Mithila Mithila may refer to: Places * Mithilā, a synonym for the ancient Videha state ** Mithilā (ancient city), the ancient capital city of Videha * Mithila (region), a cultural region (historical and contemporary), now divided between India and Nepal ...

(, also known as Mithilanchal, Tirhut and Tirabhukti) is a geographical and cultural region located in the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

. It comprises certain parts of

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

of India and adjoining districts of the eastern Terai of

Nepal Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...

. The native language is known as Maithili and its speakers are referred to as

Maithil Maithils (Tirhuta: মৈথিল, Devanagari: मैथिल), also known as Maithili people, are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group from the Indian subcontinent, who speak the Maithili language as their native language. They inhabit the M ...

s. The majority of the Mithila region falls within modern-day

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, more specifically in the state of

. Mithila is bounded in the north by the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...

, and in the south, west and east by the

Ganges The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

, Gandaki and Mahananda respectively. It extends into the southeastern Terai of

. This region was also called Tirabhukti, the ancient name of Tirhut.

Ancient history

The name Mithila is believed to be derived from the King Mithi. He established Mithilapuri.''Encyclopaedia of Hinduism''. Nagendra Kumar Singh, p. 3239. Since he was born out of the body of his father, he was called Janaka. After this, the later kings of Mithila adopted the title ''Janaka''. The most famous ''Janaka'' was Seeradhwaja Janaka, father of

Sita Sita (; ) also called as Janaki and Vaidehi is a Hindu goddess and the female protagonist of the Hindu epic, ''Ramayana''. She is the consort of Rama, the avatar of the god Vishnu, and is regarded as a form of Vishnu's consort, Lakshmi. She ...

. There were 52 kings in the dynasty of ''Janaka''. The region was also known as Videha. The kingdom of Videha is mentioned for the first time in '' Yajurveda Samhita''. Mithila, is mentioned in

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

'' Jatakas'', the '' Brahamanas'', the '' Puranas'' (described in detail in '' Brhadvisnu Purana'') and various epics such as the ''

Ramayana The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...

'' and the ''

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the s ...

''. However, according to the '' Shatapatha Brahmana'', a chieftain named ''Videha Mathava'' migrated from the

Saraswati Saraswati ( sa, सरस्वती, ) is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, art, speech, wisdom, and learning. She is one of the Tridevi, along with the goddesses Lakshmi and Parvati. The earliest known mention of Saraswati as a g ...

Valley to Mithila during the

Vedic period The Vedic period, or the Vedic age (), is the period in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age of the history of India when the Vedic literature, including the Vedas (ca. 1300–900 BCE), was composed in the northern Indian subcontinent, betwe ...

and established the Videha kingdom. This leads to confusion whether the Videha kingdom was established during the Vedic period or not, since one of the ''Janakas'' of Videha was also the father-in-law of King Rama, who ruled much earlier. Archaeological evidence is lacking to realistically assess the period of their migration. A list of kings is mentioned in Mahabharata and Jatakas. All the kings either adopted the title ''Videha'' or ''Janaka''.

Vedic period, Videha Kingdom

During the

Vedic upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...

period, Mithila was the centre of the Videha kingdom. The rulers of the Videha kingdom were called ''Janakas''.

c. 600 BCE–c. 300 BCE, Vajji Mahajanapada

Following the fall of the Videhas, Mithila came under the control of the Vajjika League which was a confederacy of clans the most famous of which was the Licchavi. The capital was in the city of Vaishali in modern-day

. Mithila under Vajji was eventually conquered by the king of

Magadha Magadha was a region and one of the sixteen sa, script=Latn, Mahajanapadas, label=none, lit=Great Kingdoms of the Second Urbanization (600–200 BCE) in what is now south Bihar (before expansion) at the eastern Ganges Plain. Magadha was ruled ...

Ajatashatru Ajatasattu (Pāli ) or Ajatashatru (Sanskrit ) in Buddhist tradition, or Kunika () and Kuniya () in the Jain histories, (c. 492 to 460 BCE or early 5th century BCE) was one of the most important kings of the Haryanka dynasty of Magadha in East ...

