Phanishwar Nath Renu (1921–1977), born at Aurahi Hingna in the Mithila plains of Araria, is among the most influential Hindi writers after Premchand. His masterpiece Maila Anchal (1954) pioneered the aanchalik upanyas — the “regional novel” — making a whole rural landscape, with its dialects, songs and struggles, the true hero of the book.
A freedom fighter who wrote in Hindi, Maithili and Bangla, Renu wove the speech and music of the countryside into literature as few had before. His story Maare Gaye Gulfam became the classic film Teesri Kasam.