Maithili is one of the three dialects; Maithili, Magahi, and Bhojpuri of the Bihari language. Roughly speaking, we may say that Maithili occupies North Bihar, east of the river Gandak. Although towards the east it has crossed the Ganges and is spoken in parts of South Bihar. Magahi occupies South Bihar, east of the Son, and the northern of the two plateaux of Chota Nagpur. Bhojpuri occupies the southern plateau of Chota Nagpur and the the country north and south of the Ganges as far west as, say, Benares. Maithili and Magahi are much more closely related to each other than either is to Bhojpuri. Indeed, the last named might almost be called a separate language. the standard form of the language is that spoken in the Madhubani subdivision of the Darbhanga district, and in the adjoining portion of the district of Bhagalpur. Maithili is spoken in its greatest purity by the Brahmanas of the north of the Darbhanga and Bhagalpur districts, and by those of western Purnea.
Maithili or Tirahutiya is, properly speaking, the language of Mithila or Tairabhukti (the ancient name of Tirhut. According to the Mithila-mahatmya, a Sanskrit work of considerable repute in the territory which it describes, Mithila is the country bounded on the north by the Himalaya, on the south by the Ganges, on the west by the river Gandak, and on the-east by the river kosi. it thus includes the British districts of Champaran, Muzaffarpur and Darbhanga, as well as the strip of the Nepal Tarai, which runs between these districts and the lower ranges of the Himalaya The districts of Muzaffarpur and Darbhanga originally formed one district called Tirhut, and that name is still used as a convenient appellation for the country included in these two districts. At the present day, the language of the greater portion of Champaran is a form of Bhojpuri and not Maithili, but, with that exception, Maithili is spoken over the whole of this tract. It has also extended east of the river Kosi, and occupies the greater part of the district of Purnea. It has moreover crossed the Ganges, and is now spoken over the whole of the South-Gangetic portion of the Bhagalpur District, over the eastern portion of the South Gangetic portion of the Monghyr District, and in the north and west of the Sonthal Parganas.
Share this:
