# Vedic learning in Mithila

Vedic learning started in Mithila with the expansion of Vedic and Brahmanic culture eastwards along the Ganges plain. Some sources consider this centre of Brahminical study to form an Ancient Mithila University. From the 12th/13th to 15th century CE it was an important centre of Nyaya Shastra and logical sciences.

## History

The Ramayana refers to the court of King Janaka in Mithila, attracting scholars and philosophers. In the text Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, there is reference of the famous scholarly Yajna known as Bahudakshina Yajna, in which Brahmin scholars from different parts of the Indian subcontinent participated for Shastrartha at the court of King Janaka.
During the Gupta period Mithila was a center for disputes between Buddhists, Jains and Brahmins, with prominent Mimamsa authors writing defenses of Vedic ritual. Education took place through "Tols, Pathshāla and Chatušpathi or Chaupari," with students living at the house of their teacher.
The Turkic conquests had little impact in Mithila, leaving it as "an isolated outpost and centre of Brahmanic and Sanskrit scholarship," where "Hindu scholars were able to protect the purity of their ideals and traditions."

## Mithila school of logic

Nyaya school is one of the six schools of the Indian philosophy. Nyaya Shastra is also known as Indian Logic. The earliest text of the Nyaya school is the Nyaya Sutras. The foundational text Nyaya Sutras of the Nyaya school was founded by the Vedic sage Akshapada Gautama at his ashram known Gautam Ashram in Mithila. The period of composition of the text Nyaya Sutras is variously estimated between 6th-century BCE and 2nd-century BCE. During the 9th century CE, Vachaspati Mishra was a scholar and teacher of Nyaya Shastra. He wrote several commentaries and sub commentaries on Nyaya Shastra. He wrote Nyāyasucinibandha on Nyāya-sūtras, Nyāyakānika which is an Advaita work on science of reasoning, Tattvasamikṣa and Nyāya-vārttika-tātparyaṭīkā which is a sub commentary on the Nyāya-sūtras. The place where he lived and taught is known as Vachaspati Mishra Dih located at Thadi village in the Madhubani district. Later in the 10th century CE, Udayanacharya founded Nyayakusumanjali which reconciled the views of the two independent schools Nyaya and Vaisheshika of the Indian philosophy. The location of his academy where he taught his disciples is presently known as Udayanacharya Dih in Samastipur district of the Mithila region. Nyayakusumanjali became the root for the foundation of the new version of Logic known Navya Nyaya. In 13th -14th century CE, Navya Nyaya school was founded by Gangesha Upadhyaya. He wrote Tattvachintamani which was the authoritative text in the Navya Nyaya school of the Indian philosophy.
Late mediaeval Eastern schools of Brahmins were focused on Nyaya Shastra and logical sciences, in contrast to the Vedanta of southern Brahmins from the Vijayanagara cultural area. According to Vidyabhusana, the science of logic developed out of parishad, councils of learned Brahmins. The Mithila school of Nyaya was an Indian school of Nyaya philosophy, which flourished from the 12th-13th to the 15th century in Mithila.
During the mediaeval period, Shalaka Pariksha and Shadyantra Pariksha were the examinations conducted for graduation from the institution. Mahesha Thakura, the founder of Darbhanga Raj, later introduced Dhaut Pariksha. Students were not allowed to take any piece of written information with them after finishing their studies, to keep a monopoly on the study of Logic.