Maithili Language a Fact File

Population 22,000,000 in India (1981).
Population total both countries 24,191,900 India and Nepal.

In India

Region Northern Bihar, from Muzaffarpur on the west, past the Kosi on the east to western Purnia District, to the districts of Munger and Bhagalpur in the south, and the Himalayan foothills on the north. Cultural and linguistic center are the towns of Madhubani and Darbhanga. Janakpur is also important culturally and religiously. Delhi, Calcutta, Bombay have thousands of maithili speaking people. Many have settled abroad.

Classification Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Eastern zone, Bihari. 

Comments :- Caste variation more than geographic variation in dialects. Functional intelligibility among all dialects, including those in Nepal. Closest to Magahi. Brahmin and non-Brahmin dialects average 91% lexical similarity. Hindi, Nepali, English, Bhojpuri, Bengali used mainly for business or social interaction outside the home by men or working women with various degrees of proficiency from marketing only to fluency. In cities some may use Hindi, Nepali, or English in the home. Used in home, village, town, or cities with other Maithili speakers. Spoken by Brahmin and other high caste or educated Hindus, who influence the culture and language, and other castes.

There is a Maithili Academy. Linguistics and literature are taught at the L.N. Mithila University in Darbhanga , Patna University and Janakpur Campus of Tribhuvan University. Language attitudes are influenced by caste, ranging from superiority to resentment. Non-Brahmin speech viewed as inferior.

In Nepal

In Nepal "maithili" is second national language 

 Population 2,191,900 (1998 census), 11.85% of the population (1998). 

Comments:- More caste variation than geographical. Intelligibility good among all, including in India. Second languages used by men or working women mostly only for business, social interaction outside the home. In cities some may use Hindi, Nepali, or English even at home and with other Maithili. Bhojpuri or Bengali are used with friends from those groups.

Bilingual ability varies greatly, from being limited to using them for trade, to being highly fluent. Maithili used in home, village, towns, cities with other Maithili. All ages. Spoken by a wide variety of castes, both 'high' and 'low'. Brahmin speech considered to be standard. Brahmins consider themselves superior, varying from friendly to domineering. Others vary toward Brahmins from friendly to resentment

Maithili Literature

It is a fact that scholars in Mithila used Sanskrit for their literary work and Maithili was the language of the common folk (Abahatta as its primitives). The earliest work in Maithili appears to be Varn Ratnakar by Jyotirishwar Thakur dated about 1224 AD.

The Medieval age of Maithili appears to be during Karnat Dynasty when the names of the following scholars got prominance: Gangesh, Padmanabh, Chandeshwar, Vireshwar, Vidyapati, Vachaspati, Pakshadhar, Ayachi, Udayan, Shankar etc.

Vidyapati is said to have lived in the period 1350 to 1450. Vidyapati, though a Sanskrit scholar, wrote innumerable poems(songs) relating to Bhakti and Shringar in Maithili. Though equally accepted in Bengal and Mithila, his songs are the soul of Mithila and no celebration is complete without his songs. It will not be an exagerration to say that his songs have survived in the throats of Maithil women folk.

Theatrical writings in Medieval age are not less important. The following need mention: Umapati: (Parijat Haran), Jyotireeshwar: (Dhurt Samagam), Vidyapati: (Goraksha Vijay, Mani Manjari), Ramapati: (Rukmini Haran), Lal: (Gauri Swayambar), Manbodh: (Krishna Janma)

Modern Maithili Literature has been blessed with the contribution of the following scholars: Prof. Mayanand Mishra, Parmeshwar Jha, Sitaram Jha, Kabishekhar Badrinath Jha, Murali Jha, Surendranath Jha Suman, Kashikant Mishra Madhup, Chandranath Mishra Amar, Kanchinath Jha Kiran, Prof. Hari Mohan Jha, Ishnath Jha, Brajkishore Verma Manipadma, Baidyanath Mishra Yatri (Nagarjuna), Sudhanshu Shekhar Choudhary, Upendra Nath Jha Vyas, Prof. Radha Kant Jha, Mahamahopadhyay Umesh Mishra, Dr. JayKant Mishra, Prof. Krishna Kant Mishra, Kumar Ganganand Singh, Dr. Ramanath Jha, Prof. Tantra Nath Jha, Dr. Laxman Jha Dr. Subhadra Jha, Achutanand Dutt, Bhola Lal Das, Baidyanath Jha, Yoganand Jha, Narendra Das, Rajeshwar Jha, Arsi Prasad Singh, Prof. Buddhidhari Singh Ramakar and many more.

Maithili, has included in VIIIth schedule of the Indian Constitution. Long time ago it was accepted by Sahitya Academy and since its inclusion has won awards almost every year. A number of academy awards have been won for translation from other languages. 

Ditrict wise Survey