Gonu Jha: Every ancient city has its unique flavor. One such ancient city is Mithilanchal, which includes prominent cities like Darbhanga, Sitamarhi, Munger, Madhubani and Muzaffarpur. Darbhanga, situated on the banks of Bagmati river, is considered as the cultural capital of Mithilanchal. If we go by legends, the city of Janakpur used to be the center of power for years. To count and make a list, the geographical region had many prosperous kingdoms at different stages of time with Raja Janak’s kingdom being one of the most prominent and easiest to remember.
With time, power and places have changed. But with the changing face the fact can never be denied that the region has been continuously inhabited for thousands of years and has a rich cultural heritage.
Introducing Mithilanchal
The birthplace of Bharateshwari Mata Sita, Mithilanchal forms a cultural region, extending to two countries, India and Nepal’s Madhesh Pradesh area.
Political and social cornering of the geographical region is a different story altogether that can be discussed later. But Mithila, be it in Vedic times or current date has been a guiding light for the world. Mithila, as per its name, remains pious to the date and has a history that can enchant any.
Mithila has sages, thinkers, philosophers and literary giants to boast of. One such giant who stands taller and is still relevant to date is Gonu Jha. Have you heard of him? Either the answer is a ‘Big No’ or ‘Yes’ with small proportion here and there. Be it any case, let’s continue to know of the genius.
His name is Gonu Jha. To put it in the right way, no auspicious work takes place in Mithilanchal without fish, Makhana cuisine and Gonu Jha’s tales of wit and wisdom. He can be labeled as Mithila’s version of Tenali Raman or Gopal Bhar of Bengal. In fact, to me he is even greater. His intellect and wit were par excellence.
Gonu Jha’s life
He is believed to have lived in Bharwara village of Singhwara Block of present day Darbhanga district of Bihar during the 13th Century in Raja Hari Singh’s Kingdom. He is a household name famous for his wit and humor.
Though much is not known about the man, stories of his wit and intelligence continue to travel far and wide till date. Be it be public gathering or auspicious occasion his words and tales are integral part of the lives of people in Mithilanchal. Let me include the fact that his stories are still told by every grandfather and grandmother of Mithilanchal while trying to get their grandkids to bed.
And there can only be two reasons that his stories are still told to date. And they are Mithilavasi’s unwavering faith in their story culture and the quality and relevance of the stories. I think both deserve an equal share of respect.
Message of Gonu Jha’s life
Gonu Jha has wrestled with every situation in life. These include thugs, thieves, wild cats, fraud babas, blind love, fraud astrologers, clever barbers, cleverer priests, aristocrats of the time, senior most and respected members of society hell-bent on taking him down and not to forget actual wrestlers too.
The most wonderful aspect of Gonu Jha’s life is that, he has dealt with all the aforementioned situations in a calm and composed manner. Never in life did his body and mind quake while dealing with those situations. The man had a solution for every problem in the books.
Astoundingly, all those solutions are based on the applications of common sense. Gonu Jha was deeply philosophical in his approach towards life. But unlike tech-savvy modern-day philosophers, his understanding of life was reflected in the way he solved problems coming his way.
To put it simply, Gonu Jha was an intellectual, but not someone who is just an intellectual. Jha was a pragmatic person, but knew how to assimilate past experiences into his daily life. His intermixing of intellect along with active experience of daily life made him speak in the way people understood his words. In other words, his flexing of intellect was always practical and nothing went out of bounds.
Also Read: The Birbal who never existed
Significance of such character
Any monarchical or average family can stay happy only when everyone around them is happy and same goes kingdom, country or an organisation. Even though it’s obvious fact that building an empire without a wise and witty advisor is next to impossible. But to understand this, the kingdom needs an able, pragmatically honest and secure king. A king needs to be intellectual himself, rather than riding on the brilliance of his ministers.
Humor is infectious, but can spread much needed joy. All over the world, social media is lighting up with witty memes, making tales of Gonu Jha more relevant among the common masses.
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