6th century to 11th century: Pala and Sena rule

Mithila was a tributary of the

Pala Empire The Pāla Empire (r. 750-1161 CE) was an imperial power during the post-classical period in the Indian subcontinent, which originated in the region of Bengal. It is named after its ruling dynasty, whose rulers bore names ending with the suffi ...

for almost three centuries. The rulers of the Pala Empire were followers of Buddhism and according to some texts, they were Karn Kayasthas. Their capital is believed to be located at present town of Balirajgarh (Babubarhi-Madhubani district). The last king of the Pala Empire was Madanapala. Madanapal was a weak king, as he was defeated by Samanta Sena's army, eventually leading to the establishment of the

Sena Dynasty The Sena dynasty was a Hindu dynasty during the early medieval period on the Indian subcontinent, that ruled from Bengal through the 11th and 12th centuries. The empire at its peak covered much of the north-eastern region of the Indian subcont ...

. The founder of the Pala Empire was Gopala. He was the first independent Buddhist king of Bengal and came to power in 750 in Gaur by democratic election, which was unique at the time. He reigned from 750 to 770 and consolidated his position by extending his control over all of Bengal. His successors Dharmapala (r. 770-810) and Devapala (r. 810-850) expanded the empire across the northern and eastern Indian subcontinent. The Pala Empire eventually disintegrated in the 12th century under the attack of the Sena Dynasty. Sena Dynasty belonged to Brahmakshatriya(The Brahmin who ruled as Kshatriya) according to their copperplates. They were ardent followers of Hinduism and hence, people of Mithila, themselves being followers of Hinduism, helped Samanta Sena in defeating Madanapala. Eminent scholar Vachaspati Mishra (from village Andhra Tharhi in Madhubani district) was from this period.

11th century to 14th century: Simroon/Karnata Dynasty

The Karnata or Simroon dynasty was founded by Nanyadeva with the capital being in Simraon in Mithila. In the court of Hari Singh Deva the Royal Priest was Jyotirishwar, the author of ''Varna Ratnakar''. Upon Ghiyasuddin Tughlak's invasion of

( Tirhut), King Harisimhadeva , along with many

s, fled to Nepal and founded a new dynasty in Nepal. The dynasty had six kings of note: * Nanyadeva (Nanya Singh Dev) apart from being a great warrior, also had a keen interest in music. He classified and analyzed the Ragas and opines ''Madhya Laya'' is chosen for ''Hasya'' (humorous) and ''Sringar'' (libido) ''rasa'', ''Bilambit'' is chosen for ''Karun'' (compassion) ''rasa'' and ''Drut'' is chosen for ''Veer'' (brave), ''Rodra'' (anger), ''Adbhut'' (marvellous) and ''Bhayanak'' (fearful) ''rasas''. He wrote a treaty on music 'Saraswati Hridayalankar' which is preserved in the Bhandarkar Research Institute of Pune.http://www.mithilaonline.com/music.html accessed on 25 January 2008 Nanya Dev is also considered to be the "forgotten King of Mithila". * Gangadeva (Ganga Singh Dev) * Narasimhadeva (Nar Singh Dev) * Ramasimhadeva (Ram Singh Dev) * Shaktisimhadeva (Shakti Singh Dev) * Harisimhadeva (Hari Singh Dev) was the most famous. He was instrumental in initiating and implementing ''Panji'' ''Vyavastha'' or ''Panji Prabandha'' in Maithil Brahmins and Maithil Kayasthas (Karn Kayasthas). He was also great patron of art and literature.

14th to 16th century: Oiniwar Dynasty

In 1325, following the collapse of the Karnat dynasty in 1324, Nath Thakur became the first

ruler. The dynasty that followed from him was called Oiniwar Dynasty, and comprised a further 20 rulers. When Akbar became emperor, he tried to bring normalcy to Mithila region. He came to the conclusion that only after a Maithil Brahmin was made King, peace can prevail and rent can be collected in Mithila. In 1556, Emperor Akbar declared Pt. Mahesh Thakkur as the ruler of Mithila. Pt. Mahesh Thakkur was of the mool, Kharaure Bhaur and hence that dynasty was called 'Khandwala Kul' and the capital was made at Rajgram in Madhubani District.

16th century to 20th century : Raj Darbhanga

The Khandwala dynasty ruled as the Raj Darbhanga, beginning with Mahesh Thakur, who died in 1558. The last ruler was Kameshwar Singh, whose reign from 1929 came to an end in 1947 with the independence of India, when all the kingdoms merged with Union of India.

References

Notes
The Maithil Brahmans - an online ethnography
{{DEFAULTSORT:History of Mithila Region Mithila Culture of Mithila Mithila Region, History Mithila Region, History .02 .02 Mithila Region, History Mithila Region, History Madhesh Province

Mithila Region, History