''Balanak Bonihar O Pallavi'' (''The peasants on the banks of river Balan and Pallavi'') is a
short story collection, written by Dr Binod Bihari Verma, on the village life of
Mithila on the banks of the
Kosi River
The Kosi or Koshi ( ne, कोशी, , hi, कोसी, ) is a transboundary river which flows through China, Nepal and India. It drains the northern slopes of the Himalayas in Tibet and the southern slopes in Nepal. From a major confluence o ...
and its tributaries.
Overview
This short story collection has fourteen short stories centering on the village society of
Mithila. The focus of the stories and the protagonists are from the middle and lower middle class of the population. It deals with their social interactions, their dreams and aspirations, and their interaction with the predominant forces of their environment namely, the rivers.
Explanation of the Book's title
Balanak Bonihar O Pallavi means the tiller by the river and ''Pallavi'', a common feminine name neing a metaphor for the agricultural produce of the farmer. It is the title of the first short story in this collection and is reflective of the general theme of the stories.
Critical reception
* has the following review:
Characters in "Balanak bonihar o pallavi"
Most of the short stories have certain similar central characters, these are:
* Balan: The "river" or the flood waters
* Sounse: Gangetic
river dolphin, Platenista gangetica, which populates
kosi
KOSI (101.1 FM) is a commercial radio station in Denver, Colorado. KOSI is owned by Salt Lake City–based Bonneville International and airs an adult contemporary music format. Its studios and offices are located on East Orchard Road in Greenwo ...
and its tributaries, now a species on verge of extinction
* Oxygen, Hydrogen: Representing the chemicals
* Various human characters having different names although representing similar socioeconomic strata:
** Rannu Sardar
** Sulochana
** Saheb
** Gonour babu
* Real life characters:
** Prof Upendra Thakur
** Prof
Radha Krishna Choudhary
Major themes
* Life on the banks of rivers in
Mithila
* Environmental pollution
* Lot of the women in Mithila
* Marital relationship in the rural poor
* The annual cycle of flooding and the devastation
* Unemployment
* Curse of the Dowry system in Mithila
Allusions and references
* River:
Kosi river
The Kosi or Koshi ( ne, कोशी, , hi, कोसी, ) is a transboundary river which flows through China, Nepal and India. It drains the northern slopes of the Himalayas in Tibet and the southern slopes in Nepal. From a major confluence o ...
* People:
** Prof
Upendra Thakur
Upendra (Devanagari: उपेन्द्र) is an Indian masculine given name. The meaning of the Sanskrit word ' is "younger brother of Indra" and refers to either Krishna or Vishnu, who as a son of Aditi (or in the Vamana avatar) was born subs ...
** Prof
Radha Krishna Choudhary
Stories
# ''Balanak bonihar o pallavi''
# ''Kunti karna o parshuram''
# ''Sulochnak chatisar''
# ''Saheb''
# ''Brahma - bisun - rati''
# ''Ham pan khelonhh''
# ''Fulak katha''
# ''Antarmukhi vasundhara''
# ''Kasha k ful''
# ''Machhak piknik''
# ''Jivan - nao''
# ''Ka purush''
# ''Gonour babu''
# ''Aakash ful''
External links
University of Washington Library entry of Balanak Bonihar O Pallavi
Books on Mithila Region
Maithili-language books
Indian short story collections
1994 short story collections
Culture of Bihar
Culture of Mithila
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