Once a hub of scholars, Bihar’s Maithili Academy now stares at shutdown

It’s 1 pm, but even at this time of the day, Bihar’s prestigious Maithili Academy looks bereft. Inside the single room of the nearly 50-year-old academy, with its a single desk, a smattering of chairs, a printer and a few metal almirahs, there’s not a soul in sight, the silence in the place broken only by shouts from a group of boys playing cricket on the playground below.

For years, the Maithili Academy, on the campus of the Bihar Rashtrabhasha Parishad at Saidpur in Patna’s Rajendra Nagar, was one of Bihar’s most prized possessions — with its 60,000 books and nine Sahitya Akademi-winning titles — the institution, meant for the promotion of the Maithili language, was the abode of several litterateurs and scholars.

Today, the academy is fighting many battles – against time, reduced footfall, and institutional neglect.

Earlier this month, several writers and activists held protests demanding the government revive the crumbling academy, blaming its state on government’s apathy. But staff cite bigger problems: the lack of adequate resources and manpower to keep the institution running.

An empty room that functions as Maithili Academy on the campus of the Bihar Rashtrabhasha Parishad at Rajendra Nagar in Patna, Bihar. (Express photo by Yuvraj Singh)

Among those protesting are members of Bihar’s ruling National Democratic Alliance. Bharatiya Janata Party state president Sanjay Saraogi, who wrote to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Education Minister Sunil Kumar to seek their intervention, tells The Indian Express: “Maithili Academy plays a key role in promotion of Maithili. I have flagged my concerns with the CM and the education minister”.

A senior leader of the ruling Janata Dal (United) added: “We’ll urge the CM to ensure that Maithili Academy is not closed”.

Bihar Education Minister Sunil Kumar, under whose department the academy falls, did not respond to queries. An official attributed the decision to an acute staff crunch.

“Unless there is appointment or deputation of staff at the Maithili Academy, it’s difficult to run. The sole staffer has been sent back to his original post”.

When the Maithili Academy was founded in 1976 – 26 years after the Bihar Rashtrabhasha Parishad began functioning – its main objective was to promote the language. For years, it functioned alongside the parishad, established in 1950 to promote Hindi, as well as its other constituents – the academies of Bhojpuri, Magahi, Sanskrit and Bangla.

A historical presence, the Bihar Rashtrabhasha Parishad initially functioned out of rented premises, until it moved to its current 5.5-acre campus in the 50s.

On paper, the parishad was to house a printing press, a guest house for writers and scholars, and residential quarters for staff. However, none of these facilities were developed, with the parishad getting only a library.

Soon, institutional neglect crept in. Footfall fell from 50 scholars a day to 4-5, staff depleted, space shrunk — reducing the Maithili Academy to sharing a room with the Bangla Academy – and titles dried up, with the academy’s last publication, ‘Sita Charitra’ Dr. Umakanth, being in 2021.

The Maithili Academy has a sanctioned staff strength of 21, but it currently has no staff. Critics blame the slow decline of the academy on the Bihar government’s “neglect of language academies”.

“We want to know why, when there was provision of Rs 1.5 crore for language academies, why should Maithili Academy be closed,” Hridayanarayan Jha, a Maithili scholar and lyricist, says.

But the Maithili Academy isn’t alone in this predicament. At the Bihar Rashtrabhasha Parishad – founded to promote Hindi — staff claim the odds are stacked against them.

They cite a time from a few years ago when volumes upon volumes of literature were piled on the floor, exposing them to everything from dust and termites to moisture, until staff brought bags from home to sort the books.

“Books were stacked from floor to ceiling, without racks and without protection,” one staff member says.

The Sanskrit Academy too faced similar challenges. “One room with two or three chairs? How are students supposed to read or research here?” a staff member asks.

Staff at the Bihar Rashtrabhasha Parishad as well as the various academies cite one major problem – depleting manpower.

“From 2026, retirements will accelerate. By 2030, barely 10 staff members will be left. The government is not recruiting anyone. Every year, we send out vacancy notices but nothing ever happens,” one staffer says.

Another adds: “If there is no staff, how will research happen? If researchers stop coming, what remains of the institution?”

Despite the odds, the Maithili Academy continues to contribute to literature. In 2023, the academy generated a total revenue of Rs 8-9 lakh, of which nearly Rs 7 lakh was earned by July alone.

Then there are the literary accolades for Maithili writers. In 2023, Basukinath Jha from Samastipur won the Sahitya Akademi for his essay collection ‘Bodh-Sanketan’, while veteran writer Mahendra Malangia won the award in 2024.

This, according to critics, is exactly why the academy must be saved.  “It’s ironic that the central and state governments talk of promotion of Indian languages [but plan to close down the academy],” Vivekanand Jha, president of the Chetna Samiti, which is spearheading protests against the government decision, says. “The onus is on the Bihar government to save Maithili Academy from sinking into oblivion.”