The Bride

‘A Suitable Boy in Maithili’ Amitava Kumar

‘[A] conscientious and nuanced translation’ Namita Gokhale

Thirteen-year-old Buchia is quick-witted and pleasant-looking, but in the competitive marriage mart of Bihar, her family needs to be resourceful and wily to find the right groom to uphold their pride. When a match is made with C.C. Mishra, English educated and recently graduated from Banaras Hindu University, everyone believes that a happy ending is near. But unknown to them, the groom dreams of a partner who writes poetry and plays tennis; is more-or-less a carbon copy of the film star Devika Rani. So, when he discovers that his new wife cannot even recognize the letters of the alphabet, their future begins to look less rosy …

When it was first published in 1930, Harimohan Jha’s Kanyadan blazed through the Maithili reading world and became the inspiration for numerous Indian novels and films. Translated into English for the first time, this delectable story about Indian matchmaking will charm readers with its cast of imperfect but unforgettable characters.