Radhakrishna Choudhary lived the life of a quintessential historian who dedicated his entire life to rigorous study and writing comprehensive research articles on the social, cultural, and political history of Bihar and discovering rare inscriptions and coins dating back to the post-classical period between the eighth and 12th century CE.
He was famously known for his extensive contribution to historical and archaeological studies of Bihar — from being the first author to write about the history of Muslim rule in Bihar’s Tirhut division to being the pioneer researcher to study and reconstruct the cultural history of the Mithila region. But more importantly, Choudhary was hailed for being among the handful of historians from the state who gave importance to and stimulated research on the otherwise-unknown and neglected folklore of Mithila, which now forms the north-eastern part of Bihar.
In addition to being a “devoted, selfless” researcher, Radhakrishna Choudhary was also regarded as one of the top scholars and professors in his home state. “He gave his all to teaching and research,” wrote his close friend and notable historian Ram Sharan Sharma, a professor of ancient Indian history at Patna University, Delhi University and later a visiting faculty at the University of Toronto.
He completed his Bachelors and Masters in History from Tej Narayan Banaili College in Bhagalpur and Patna University, respectively, and later joined Ganesh Dutt College, Begusarai as a lecturer in history in July 1946.
For over a decade, Choudhary taught at Ganesh Dutt College, Begusarai, where, in 1947, he established the Kashi Prasad Jaiswal Archaeological Museum to ‘preserve the scattered archaeological remains of the Begusarai region and headed the history department for several years. He also served as the vice-principal and (acting) principal of the college for more than 22 years.
In his next stint, he served as the principal of Shankar Sah Vikramshila Mahavidyalaya in Kahalgaon for about three years. During his tenure as a history professor at G. D. College, he also wrote a research paper on law and justice in ancient India, the four editions of which were later published in a book in 1953.
In March 1974, he joined the post-graduate history department at Bhagalpur University, from where he retired in 1984. Following this, he shifted to his Deoghar residence and began working on his project “Corpus of Bihar Inscriptions” for which he had received adequate funds from the University Grants Commission. Unfortunately, Choudhary met a premature death on 15 March 1984 due to a cardiac arrest before he could complete the project.
While very little is known about his personal life, his love for ancient heritage ran deep, and it was no secret. “I do not know of any other college teacher who has done so much for salvaging and reconstructing the heritage of the country and particularly of Bihar. But his deep love for ancient heritage did not make him chauvinistic. In fact, whenever the obscurantists tried to distort history, he raised his voice against them and even suffered on that account,” Sharma wrote.
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Unearthed rare, ancient inscriptions and coins
Not only did Radhakrishna Choudhary dedicate his whole life to meticulous research and writing about his home state, but he also dug out and uncovered precious ancient inscriptions and coins of the Pala Empire, which ruled Bengal and Bihar from the 8th to 12 century. During his tenure as a lecturer, he also published a series of bulletins titled ‘G.D. College Research Bulletin Series’ on his research and findings that earned him applause from the world’s leading historians of the time, including influential American mythologist Joseph Campbell.
These series, more significantly, brought to light the archaeological importance of the Jayamangala Garh and Naulagarh districts — abandoned but rich archaeological sites — and established their place in the history of Indian archaeology as great centers of the Tāntrika and Buddhist cults. Thanks to Radhakrishna Choudhary, a small place like Begusarai had literally grown into a “place of pilgrimage” for Indian and world historians, noted Thakur in The Journal of Bihar Research Society, Professor Radhakrishna Choudhary Volume, January-December 1983-1984 PTS I-IV.
“I congratulate you on discovering the Pall Inscriptions in particular which proves the existence of Pall rule in North Bihar. The silver coins which you have discovered are also the coins of Vigrah Pall,” Dr A. S. Altekar, head of the Ancient Indian History and Culture department at Patna University, had written, praising Choudhary. Famous Austrian-born art historian Stella Kramrisch had said, “Every assistance should be given to the G. D. College Bulletin and the activities reported in its pages. They will benefit greatly by better reproductions.”
Vouching for Marx
While Radhakrishna Choudhary published numerous “rigorously researched writings” and review papers, besides three dozen books in English, Hindi, and Maithili throughout the years, some of his most famous works include History of Bihar, Mithila in the age of Vidyapati, and History of Muslim Rule in Tirhut (1207 – 1765). Many of his writings have been highly cited in scholarly articles and publications related to Bihar.
Despite being the first historian to write a scientific and comprehensive history of Mithila in History of Mithilā, renowned historian Upendra Thakur credits Choudhary for backing his research with the his crucial findings.
He wrote, “Professor Choudhary gave it an archaeological base through his discoveries of a number of rare coins, inscriptions, and manuscripts, which he came across in the course of his extensive exploration of the areas from Begusarai to Madhubani and from Khagaria to Saharsa – practically the whole of North Bihar – a tremendous work which no archaeologist had undertaken before. These discoveries removed many age-old misconceptions and wrong notions about the history of Bihar in general and that of Mithilā in particular.”
Applauding Choudhary for “interpreting history without any prejudice to the past”, Thakur, former Vice-President of the Bihar Research Society, Patna, said, “He (Choudhary) was the first historian of Bihar who laid the foundation of the Marxist interpretation of history through his numerous analytical writings on the rise and growth of feudalism in ancient India against the socio-economic background of the period.” He called him a “Marxist by conviction but a nationalist to the core.”
Sanskrit and Prakrit scholar, Parashuram Krishna Gode, remarked that Choudhary’s book Bihar, the Homeland of Buddhism was a must-read for students studying history and culture in colleges and even considered it worthy of being prescribed as a textbook in colleges.
Basing his research on the literary writings of renowned poet Vidyapati and folklore of Mithila, Choudhary’s well-acclaimed research paper Mithila in the age of Vidyapati not only provided an in-depth account of the life and condition of the district but also delved deep into the distinct role it played in India’s history.
“The kingdom of Mithila was the first constituent element of Vidyapati’s theory of politics,” he wrote, further noting that it “was the only semi-independent Hindu State surrounded, on all sides, by the Muslim rulers.”
“The Mithila rulers were nothing if not extremely conservative. They failed to keep pace with the growing needs of the time and became rather hardened with their conservative needs,” he observed.
Crediting Choudhary for his “analytical inclusiveness” and projecting Mithila as “a historically constituted unit having its own heterogeneity, linkages, and specificities”, Sadan Jha, associate professor at the Centre For Social Studies in Gujarat, wrote, “For the first time, we find a historian not merely invoking a vast territory of Mithila but actually bringing in landscapes of Vaishali, Nepal, old Purnea districts (also known as Koshi region) as integral to the history of the region.”
Having been regarded as the best guide when it came to understanding the history of Mithila, in March 1967, Choudhary was elected a member of then-newly constituted Advisory Board for Maithili at the Sahitya Akademi.
(Edited by Monami Gogoi)