The Kinsmen of Ugna

Ugna is the legendary incarnation of Lord Shiva who served the great Maithili poet Vidyapati as his personal attendant and those of the backward classes in the society in Mithila. The Kinsmen of Ugna have been portrayed in the novel which essentially provides a practicable philosophy for heralding harmony in a society traditionally characterized by segmentation and strife, which is further accentuated in the context of the fight for social justice. Kinsmen of Ugna successfully, though somewhat idealistically, tells the story of the protagonist, Tulsi, and delineates the evolution of the suppressed and depressed castes of Mithila who forge unity not only among themselves but also with the upper castes to avoiding class conflict in their journey to progress.

This is an eminently readable novel for those who may be looking for a model different from the ones that profess class struggle and also for those who may be interested in the people and culture of Mithaila.

Surendra Jha ‘ Suman’ (1901-2002) was a prolific writer, translator, journalist, teacher, politician and social worker whose writings truly enriched Maithili literature. He wrote over two dozen original books, mainly of poetry in Sanskrit and Maithili,and translated another two dozen in Maithili and won Sahitya Akademi award for Payaswini, a collection of poems in Maithili in 1971 and Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize in Maithili for Ravindra Natkavali I , in 1955. As editor he was associated with Mithila Mihir for many years.

Ratneshwar Mishra ( b. 1945) retired as Professor and Head, Department of History, L.N. Mithila University, Darbhanga. He has to his credit two published monographs and many research papers. He has edited many Maithili journals and books as well as contributed review articles and essays to them. He has al so translated Bhavabhuti, and the books Bharat Ka Itihas and History of Tamil Literature.