Noted littérateurs release three books in Ranchi on Sunday. Picture by Hardeep Singh

The original surname of the Tagores was Kushari.

There was no place called Ranchi even when Captain Wilkinson became the agent of South-West Frontier Agency, established in 1834 and opened an office here. It was then known as Kishunpur.

Bhadu, a folk festival celebrated in the region, was started to remember Bhadreshwari, daughter of the ruling family of Panchkoteraj who died at a young age

Fascinating facts such as these and more abound in Ram Ranjan Sen’s three books that were released at LEBB High School, Ranchi, on Sunday evening. The former professor of Bengali at Ranchi University has delved into history in all his three creations — two in Hindi and one in Bengali.

Rabindra Abhijnan in Hindi contains, besides certain basic information on the Nobel laureate, some essays on varied topics such as death consciousness in Tagore’s philosophy and his patronage for Hindi language. Speaking as the chief guest at the release function, Vidya Bhushan, a littérateur, remembered the bard’s contribution in literature and also national integration.

“This book will be remembered by Hindi readers for its reference value,” Bhushan said.

The other Hindi book, Smriti Manjusha, captures Ranchi’s growth as a town and its Bengali community. Many interesting information such as the one on “push-push” — the most characteristic vehicle that took people to other towns — are bound to attract readers.

The Bengali version of the book was published earlier.

Nibarchito Prabandhomala in Bengali contains essays by the author on various topics ranging from languages and dialects to relevance of idol worshipping to folk songs of Jharkhand.

“I am a student of literature, not history. Yet, I thought retelling the local history in my own way will be a worthy effort and I started penning down the accounts,” said Sen.

Veteran writer-journalist Bhubaneswar Anuj, who presided over the launch, and guests of honour journalist Balbir Dutt and retired professor Madhuri Nath lauded Sen for bringing out the books after painstaking research.