Mithila (region)

Royal Insigna of Raj Darbhanga

Continent: Asia
Countries: India and Nepal
States or Provinces: Bihar and Jharkhand (India) | Province No. 2 | Province No. 1 | Bagmati Pradesh (Nepal)
Language: Maithili

Mithila also known as Tirhut and Tirabhukti, is a geographical and cultural region of the Indian subcontinent bounded by the Mahananda River in the east, the Ganges in the south, the Gandaki River in the west and by the foothills of the Himalayas in the north. It comprises of certain parts of Bihar and Jharkhand of India and adjoining districts of the eastern Terai of Nepal.

The native language in Mithila is Maithili, and its speakers are referred to as Maithils.

The name Mithila is commonly used to refer to the Videha Kingdom, as well as to the modern-day territories that fall within the ancient boundaries of Videha. In the 18th century, when Mithila was still ruled in part by the Raj Darbhanga, the British Raj annexed the region without recognizing it as a princely state.

Fort of Darbhanga

History
Vedic Period

Mithila first gained prominence after being settled by Indo-Aryan peoples who established the Videha kingdom. During the Later Vedic period (c. 1100–500 BCE), Videha became one of the major political and cultural centres of Ancient India, along with Kuru and Panchala. The kings of the Videha Kingdom were called Janakas. The Videha Kingdom was later incorporated into the Vajji Confederacy, which had its capital in the city of Vaishali, which is also in Mithila.

Medieval period

From the 11th century to the 20th century, Mithila was ruled by various indigenous dynasties. The first of these was the Karnatas, the Oiniwar Dynasty, and the Khandwala Dynasty a.k.a. Raj Darbhanga. The rulers of the Oiniwar Dynasty and the Raj Darbhanga were Maithil Brahmins. It was during the reign of the Raj Darbhanga family that the capital of Mithila was shifted to Darbhanga.

Tughlaq had attacked and taken control of Bihar, and from the end of the Tughlaq Dynasty until the establishment of the Mughal Empire in 1526, there was anarchy and chaos in the region. Akbar (reigned from 1556 to 1605) realized that taxes from Mithila could only be collected if there was a king who could ensure peace there. The Brahmins were dominant in the Mithila region and Mithila had Brahmin kings in the past.

Akbar summoned Rajpandit Chandrapati Thakur to Delhi and asked him to name one of his sons who could be made caretaker and tax collector for his lands in Mithila. Chandrapati Thakur named his middle son, Mahesh Thakur, and Akbar declared Mahesh Thakur as the caretaker of Mithila on the day of Ram Navami in 1557 AD.

Lakshmeshwar Singh (reigned from 1860 to 1898) was the eldest son of Maharaja Maheshwar Singh of Darbhanga. He, along with his younger brother, Rameshwar Singh received a western education from Government appointed tutors as well as a traditional Indian education from a Sanskrit Pandit. He spent approximately £300,000 on relief work during the Bihar famine of 1873–74. He constructed hundreds of miles of roads in various parts of the Raj, planting them with tens of thousands of trees for the comfort of travelers, as part of generating employment for people affected by famine. He constructed iron bridges over all the navigable rivers.

He built, and entirely supported, the first-class Dispensary at Darbhanga, which cost £3400; a similar one at Kharakpur, which cost £3500; and largely contributed to many others.

Maharaja Lakshmeshwar Singh

He built an Anglo-vernacular school at a cost of £1490, which he maintained, as well as nearly thirty vernacular schools of different grades; and subsidized a much larger number of educational institutions. He was also one of the founders of the Indian National Congress as well as one of the main financial contributors thereto Maharaja Lakshmeshwar Singh is known for purchasing Lowther Castle for the venue of the 1888 Allahabad Congress session when the British denied permission to use any public place. The British Governor commissioned Edward on slow Ford to make a statue of Lakshmeshwar Singh. This is installed at Dalhousie Square in Kolkata.

On the occasion of the Jubilee of the reign of Queen Victoria, Lakshmeshwar Singh was created a Knight Commander of the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire, being promoted to Knight Grand Commander in 1897. He was also a member of the Royal Commission on Opium of 1895, formed by the British Government along with Haridas Viharidas Desai who was the Diwan of Junagadh. The Royal Opium Commission consisted of a 9-member team of which 7 were British and 2 were Indians and its chairman was Earl Brassey.

Geography

Mithila is a distinct geographical region with natural boundaries like rivers and hills. It is largely a flat and fertile alluvial plain crisscrossed by numerous rivers which originate from the Himalayas. Due to the flat plains and fertile land, Mithila has a rich variety of biotic resources; however, because of frequent floods, people could not take full advantage of these resources.

Seven major rivers flow through Mithila: Mahananda, Gandak, Kosi, Bagmati, Kamala, Balan, and the Budhi Gandak. They flow from the Himalayas in the north to the Ganges river in the south. These rivers regularly flood, depositing silt onto the farmlands and sometimes causing death or hardship.

Culture

Major Institute of Art

Madhubani/Mithila Painting

Madhubani art or Mithila painting is practiced in the Mithila region of India and Nepal. It was traditionally created by the women of different communities of the Mithila region. It is named after the Madhubani district of Bihar, India which is where it originated.

Major Institute of Art

This painting as a form of wall art was practiced widely throughout the region; the more recent development of painting on paper and canvas originated among the villages around Madhubani, and it is these latter developments that may correctly be referred to as Madhubani art.

Mithila Paag

Paag

The Paag is a headdress in the Mithila region of India and Nepal worn by Maithil people. It is a symbol of honour and respect and a significant part of Maithil culture.

