Bhojpuri literature

The Bhojpuri-speaking region, due to its rich tradition of creating leaders for building post-independence India such as first President Dr. Rajendra Prasad followed by many eminent politicians and humanitarians like Dr. Krishna Dev Upadhyaya, was never devoid of intellectual prominence which is evident in its literature.

Bhojpuri became one of the bases of the development of the official language of independentIndia, Hindi, in the past century. Bhartendu Harishchandra, who is considered the father of literary Hindi, was greatly influenced by the tone and style of Bhojpuri in his native region. Further development of Hindi was taken by prominent laureates such as Mahavir Prasad Dwivediand Munshi Premchand from the Bhojpuri-speaking region. Bhikhari Thakur, known as the Shakespeare of Bhojpuri, has also given theater plays including the classics of Bidesiya. Pioneer Dr. Krishna Dev Upadhyaya from Ballia district devoted 60 years to researching and cataloging Bhojpuri folklore. Dr. H. S. Upadhyaya wrote the book Relationships of Hindu family as depicted in Bhojpuri folksongs (1996). Together they have cataloged thousands of Bhojpuri folksongs, riddles and proverbs from the Purvanchal U.P, Bihar, Jharkand and Chotta Nagpuri districts near Bengal.

The Bhojpuri literature has always remained contemporary. It was more of a body of folklore with folk music and poems prevailing. Literature in the written form started in the early twentieth century. During the British era, then known as the "Northern Frontier Province language", Bhojpuri adopted a patriotic tone and after independence it turned to community. In later periods, following the low economic development of the Bhojpuri-speaking region, the literary work is more skewed towards the human sentiments and struggles of life.

In the present era, the Bhojpuri literature is marked by the presence of writers and poets like Anand Sandhidoot, Pandeya Kapil and Ashok Dwivedi, Editor of the popular Bhojpuri magazine Paati (Ballia), Onkareshwar Pandey (writer & Editor of world's first Bhojpuri news weekly, from Delhi) and others. In Maurititus, Dr. Sarita Boodhoo from the Mauritius Bhojpuri Institute has done volumes of work in following the Bhojpuri culture and language and documenting the indentured labourers' arrival on the island. Manoj Bhawuk came into limelight for his literary work in Bhojpuri Tasveer Zindagi ke and for his contributions in development of Bhojpuri Literature. In the United States, Sailesh Mishra, another contemporary Bhojpuri activist, poet and writer has been credited as the founder of Bhojpuri Association of North America (BANA) in 2005 and for his contributions in promoting Bhojpuri language and culture across the globe. He is also popularly known as the Creator of Bhojpuri Express Network (BEN) for uniting the online Bhojpuri community on the Internet. Further an avid Bhojpuri evangelist, Avinash Tripathi founded Bhojpuri Association of India (BHAI) in 2008 to represent the voice of Bhojpuri all over world. Newly associated and prominent part of this Bhojpuri literature is the Bhojpuri Sahitya Sammelan magazine with Arunesh Niran as its editor and Dr. Uday Prakash Pandey as co-editor. These people met a glory of reinvoking the links of Bhojpuri of Mauritius and India. There are many more efforts to avail the deserved value for Bhojpuri.