
- Work in Translation
His works are available in translation.
His works have been translated into English ( 1.Maithili Novel Sahasrabadhani as "The comet" and 2.Maithili collection of poems Sahasrabdik Chaupar Par as "On the Dice-board of the Millennium". The readers of English translations of Maithili Novel "sahasrabadhani" and verse collection "sahasrabdik chaupar par" has intimated that the English translation has not been able to grasp the nuances of original Maithili. Therefore, the Author has started translating his Maithili works in English himself. After these translations are complete these would be the official translations authorised by the Author of original work) and others (Some Maithili short-stories as "The Science of Words" by the author himself). His novel Sahasrabadhani has been translated into Konkani Language (by Seby Fernandes), Tulu language, Kannada (Pramila B.J. Alva), Sanskrit and Marathi Language. His short-story collection "Galp Guchchh" has been translated into Sanskrit. Some of his stories have been translated into Hindi by Subhash Chandra Yadav and Vinit Utpal.
- Some of his recent works
Ulkamukh, play about the caste system ISBN 97893-80538-50-1 Prabandh-Nibandh-Samalochna vol.II, (a collection of research papers/ essays/ criticism ISBN 97893-80538-54-9); Dhangi Baat Banebaak Daam Agoobaar Pene Chan, (a collection of Maithili Ghazal/ Rubai/ Kata ISBN 97893-80538-51-8); Shabdshastram: (a collection of Maithili short-stories ISBN 97893-80538-52-5); Jalodip: (three Maithili Children Plays ISBN 97893-80538-50-1); Naarashanshi: (thought in verse ISBN 978-93-80538-58-7); Sahasrajit: (anthology of poems ISBN 978-93-80538-59-4); Aksharmushtika: (Children short stories ISBN 978-93-80538-60-0); Bangak Bangaura: (Children songs ISBN 978-93-80538-61-7); Genealogical Mapping:vol.II (transliteration/ decipherment of ancient age-old manuscripts ISBN 978-93-80538-62-4); Jagdish Prasad Mandal: Ekta Biography (Biography of Sh. Jagdish Prasad Mandal ISBN 978-93-80538-68-6).
References
- "Speaker Profile". Samanvay 2012, The second edition of the IHC Indian Languages Festival; Gaon (village) Kasba (town)–Sheher (city): Boli (tongue)-Bani (style)–Bhasha (language); India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi – 110 003. 2–4 November 2012.
- Invited Speaker 2–4 November 2012, Occasion-The second edition of the IHC Indian Languages Festival, Samanvay 2012; Gaon (village) Kasba (town)–Sheher (city): Boli (tongue)-Bani (style)–Bhasha (language); India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi – 110 003
- ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2 N3765; L2/09-329; 2009-09-30 Towards an Encoding for the Maithili Script in ISO/IEC 10646; Anshuman Pandey; University of Michigan; Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA; 30 September 2009
- Pandey, Anshuman, (2009) Towards an Encoding for the Maithili Script in ISO/IEC 10646; Anshuman Pandey. University of Michigan; Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A.;30 September 2009;ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2 N3765; L2/09-329; 30 September 2009 "Gajendra Thakur of New Delhi graciously met with me and corresponded at length about Maithili, offered valuable specimens of Maithili manuscripts, printed books, and other records, and provided feedback regarding requirements for the encoding of Maithili in the UCS.- Anshuman Pandey"
- Pandey, Anshuman, (2009) Towards an Encoding for the Maithili Script in ISO/IEC 10646; Anshuman Pandey. University of Michigan; Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A.;30 September 2009;ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2 N3765; L2/09-329; 30 September 2009 "7.references/ acknowledgement; Thakur, Gajendra. 2009. "Videha", a fortnightly Maithili e-journal. http://www.videha.co.in/"