Jyotishacharya Pandit Baldev Mishra was a prolific writer of

Maithili literature Maithili literature is the entire collection of poetry, novels, short stories, documents and other writings in the Maithili language. The most famous literary figure in Maithili is the poet Vidyapati (1350–1450), who wrote his poems in the ...

in the 20th century who wrote extensively on several topics in his mother language Maithili. Besides Maithili, he also wrote few books in Hindi and Sanskrit covering a range of subjects related to mathematics,

astrology Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Di ...

, philosophy and

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

Early life and education

Baldev Mishra was born in 1890 in Bangaon, Bihar in northern

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

. His father died when he was five years old. He was raised by his maternal grandfather in Bangaon. Due to his exceptional memory and ability to recite Durgasaptshati at a very young age, he was given a scholarship by the queen of the Baniali state to pursue further studies. In 1910, he went to

Benaras Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world. * * * * The city has a syncretic tra ...

to study

under the tutelage of pandit Sudhakar Dwivedi. During his

stay, he met with Acharya

Narendra Deva Acharya Narendra Deva (; also Dev; 30 October 1889 – 19 February 1956) was one of the leading theorists of the Congress Socialist Party in India. His democratic socialism renounced violent means as a matter of principle and embraced the ''sa ...

whose intellect inspired him to study in English medium. This led him to appear in a combined Bengal-Bihar-Orissa matriculation board exam which he passed in the first division in 1916.

Career

In 1922 he was appointed as a mathematics teacher at the Kashi Vidyapeeth. He worked at the Kashi Vidyapeeth until 1930. After that, he wrote a few books in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominalization, nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cul ...

for high school students on

Trigonometry Trigonometry () is a branch of mathematics that studies relationships between side lengths and angles of triangles. The field emerged in the Hellenistic world during the 3rd century BC from applications of geometry to astronomical studies. ...

and

Algebra Algebra () is one of the areas of mathematics, broad areas of mathematics. Roughly speaking, algebra is the study of mathematical symbols and the rules for manipulating these symbols in formulas; it is a unifying thread of almost all of mathem ...

. He also edited books on Ellipse and

Calculus Calculus, originally called infinitesimal calculus or "the calculus of infinitesimals", is the mathematics, mathematical study of continuous change, in the same way that geometry is the study of shape, and algebra is the study of generalizati ...

written by Sudhakar Dwivedi. In 1933, he started to work as an editor of "Pandit Patra". In 1939, he started working in "Saraswati Bhawan" library in

where he worked on listing the manuscripts of many old articles there. He worked there until 1951. He then returned to his native state of

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

in 1952 to work as

decipherment In philology, decipherment is the discovery of the meaning of texts written in ancient or obscure languages or scripts. Decipherment in cryptography refers to decryption. The term is used sardonically in everyday language to describe attempts to ...

research scholar in the newly formed

K.P. Jayaswal Kashi Prasad Jayaswal (27 November 1881 – 4 August 1937) was an Indian historian and lawyer. Jayaswal's works ''Hindu Polity'' (1918) and ''History of India, 150 A.D. to 350 A.D.'' (1933) are classics of ancient Indian historical literature. A ...

Research Institute,

Patna Patna ( ), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...

. Here, he worked on deciphering many articles related to

Pali Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist '' Pāli Canon'' or '' Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of '' Theravāda'' Bud ...

and

Prakrit The Prakrits (; sa, prākṛta; psu, 𑀧𑀸𑀉𑀤, ; pka, ) are a group of vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE. The term Prakrit is usu ...

languages found during the excavations in

Bodh Gaya Bodh Gaya is a religious site and place of pilgrimage associated with the Mahabodhi Temple Complex in Gaya district in the Indian state of Bihar. It is famous as it is the place where Gautama Buddha is said to have attained Enlightenment ( pi, ...

. His work is published in 27 books in Tibbati-Pali-Prakrit series published by the Bihar Research society.

List of works

; Maithili (published books) * Ramayan Shiksha (1939) * Kavivar Pandit Chanda Jha (1948) * Bharat Shiksha (1955) * Gapshap Vivek (1961) * Samaj (1963) * Shyamanand sahay Vyakhyanamala (1970) ; Maithili (Unpublished Books) * Sanskriya sahitya me Maithil vidwaanak Krititva * Maithili sahitya sevi lokanik Sansmaran * Raja Tanknath Chaudharik Jeevani * Kichhu Vishisth Lokak Jeevani * Aatmakatha * Parivartan ; Maithili Essays (published in magazines) * Mithila Mod * Mithila Mihir * Maithili * Vaidehi * Mithilajyoti * Chaupari ; Sanskrit (published books) * Rekhaganitam * Saral Trikonmiti * Aryabhatteeyam (Edited) * Chalan kalan (Edited) * Deerghvritta (Edited) * Bhaskareeya Beejganit (Edited) ; Sanskrit Essays (published in magazines) * Saraswati Sushma * Suprabhatam ; Hindi (published books) * Chhatra Jeevan * Satyasandha Padit Babua Khan (2007) * Vidyapati Padavali-Bhaag -2 (Edited) ; Hindi (unpublished books) * Vishnupurana Par Vichaar * Baudh Sahitya Me Kya Hai * Jyotish Ke Nav Ratna * Bharteeya Jyotish Shashtra Ki Utpatti * Bangaon Ka Itihaas

Makers of Indian literature (Maithili)

Recognizing his contributions to the Maithili literature, the

Sahitya Akademi The Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India. Founded on 12 March 1954, it is supported by, though independent of, the Indian government. Its of ...

of India published a monograph on him under the

Makers of Indian Literature Makers of Indian Literature is a series of biographical monographs published by Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters. Background In 1964, the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, decided to publish the first in ...

(Maithili) series. One of his essays "sangeet" is included in the high school textbook of Maithili in Bihar state board. The monograph on him was written by Mr Visheshwara Mishra, a contemporary scholar of the Maithili literature. Sahitya academy started the series Makers of Indian Literature to recognize the contribution of eminent scholars who have contributed significantly to the literature of different languages spoken in India. The monograph is published in the original language of the writer and its translations are done in various other languages which are also published by the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mishra, Baldev 1890 births 1975 deaths Maithili writers Writers from Bihar People from Saharsa district 20th-century Indian essayists