PATNA: Maharani Kamasundari Devi, the lone surviving member of the erstwhile Darbhanga raj, has created Maharajadhiraja Kameshwar Singh Kalyani Foundation for the protection and development of the literary and cultural traditions of Mithila. Now 75, Kamasundari is the second wife of the last king of Darbhanga estate, Maharajadhiraja Kameshwar Singh, who died in 1962. His first wife died in 1976. Maharani Kamasundari does not have any issue. The first wife of the Maharaja too didn't have an issue. Kamasundari has gifted her late husband's personal library of about 15,000 books, manuscripts and encyclopaedia to the foundation. Besides, rare paintings belonging to the 15th century and a mango orchard spread in 30 bighas have also been donated to the foundation. "Thousands of rare gramophone records, including the speeches of Pt Madan Mohan Malviya and Sarojini Naidu and the coronation of King George V, are now the prized possessions of the foundation," its managing trustee Hetukar Jha said. Around 12,000 photographs, several hundred manuscripts and films on the visits of viceroys and governors of Bihar to Darbhanga between 1930 and 1948 include the rare collections which have now been donated to the foundation. The foundation will release two rare books in November this year ahead of the beginning of the year-long centenary year celebration of the Maharajadhiraja Kameshwar Singh. One of the books will be "Bhagalpur Darpan, "which was written by Jharkhandi Jha in 1930 but which is now out of print. The other will be a book on the paintings on Bihar by artists of the colonial era. The foundation will also publish a book on the raj's contribution to the socio-economic and political developments in Bihar. The book, in three series besides a pictorial biographical collection, will be out sometime next year, Jha said.
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