Dr. BSM Murty – Bihar’s living literary icon

By Sujit Mukherjee, P.Shivanand and Mukta Shivanand*

Dr. BSM Murty, born in 1939, is an eminent Bihari writer who has deftly carried his proficiency to the 21st century. Popularly known as Mangal Murty, he has not just made a mark as an eminent author, biographer, and translator but has also so successfully carried the legacy of his illustrious father, the highly respected Hindi writer and Padma Bhushan, Acharya Shivpujan Sahay.

Currently, even at his advanced age, Dr. Murty continues to work in creative writing for more than 6 hours every day. He personally replies to each mail or message sent to him   He still buys and reads new books, regularly comments on current events on Facebook and writes blog posts and tweets. Two of his new books were published by the Sahitya Academy in 2019. Then in 2020, four of his new books were released publicly.

He is an inveterate learner. As he says, he learnt even while teaching his students, and also learnt a lot from all the stalwarts he met in his life; and that his journey of learning is still on. Of course, his father Acharya Shivpujan Sahay remains his best teacher, mentor and guru. After his long teaching career, he seems to have turned into an ardent student of multidisciplinary subjects ranging from art, literature, history, philosophy, and all kinds of creativity through the art of writing and photography.

His life can be described as an osmosis, a unique transformation from college professor in English in a college in Munger (Bihar), teaching English language and literature to university students in India and abroad, to a sustained innings in multi-dimensional creativity with a high level of erudition and scholarship. After nearly four decades of university teaching, he finally retired as Professor of English Literature from Magadh University in Bihar in 1999. Subsequently, he served as Professor of American Literature and Linguistics at Taiz University in Yemen till 2002.

Also read: The Eminent Bihari English Writers of the 21st Century – Part 4

What is amazing is that besides his achievements in academia, he is a prolific and versatile writer in both English and Hindi. He is an erudite author, poet, bilingual translator, academician, editor, biographer and photographer. He has authored many English and Hindi books and has been a regular contributor to both Hindi and English journals on national level. He is one of the very few present day literary geniuses from Bihar, who writes in both Hindi and English with equal mastery.

The human values and family samskaras that he inherited, has made Dr. Murty an adorable teacher, parent and grandparent, and an esteemed author, poet, and above all, a literary genius.

He is one of the rare individuals, who in the (post-retirement) second innings of his life is more productive than ever before. After his retirement in 2002, he devoted the next ten years of his life in completing the unfinished literary works of his father. He collated, edited and published in 10 volumes the complete writings of his father titled  Acharya Shivpujan Sahay Sahitya Samagra, a rare treasure of Hindi literature, which otherwise might have gone into oblivion.  He continued his literary work by writing original poems, short stories, critical essays, and doing bilingual translations from English and Hindi. During the 7 years( 2012-2019) he published several  of his own books .

The list is long and worth mentioning:

ENGLISH: Lectures on Linguistics (1984); Literary Essays by Firaq (1993); A Study of Macbeth (1995); The Haunted Palace (2012); Dr Rajendra Prasad:First President of India (2018 ); The Critical Perspective (2020); The Two-Way Mirror (Poems, 2020); The Story of Rama (2020); The Wizard in the Street (Edger Poe’s best stories, ed. 2020 );  Shivpujan Sahay (monograph), Sahitya Akademi, 2019.

HINDI: Shivapoojan Sahay Sahitya Samagra (10 volumes, 2011);  Birendra Narayan Samaghra (5 volumes, 2008); Premchand Patron Mein(2005);  Jagjivan Ram(biography , 2011);  Pravasi Ki Atmakatha (ed.2015); Shivpoojan Sahay Rachana Sanchayan  (ed. Sahitya Academi, 2018);  Shivpoojan Sahay Pratinidhi Sankalan (ed. National Book Trust, 1996); Man Ek Van Collection of Hindi poems , 2020).

TRANSLATIONS (From English & Hindi): Chabi (By Tanizaki, 2008),  Janwar Farm (By George Orwell,2018); Shrimad Bhagavad Gita (Hindi, 2020); Sri Ramacharit Manas (Hindi,2020)

Dr. Murty’s book Dr Rajendra Prasad: First President of India is considered as one of the finest political biographies published in recent years. It not only traces the life of the greatest political leader in Bihar, fondly remembered as Rajen Babu, but also depicts the true history of Bihar during the glorious period of our freedom movement. In a rare presentation as a great biography, it provides rare glimpses of Rajen Babu as a man, whom most of us didn’t know well enough!

It must be read, page to page, by all Indians and particularly by all Biharis – global and local. As a writer, Dr Murty’s talents matured and unfolded over the years, his standards of writing both in Hindi and English came to be at par with the best in world. As mentioned above, Dr Murty belongs to that rare group of geniuses in Indian literary field, who have equal creative mastery over two Indian languages, in this case, Hindi and English.

His life began in very humble surroundings, in Laheria Sarai (Darbhanga, Bihar), under the umbrella of his legendary father Acharya Shivapujan Sahay. His mother died when he was very young, and his father and elder siblings helped in his upbringing.

He spent the first 25 years of his life under the affectionate guidance of his father, who was himself an eminent Professor of Hindi in Rajendra College, Chhapra (Bihar). Besides imbibing values of literature and enlightened culture, he learnt the highest human values of piety, compassion, discipline and aparigrah (living with frugality) from his father. Youngest of four siblings, he studied English in B.A. Honours and M.A.(1959), and later earned a Ph.D. (1976), all from Patna University. He began his teaching career as Lecturer in English at R D & DJ College in Munger from 1959 to 1988 and became full University Professor in1985. Thereafter he moved to College of Commerce in the Magadh University (Patna), serving there from 1988 to 1999. After retirement, he was appointed Professor of Linguistics at the Taiz International University in Yemen (1998- 2002).

