Binod Bihari Verma

Binod Bihari Verma (1937–2003) was a Maithili writer and military doctor. He is known for Maithili Karna Kayasthak Panjik Sarvekshan, his work on ancient genealogical charts known as Panjis, as well as his depiction of rural poor of the Mithila region. He worked as a medical officer in the Indian Army, as a lecturer in a Dental College, and as a private medical practitioner. He simultaneously carried on his literary career via independent publishing and in the magazines Mithila Mihir and Karnamrit.

Binod Bihari Vema was born in Baur, Darbhanga district, Bihar on 3 December 1937 to Rameshwar Lal Das and Yogmaya Devi. Verma attended primary school in the village of Rasiyari. He travelled with his father and uncle as they campaigned in favour of Mahatma Gandhi's ideas in the remote tribal areas of Chaibasa, Ranchi, and Singhbhum in South Bihar.

Verma's education continued at the District School in Chaibasa, the missionary school of St. John's at Ranchi, and at Langat Singh College in Muzaffarpur. He subsequently attended the Darbhanga Medical College, graduating in 1962.

In 1962, during the Sino-Indian War, Verma joined the Indian Army. He was commissioned into the Army Medical Corps in 1963 and served in areas including Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Punjab, Assam and Goa.

Verma fought in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, and in 1984 took a permanent commission in the army. He was involved in Operation Bluestar in 1984 and the IPKF operations in Sri Lanka in 1988–1990, where he commanded the 404 Field Ambulance at Vavuniya. He took early retirement from active army service in 1990.

Verma married Pratibha Verma on 4 July 1965. The couple had three daughters and two sons. Verma was able to speak a number of languages including Urdu, Sanskrit, Odia, Assamese and Bengali, and knew the scripts of various Indian languages, such as old Maithili, Assamese, Gurmukhi, Odia and Nepali.

In 1973, he published his magnum opus, Maithili Karna Kayasthak Panjik Sarvekshan, the result of months of extensive research on the fast disappearing ancient genealogical charts. The book is now the only surviving record of certain groups of Panjis which have now disappeared.

In 1999 he was diagnosed as suffering from prostate cancer. He died on 9 November 2003 in Bangalore.