The Paag dates back to pre-historic times when it was made of plant leaves. It exists today in a modified form. The Paag is wore by the whole Maithil community. The colour of the Paag also carries a lot of significance. The red Paag is worn by the bridegroom and by those who are undergoing the sacred thread rituals. Paag of mustard colour is donned by those attending wedding ceremonies and the elders wear a white Paag.

This Paag now features place in the popular Macmillan Dictionary. For now, Macmillan Dictionary explains Paag as “a kind of headgear worn by people in the Mithila belt of India.”

Paag

On 10 February 2017, India Posts released a set of sixteen commemorative postage stamps on "Headgears of India". The Mithila Paag was featured on one of those postage stamps.

Language

People of Mithila region speak Maithili primarily and are well versed in other languages like Hindi, Nepali, English, Bhojpuri for other different purposes.

While Maithilis living in Nepal also use Nepali language. And some also use Bengali language in significant part of Bihar-Bengal region.

This language is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Indian subcontinent, mainly spoken in India and Nepal and is one of the 22 recognised Indian languages. In Nepal, it is spoken in the eastern Terai and is the second most prevalent language of Nepal. Tirhuta was formerly the primary script for written Maithili. Less commonly, it was also written in the local variant of Kaithi. Today it is written in the Devanagari script.

Maithil Cuisine

Traditional Maithil cuisine

Maithil cuisine is a part of Indian cuisine and Nepalese cuisine. It is a culinary style which originated in Mithila. Some traditional Maithil dishes are:

Dahi-Chura
Vegetable of Arikanchan
Ghooghni
Traditional Pickles, made of fruits and vegetables which are generally mixed with ingredients like salt, spices, and vegetable oils and are set to mature in a moistureless medium.
Tarua of Tilkor
Bada
Badee
Yogurt
Maachh
Mutton
Irhar
Pidakia ( also known as Gujia) which is basically dumplings.
Makhan Payas
Anarasa
Bagiya

People

Maithili language speakers are referred to as Maithils and they are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group. There are an estimated 45 million Maithils in India alone. The vast majority of them are Hindu.

The people of Mithila can be split into various caste/clan affiliations such as Brahmins, Kayasthas, Bhumihars, Rajputs, Koeris, Baniyas, Kamatas, Ahirs, Kurmis, Dushads, Koeris and many more.

Notable People

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

The following are notable residents (past and present) of Mithila region.

Sharda Sinha

Shriti Jha in 2018

Bhawana Kanth in 2020

Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar' - an Indian Hindi poet, essayist, patriot, and academic.
Bindheshwari Prasad Mandal - an Indian parliamentarian and social reformer who served as the chairman of the Second Backward Classes Commission (popularly known as the Mandal Commission).
C. K. Raut - formerly US-based computer scientist, author, and political leader of Nepal.
Phanishwar Nath 'Renu' - an influential writer of modern Hindi literature in the post-Premchand era.
Syed Shahnawaz Hussain - Indian politician, born in Supaul.
Janaka - King of Mithila and Father in Law of King Rama
Sita - Princess of the Mithila Kingdom and wife of King Rama
Bhagwat Jha Azad - the Chief Minister of Bihar and a member of Lok Sabha.
Maithili Thakur - Indian singer
Ram Baran Yadav - First president of Nepal
Sharda Sinha - Indian folk singer
Udit Narayan - Bollywood playback singer
Kanhaiya Kumar - National Executive Council member of Communist Party of India
Narendra Jha - Bollywood actor
Harisimhadeva - King of Mithila during the Karnat dynasty
Sriti Jha - Indian television actress
Kirti Azad - former Indian cricketer and politician
Vidyapati - Maithili poet and a Sanskrit writer and a Polyglot
Nagarjuna - Philosopher, and poet-writer
Sanjay Mishra - Bollywood actor
Bhawana Kanth - one of the first female fighter pilots of India
Gangesha Upadhyaya - 12th-century Indian mathematician, and philosopher
Ravish Kumar - Indian journalist
Vikas Kumar Jha
George Orwell - novelist, and essayist, journalist and critic
Rambriksh Benipuri - Indian freedom fighter, Socialist Leader, editor, and Hindi writer
Devaki Nandan Khatri - Indian writer
Ganganath Jha - Indian scholar
Ramjee Singh - former Member of Indian parliament and vice-chancellor of Jain Vishva Bharati University
Acharya Ramlochan Saran - Hindi literature, grammarian and publisher
Ramesh Chandra Jha - Indian poet, novelist and freedom fighter
Binod Bihari Verma - Indian army man, and poet
Acharya Rameshwar Jha - scholar
Phanishwar Nath 'Renu' - Indian author
Ravindra Prabhat - Hindi novelist, journalist, poet, and short-story writer
Gajendra Thakur - Literary critic, historian, novelist, dramatist, poet, and a lexicographer
Anerood Jugnauth - former President of Mauritius
Parmanand Jha - first Vice-President of Nepal
Dhirendra Premarshi - presenter of Hello Mithila on Radio Kantipur
Godawari Dutta - Madhubani artist, social activist

Demands for Administrative Units

Proposed Indian State

Indian Mithila

There is an ongoing movement in the Maithili speaking region of Bihar and Jharkhand for a separate Indian state of Mithila.

Nepalese Mithila

Nepalese Province No. 2

There is a movement in the Maithili speaking areas of Nepal for a separate province. Province No. 2 was established under the 2015 Constitution, which transformed Nepal into the Federal Democratic Republic, with a total of 7 provinces. Province No. 2 has a substantial Maithili speaking population and consists mostly of the Maithili speaking areas of Nepal. It has been demanded by some Mithila activists that Province No. 2 be named 'Mithila Province'.

References