During his years as teacher, wherever he taught, he was the most sought after and popular teacher. His endearing nature and positive attitude of helping his students made him an ideal and favourite teacher. In Yemen, he honed his teaching skills with Arabic-speaking students, teaching them self-designed courses in English and American literature, besides Applied Linguistics and Stylistics. His Arabic students adored him for his special teaching abilities and are now spread out the world over. As a teacher, he specialized in the art of measuring the intelligence and aptitude of each of his students in each class, and designed his lectures accordingly to their maximum advantage.  He believed that only subject knowledge is not enough for a teacher; equally important is the rapport with the students. According to him, once a teacher and his students get synced  emotionally and intellectually – transfer of knowledge becomes easier and more fruitful.  He believed in the maxim that teaching and learning, are indeed, two sides of the same coin. You learn more as you make your students learn and, in fact, it’s a snowballing process.  No wonder some of his students remained his student life long, and some of his students reached great fame and esteem in the international arena of literature and other disciplines and walks of life.

During his long academic career, and during his father’s lifetime, he was very fortunate to meet one to one, most of the Hindi literary luminaries of his times, besides political leaders like Nehru, Dr Rajendra Prasad, Jayaprakash Narayan, Acharya Narendra Deo, et al. He has also written excellent biographies of Dr Rajendra Prasad (in English) and Babu Jagjeevan Ram (in Hindi). He had the good fortune of acting as personal aide of Mother Teresa when she once visited Munger to inaugurate an orphanage in 1981.  

Most fascinating part of his lifelong studentship is mastering the use of computer as a means of creativity with constant learning inputs from his grandson with newer and newer computer apps for his daily use! In time he has become quite computer savvy unlike many of his contemporaries. One of the reasons for his prolific literary output, during his post retirement phase of life could be attributed to this skill. His personal laptop is flush with his writings, most of them still to be organized into books and published. He wants them to be preserved and published in future. He has already willed to his grandson to maintain his Facebook account and his blogs. Today he is a regular Facebook contributor and writer of blogs. His three  blogs – vibhutimurty.blogspot.com / vagishwari.blogspot.com / murtymuse.blogspot.com are indeed goldmines with literary  nuggets , having a  huge fan following, visited by an average of 200 readers per month.

Says his grandson Anuneet Krishna, who is an M.Tech and works in California: “I loved to play keyboard when I was very young and I guess I get the musical sense from him. Once he knew I was passionate about it, he brought me the musical instrument from Yemen and taught me how to play it and after almost 20 years, I still go to him for advice on how to make my renditions better. He never leaves his students stranded and does everything to help them succeed and achieve their dreams.  He keeps all relationships near his heart, and cares for each and every one of them. He taught me that it is very easy to sever relationships, but it is a great feeling to stick onto them even in the toughest times.   For me, he always has been my backbone and has always encouraged me to take on new challenges.”

Murty’s son, Ram Krishna Sharan, shares his own views about his illustrious father: “My father, a man of Principles and Values, has left no stone unturned to keep the flag high of my Late grand father Acharya Shivpujan Sahay a renowned writer in Hindi Literature from Bihar. He has written many books on English Literature and published works of my grandfather. I feel proud to say that he is held in high respect in society and amongst his well-wishers. As on date he is busy writing books on his Laptop. He always tell us I am left with very little time and have to finish all my assignments and responsibilities before I leave.

Of course Dr BSM Murty is a beacon of light for his students, friends and family members. He was an obedient son, brilliant student, a popular and esteemed teacher, erudite scholar, author and poet; and a affectionate family man. In short, a complete (‘poorna’) human being.

Rarely do we come across such a personality. As the Scriptures say-  nature teaches us that when a fruit ripens, its beauty and fragrance spreads far and wide.  Dr Murty’s life is an example of how to live life completely and meaningfully.

This article will be incomplete without reading at least one of his poems! Poetry is a rare literary gift bestowed by Almighty on a few chosen individuals. Poetry reveals the rich inner world of the poet. His books of poems in Hindi and English are, indeed, rare gems and literary masterpieces. Here is one sample of his English poems:

Song of the Wind

Nature goes
On a cycle of
Dawn and dusk
Seed and tree
Drop and river
Cloud and pool
Rock and dust
Log and coal

But it would also –
Invisibly, unseen,
Unheard –  recycle
The dusk into dawn
The tree into seed
The river into drop
The pool into cloud
The dust into rock
The coal into log

No one knows how
No one understands
No one pauses to think
Though the cycle
Goes on irreversibly
From moment to moment
The cycle never stops

Only the magpie, the frog,
The snake, the grass
Aye, the wind, too,
Hears and feels and knows
The song that is playing
And they all swing and jump
And fly and crawl
And blow with its rhythm.

About the Authors

Sujit Mukherjee is a former student of Prof Mangal Murty and is himself an internationally acclaimed poet, author, photographer, culinary expert and business leader. He is a regular contributor to Global Bihari.

P. Shivanand is Batch mate of Sujit Mukherjee from XLRI.  A business Leader and entrepreneur specialising in Learning and Development. Record holder in Cross Country driving. He is a regular contributor to Global Bihari.

Mukta Shivanand is a former journalist and expert in Mass Communication.