Official Language of - Bihar
Spoken by - 12 million
The Maithili language is spoken in the state of Bihar in India. Considered to be a dialect of both Hindi and Bengali, Maithili achieved an independent language status in India in the year 2003. This could happen only because of a mass movement that called for providing Maithili an official status through its inclusion in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution so that it may be used for education, government and other purposes.
Maithili is a language of Indo-Aryan origin. It was spoken in the ancient land of Mithila and so it has incurred the name Maithili. Tirhutia is another name for the region so Maithili is also known as Tirhutia. The people in Nepal and North-Eastern Bihar speak in this language.
In Nepal, Maithili is the second state language and is used by 12% of the total population. Here, Maithili was used in the court of the Kings, during Malla period.
Near about 30 million people in the 26 districts of N.E. Bihar speak in Maithili. The Sahitya Akademi, India and P.E.N (an international organization of letters for Poets, Essayists and Novelists) have recognized Maithili.
It ranks 40th among the most spoken languages of the world, while it occupies the 16th position in the list of the most spoken languages in India. Maithilakshar or Tirhuta is its own script, which originated from Brahmi (a script of the 3rd B.C., also found in the Ahokan Inscriptions). At present the Devanagari script has been adopted because of its widespread use.
It is generally believed that the Sidhhacharyas evolved Proto Maithili during the 8th -9th century when they composed Charyapada. Since then the language has progressed steadily. Vidyapati, a very productive writer has used Avahatta, a form of Proto Maithili in his dramas, the Kirtilata and Kirtipataka. He also composed melodious poems depicting the love of Radha-Krishna in his Padavali that is written in the Maithili of medieval period. Vidyapati also influenced Nepali, Bengali, Assamese, Oriya and Manipuri literature during the medieval period.
In the very inception, Maithili used to be written in the Maithili script, which has some resemblance to the Bengali script and is also known by names like Tirhuta and Mithilakshar. Apart from this, the Maithili language was also written in the Kaithi script. However, it is the Devanagri script that is most commonly used for writing Maithili in the present times. A proposal has been drafted to preserve as well as develop the Maithili script by using it in the digital media by encoding the script in the Unicode standard.
Maithili that is even today it is spoken by approximately 4.5 Crore people in India boasts of a rich literature. If you start tracing the history of Maithili literature, you will find that the most famous literary figure in Maithili was poet Vidyapati. He is responsible for elevating Maithili from the status of people's language to one used for official work in Bihar, by impressing the maharaja of Darbhanga with his poems. Earlier, the state language used to be Sanskrit that distanced commoners from the state and its functions.
Varn Ratnakar by Jyotirishwar is probably the earliest work in Maithili literature dated at about 1224 AD. The medieval period of Maithili was during the Karnat Dynasty and litterateurs like Gangesh, Padmanabh, Chandeshwar, Vireshwar and others were famous during this period. Though poet Vidyapati was a Sanskrit scholar, he wrote many poems on Bhakti and Shringar in the Maithili language.
Infact, this language was also employed by many authors to write on humor and satire. For instance, writers like Dr Hari Mohan Jha took measures to bring about crucial changes in the ancient Mithila Culture. In fact, his renowned work 'Khatar Kaka Ke Tarang' is considered to be like a crown embellishing the modern Maithili literature. After the Maithali language was accepted by India's Sahitya Academy, it has won awards almost every year. Literary works in the Maithili language have also won a number of other awards.
Due to it's belonging to the famous language family of Indo Aryan language, Maithili has a long association with all the people residing in East India. In fact numerous speakers can be found in Bihar, Delhi, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal. In North Indian states also namely Delhi, Madhya pradesh, popularity of this Maithili language is no less significant.
Because of its close association with eastern region of India, expert linguists have considered it to be a part of Eastern zone group of the famous Indo Aryan family and thus segregated it from Hindi, which belongs to Central zone of the same family. Some scholars still claim Maithili to be a dialect of both Bengali and Hindi languages.
Even as per a census report, it has been classified as a source of origination of The famous Hindi language. The turning point came when in the year 2003, Maithili gained the status of an independent language through its incorporation in the 'Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution'. In the year 2003, it was declared as the official language. This historic step was taken so that it can be widely used in the spheres of academics, governance and all other official activities.
Maithili has a quite huge Maithili-speaking community which has been estimated as 22,000,000 in India and also 24,797,582 in the whole world. Mailhi language has a rich history behind it. Etymologically, The term, Maithili has been derived from the word Mithila, which denotes a famous state in primitive period in Indian subcontinent. Maithili is also one of the names of Sita, the spouse of Lord Rama.
The literature of Maithili is quite embellished . The most well known literaute of Maithili language is Vidyapati, the famous poet of ancient India. It is mainly due to his initiative that Maithili has raised to its erudite status just from its humble origin. His wonderful poems had influenced the then the Maharaja of Darbhanga to bestow upon the status of official language and Sanskrit, which was beyond comprehension to the masses.
As far as its writing is concerned, Maithili was usually written in the Maithili script, better known as Tirhuta and Mithilakshar , with some similarity with the Bengali script. It was also written in the Kaithi script. Today, Devanagari script is most frequently used for Maithili language. Much effort is implemented to conserve the Maithili script. Digitalized version is also underway to encode the script in the standard Unicode and for implementing this; a proposal also has been put forward for the allocation of the 'Unicode Roadmap'. For Maithali language, few alternative names have been suggested. These are namely Apabhramsa ,Maitli, Maitili, Methli, Tirahutia, Bihari, Tirhuti, Tirhutia.
Multitudes of dialects that Maithili language has, truly makes it illustrious. What is even more remarkable is that diversification in dialects have occurred not only due to its geographical location. Also caste differences have created much influence in making the dialects so varied, yet quite robust.
Standard Maithili, Southern Standard Maithili, Eastern Maithili (Khotta, Kortha, Kortha Bihari), Western Maithili, Jolaha, Central Colloquial Maithili (Sotipura), Kisan, Dehati are names of the dialects that are worth to note. Another distinctive characteristic of these Maithili dialects is its easy comprehensibility among its people. The reason is the prevalence of several similar words in almost all the dialects. Almost ninety percent of words are shared between both 'Brahmin and non-Brahmin dialects'
In the initial years Maithili language has earned the status of being the erudite language widely spoken by the people of high castes. Today, however, a Maithili Academy also has grown to impart training to the people irrespective of the classes. Now, Maithili finds its speakers amongst all the castes and classes. Usage of the Maithili language in the households, village grounds and also towns, city halls is a common phenomenon.
Truly Maithili is a language of the masses. Malithili magazines, newspapers and even television programs also have proliferated. Maithili has gained popularity so much so that it is incorporated in the academic curriculum of universities and colleges also. Knowledge of maithili linguistics and literature are being taught at the Patna University and also L. N. Mithila University in Darbhanga. Very recently, dictionary and grammar books were introduced for school also.
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