Fool Bahadur
By Jayanath Pati (Translated by Abhay K.)
Penguin Modern Classics, 112 pages, Rs 250

“Babu Samlal was a mukhtar [a legal practitioner in a lower court] of some repute in Bihar Sharif, but he had earned his fame and fortune by stooping rather low in his professional and personal conduct.”

Thus begins ‘Fool Bahadur’, a small novel in Magahi, written in 1928 by Jayanath Pati (1890-1939), himself a muhktar. His first novel, ‘Sunita’, about a woman married to an elderly man, has apparently not survived (though it merited a review, that too by S.K. Chatterjee, in the famed ‘Modern Review). The same year, however, he went on to publish a third one too, ‘Gadahnit’. These together were the first novels in Magahi. Thanks to poet-diplomat Abhay K., it is now available in an English translation.

Published on April Fool’s Day, ‘Fool Bahadur’ is a delightful satire on the workings of bureaucracy as well as of society in the colonial Bihar. Pranksters make a fool of Samlal, the protagonist, on that day by bestowing on him the fake title of ‘Rai Bahadur’ – something he desperately wanted to have. Through his travails we are shown the rampant corruption in the judiciary and administration of that day.

The translator in his note presents a detailed note on the history of Magadh, its society and literature, which will be of interest to scholars and readers alike. A novella of eight chapters, it is an amusing tale that also proves the adage that more things change, the more they remain the same.