Jayakant Mishra

Early life Mishra was born on 20 November 1922, in Varanasi. His father, Umesha Mishra, and grandfather, Pandit Jayadev Mishra, were both mahamahopadhyaya titled scholars. Umesha Mishra studied Maithili and Sanskrit. In 1923, the Mishras moved to Allahabad.

Career In 1943, Mishra completed his M.A. degree in English Language and Literature at Allahabad University. In 1944, he joined their faculty as a lecturer in the Department of English and Modern European Languages. With Dr. Amarnath Jha as his thesis advisor, Mishra wrote his PhD dissertation on the history of Maithili literature. The dictionary would later be published in two volumes. The Maithili words were written in Devanagri and Tirhuta scripts, along with equivalent phonetics in English. It is considered an important landmark in Maithil literature. On 3 September 1998, Mishra filed civil writ CWJC-7505/1998 at the Patna High Court, against the Government of Bihar for not providing minimum primary education in Maithili medium to the Maithili-speaking region of Bihar. On 26 September 2003, Chief Justice R.N. Prasad ruled in favour of Mishra. In 2004, the Bihar government made a civil appeal (Civil Appeal No. 7266 of 2004) against Mishra to the Supreme Court. On 30 September 2010, The Supreme Court (Court No. 9) rejected the appeal. The Bihar government withdrew other similar cases (e.g., Civil Appeal No(s). 2203–2208 of 2001), History of Mithili Literature – Mishra's PhD thesis. Introduction to The Folk Literature of Mithila (1950–51) The Critical Edition of Kirtaniya Dramas Lectures on Thomas Hardy (1955, 1965) Complex Style in English Poetry (1977)

Awards

1967: Samman Patra by Akhil Bhartiya Maithili Sammelan, Bombay. 1989: Gaurinath Memorial Lectures. 1990: Tamra Patra by Chetna Samiti, Patna. 1995: Samman Patra by Mithila Sanskritik Sangam, Prayag. 1999: Samman Patra by Vidyapati Samiti, Dhanbad. 2001: Bhasha Samman by Sahitya Academy for the year 2000

Notable positions

1943–2008: President, All India Maithili Sahitya Samiti, Allahabad. 1948: Member, Council of All India Oriental Conference. 1963–82: Member, Advisory Board and General Council of Sahitya Akademi. 1967–71: Secretary, G. N. Jha Research Institute, Allahabad. 1971–74: Founder-Secretary, Dr. Ishwari Pd. Institute of History, Allahabad. 1973–74: Prabandha Mantri & Sangrahalaya Mantri, Hindi Sahitya Sammelan, Allahabad. 1977: President, Diamond Jubilee Session of Asam Sahitya Sabha, Jorhat. 1984–89: Member, Executive Board of Maithili Akademi, Patna. 1993: Inaugurated First International Maithili Conference, Ranchi. 1996: President, Mithila Rajya Sangharsh Samiti(a unit of Antarrashtriya Maithili parishad), till his death . 1995–99: Editor, Maithili Section of "Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature" and "Modern/Medieval Indian Literature".