Madhubani District of Bihar

The district of Madhubani was carved out of the old Darbhanga district in the year 1972 as a result of reorganisation of the districts in the State. This was formerly the northern subdivision of Darbhanga district. It consists of 21 Development Blocks. Bounded on the north by a hill region of Nepal and extending to the border of its parent district Darbhanga in the south, Sitamarhi in the west and Supaul in the east, Madhubani fairly represents the centre of the territory once known as Mithila and the district has maintained a distinct individuality of its own.This is the centre of Mithila, a region where the main language is Maithili.

History of Madhubani

Practically there are no prehistoric sites in the district though remains of the earliest aboriginal population can be seen in some parts of the district. Hunter in his "Statistical Accounts" has referred to the existence of the people, known as the Tharus in the erstwhile old subdivision of Madhubani. The Bhars are also believed to have belonged to some aboriginal race though nothing positive about them is known from any reliable source. The Bihar settlements in the north-eastern part of the district indicate that they possibly wielded some power in the remote part. From the work of Dr. Suniti Kumar Chatterji entitled 'Kiratajanakirti' it appears that Kiratas also inhabited the district for a considerable period. The Mahabharata also throws light on the Kirata culture. Prior to the Aryanisation of this land the area seems to have been under the aboriginal population and Shiva worship was predominant. The association of the family of Janaka with the worship of lord Shiva is an indication of the fact that though they formed the vanguard of Aryan culture they had to compromise with the local religious belief, dominated by the Shaivas. The kingdom of Videha included a greater portion of the district. In course of time it was ruled by a successive line of kings known as Janakas.

If tradition is to be relied upon, the Pandavas during their exile stayed in some portion of the present district and Pandaul (block headquarters) is associated with them. Janakpur, capital of Videha is situated at a short distance to the north-west of the district in the Nepalese territory and tradition points to the village of Phulhar in the north- east corner of the Benipatti thana as the flower- garden where the kings' priests used to gather flowers for worship and identifies its temple with that of Devi Girija, which was worshipped by Sita before her marriage with Ram. Legends and traditions associate this district with a number of sages and master- minds of ancient times. Village Kakraul is associated with Kapil, Ahiari with Ahilya wife of Gautama, Bisaul with Vishwamitra and Jagban with Yajnavalkya (ascribed to the great sage of Mithila).

Bimbisar, the founder of the Magadhan imperial power aspired for imperial power and the ambition ran in the veins of his son, Ajat Shatru as well. Ajat Shatru subdued the Lichchhavis and conquered the whole of North Bihar. He brought Mithila under the control of the Magadhan empire. The history of the Lichchhavis comes down unbroken to the days of the imperial Guptas. The Lichchhavis founded a kingdom in Nepal and even the earliest royal house of Tibet owed its origin to the Lichchhavis of Vaishali. The migration of Lichchhavis to Nepal and Tibet marks a great event in the history of North Bihar and the district of Madhubani being at the core of the region must have played a dominant part in this great trek as the route to Nepal lay through this district.

Madhubani must have shared in the religious and cultural ferment which so deeply stirred the hearts of the people of the Gangetic Valley in the 6th century B.C. Since the whole of North Bihar was deeply influenced by the teachings of two great reformers (Mahavira and Buddha) it is only natural to infer that the people of Madhubani actively participated in the propagation of these reform movements. According to one theory Mahavira himself was a Vaideha domiciled in the suburb of Vaishali and was the son of a daughter of Mithila. Buddha also visited Mithila thrice and he had a great love for Vaishali. It may be further noted here that Buddha's most devoted disciple, Anand was a Vaidehamuni, a monk of the land of Videhas. Both the Jain and the Buddhist literature contain innumerable references to the district of Madhubani and its neighboring territories. Very little is known about the history of Madhubani from the time of the Kusanas to the rise of the Guptas.

After a temporary period of instability, Madhubani came under the control of the Oinwaras, also known as the Kameshwara Thakura or the Sugauna dynasty. These Hindu chiefs were left undisturbed by the whole of Mithila. When Hajiriyas of Bengal divided Tirhut into two parts, the Oinwar Raja shifted his capital to Sugauna near Madhubani. The district thereafter remained a part of the Mughal Subah. There was no event of great significance during the next century and a half.

The decisive victory of the British in the battle of Buxar in 1764 gave them undisputed sway over the Lower Provinces of Bengal. As a consequence, Madhubani, along with other parts of Bihar, passed under the control of British. The British administrators took steps to establish law and order. Besides the trouble- mongers in Mithila, they had also to deal with the incursions of the Nepalese. The trouble with Nepal culminated in the Indo-Nepalese war. After concluding peace with Nepal, the British administrators had a comparatively quiet time till the 1857 movement.

In 1857, patriotic fervour raged-high in Madhubani district as in many other districts of Bihar. Later the call of the non-co-operation movement also found adequate response in the district of Madhubani and many people volunteered to serve the cause championed by Mahatma Gandhi. Khadi spinning and weaving was adopted as a must for congress workers. A Khadi centre was opened at Madhubani. It gradually expanded its activities. Khadi became very popular and Madhubani soon emerged as a renowned centre of Khadi production. The popularity of Khadi weaving and spinning in the district went a long way in inspiring the people towards the nationalist cause. Madhubani district played an important role in the country's freedom struggle.

Religious, Historical and Archaeological Places

Madhubani has a number of places having tourist interest from religious, historical and archaeological point of view. Some of the prominent places are Andhratharhi, Balirajpur, Mangrauni, Ucchaith, Bhawanipur, Saurath, Satghara, Bisfi etc. Brief Description of Places of Religious, Historical and Archeological Importance in villages and places and tourist interest in the town of the district:

1. Saurath

This is a road side village on Madhubani-Jaynagar road and contains a temple known as Somnath Mahadev. It owes its importance to the annual Sabha held by Maithili Brahmins for negotiating marriages. Many Panjikars who keep the genealogical records of the different families reside here and outside.

2. Kapileswarsthan

A village situated nine kilometers from Madhubani District Head Quarter. The village is noted for its Shiva Temple, also known as Kapileswarsthan. Numerous devotees congregate at the temple every Monday and particularly in the month of Shravan. A large fair is also held on the occasion of Maha Shiva Ratri.

3. Uchaitha

The village in Benipatti block is noted for its temple of Bhagwati on the western bank of river Thumne. According to a legend, the renowned Sanskrit poet and dramatist Kalidas was blessed by Bhagwati at this place.

4. Bhawanipur

It is a large village situated 5kms from the block headquarter of Pandaul, the village is noted for its temple of Ugaranath and traditional association with famous poet, Vidyapati. As the legend says, Vidyapati was such a great devotee of Lord Shiva that the latter began to serve Vidyapati as his servant named Ugana.

Area

• Madhubani occupies a total of 3501 sq. kms.

• Main Rivers are Kamla , Kareh, Balan, Bhutahi Balan, Gehuan, Supen, Trishula, Jeevachh, Koshi and Adhwara Group.

• High Flood Level is 54.017 m.

• Whole District is under Earthquake Zone 5.

• Total Cropped Area - 218381 Hect.

• Barren /Uncultivable Land - 1456.5 Hect

• Land under Non-agricultural use - 51273.24 Hect

• Cultivable Barren Land - 333.32 Hect

• Permanent Pasture - 1372.71 Hect

• Miscellaneous Trees - 8835.90 Hect

• Cultivable Land - 232724 Hect

• Cropping Intensity - 134.23 %

Rainfall

• Varies between 900mm and 1300 mm.

• Average Rainfall = 1273.2 mm.

Administrative Units

1.	No. of Sub-Divisions	5
2.	No. of Blocks	21
3.	No. of Circles	20
4.	No. of Panchayats	399
5.	No. of Villages	1111
6.	No. of Police Stations	18
7.	No. of Assisting Thana	13
8.	No. of Outposts	5
9.	No. of Town Outposts	4
10.	No. of Jail	2
11.	No. of MP Constituencies	2
12.	No. of MLA Constituencies	11
13.	No. of Zila Parishad Members	56
14.	No. of Panchayat Samiti Members	555
15.	No. of Gram Panchayat Members	5523

Maithili language a language of Mithila

Maithili is a language spoken in the eastern part of India, mainly in the Indian state of Bihar and in the eastern Terai region of Nepal. It is an offshoot of the Indo-Aryan languages which are part of the Indo-Iranian, a branch of the Indo-European languages. Linguists consider Maithili to be an Eastern Indic language, and thus a different language from Hindi, which is Central Indic in origin. As per the 2001 census in India alone 12,179,122 people speak in maithili language. While the official data, as per the 2001 census, put it at 12 million only, various organizations have strongly argued that the actual number of Maithili speakers is much more than the official data. In times, Maithili has been considered a "dialect" of both Hindi and Bengali but in 2003 it got the status of an independent language. An active movement was carried out to give the language an official status through its inclusion in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, so that it may be used in education, government, and other official contexts. In 2004, Maithili was given an official status.

Maithili was traditionally written in the Maithili script (also known by the names Tirhuta and Mithilakshar) and Kaithi script. However, in the modern time Devanagari script is most commonly used. An effort is underway to preserve the Maithili script and to develop it for use in digital media by encoding the script in the Unicode standard, for which a proposal, has been submitted recently.

The term Maithili comes from Mithila, which was an independent state in ancient times. Maithili is a separate language, having a large Maithili-speaking community (4.5 crore, or 45 million, people) with a rich literature. The most famous literary figure in Maithili is the poet Vidyapati. He is credited for raising the importance of 'people's language', i.e. Maithili, in the official work of the state by influencing the Maharaja of Darbhanga with the quality of his poetry. The state's official language used to be Sanskrit, which distanced common people from the state and its functions. The name Maithili is also one of the names of Sita, the consort of Rama.

History

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

The name Maithili is derived from the word Mithila, an ancient kingdom of which King Janaka was the ruler. Maithili is also one of the names of Sita, the wife of King Rama and daughter of King Janaka.

The Medieval age of Maithili appears to be during Karnat Dynasty when the names of the following scholars got prominence: 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 exaggeration to say that his songs have survived in the throats of Maithil women folk. Verses of Vidhyapati are given religious importance in the culture of Mithila.

Literature

Some of the theatrical writings of the medieval age are - Umapati (Parijat Haran), Jyotireeshwar (Dhurt Samagam), Vidyapati (Goraksha Vijay, Mani Manjari), Ramapati (Rukmini Haran), Lal (Gauri Swayambar), Manbodh (Krishna Janma).

Maithili has been preferred by many authors to write humour and satire. Writers like Dr. Hari Mohan Jha took steps to bring about fundamental changes in the centuries old Mithila Culture. His work like Khatar Kaka Ke Tarang decorated modern Maithili Literature.

Maithili has now been listed in VIIIth schedule of the Indian Constitution and thus now it is one of the 22 National Languages of India. Maithali 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.

Modern Maithili came into its own after Sir George Abraham Grierson, Irish linguist and civil servant, tirelessly researched Maithili folklore and wrote its grammar.

The type of Maithili spoken depends largely on which part of the state you belong to and in general has 2 broad variants ,one spoken in the north usually referred to as Maithili and the other spoken in eastern part of Bihar and Jharkhand known as Angika from the former state of Angesh, the modern day district of Bhagalpur and adjoining areas.