# History of the Mithila region

Mithila (IAST: mithilā, also known as Mithilanchal, Tirhut and Tirabhukti) is a geographical and cultural region located in the Indian subcontinent. The native language is known as Maithili and its speakers are referred to as Maithils. The majority of the Mithila region falls within modern-day India. Mithila is bounded in the north by the Himalayas, and in the south, west and east by the Ganges, Gandaki and Mahananda respectively. It extends into the southeastern Terai of Nepal. This region was also called Tirabhukti, the ancient name of Tirhut.

## Names

Historically, the region was called by multiple names. The name Mithila is believed to be derived from the legendary King Mithi who established Mithilapuri.
Among the twelve names of Mithila, including Tirhut and Tirabhukti, Brihada Vishnu Purana mentions the name Tirabhukti, which later became known as Tirhut in common use. Tirabhukti is a Sanskrit compound word, a combination of tira ("shore") and bhukti (in the meaning of "limit"). The name Tirhut is preserved in Tirhuta script of the Maithili language and Tirhut division in the Mithila region
Vijayakanta Mishra, an Indian scholar, in his book "Cultural Heritage of Mithila" stated that the word Tirabhukti which is mentioned in the text of Brihada Vishnu Purana became popular during the period of 4th- th centuries AD in the Indian subcontinent to denote the Mithila region. Later, the word Tirhut became common designation of the Mithila region for the administrative purposes.

## Ancient history

King Mithi established Mithilapuri. 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. 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 Jatakas, the Brahamanas, the Puranas (described in detail in Brhadvisnu Purana) and various epics such as the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.
However before that , according to the Shatapatha Brahmana, a chieftain named Videgha Mathava migrated from the Saraswati Valley to Mithila during the Vedic period and established the Videha kingdom and the Maithil Brahmin community.
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 period, Mithila was known as the Videha kingdom.

## 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. Mithila being one the part of Vajji which was eventually conquered by the king of Magadha, Ajatashatru.

## 6th century to 11th century: Pala

Mithila was a tributary state of the Pala Empire until the empire disintegrated in the 12th century.

## 11th century to 14th century: Karnata Dynasty

The Karnata dynasty was founded by Nanyadeva with the capital being in Simraungadh & Darbhanga in Mithila.
Karnats carried out raids into Nepal with the army under the leadership of the prominent general and minister Caṇḍeśvara Ṭhakkura and defeated the Tughlaq army in battle of Battle of Makwanpur
Caṇḍeśvara Ṭhakkura as leading a successful military expedition to Nepal where he is said to have distributed gold equal in weight to himself on the banks of the Bagmati River in 1314
In the court of Harisimhadeva, the Royal Minister was Jyotirishwar, the author of Varna Ratnakar. Upon Ghiyasuddin Tughlak's invasion of Mithila (Tirhut), King Harisimhadeva, along with many Maithils, came to Nepal and founded a new dynasty in Nepal.
The dynasty had six kings of note:
* Nanyadeva 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. Nanya Dev is also considered to be the "forgotten King of Mithila".
* Gangadeva
* Narasimhadeva
* Ramasimhadeva
* Shaktisimhadeva
* Harisimhadeva was instrumental in initiating and implementing Panji Vyavastha or Panji Prabandha in Maithil Brahmins . He was also a great patron of Maithil art and literature.

## 14th to 16th century: Oiniwar Dynasty

In 1325, following the collapse of the Karnat dynasty in 1324, Nath Thakur became the Maithil Brahamin ruler. The dynasty that followed him was called Oiniwar Dynasty, a Maithil Brahmin dynasty which comprised a further 20 rulers. Its first capital was established at the Oini village in the present Samastipur district of the Mithila region.

## 16th century to 20th century : Raj Darbhanga

Another Maithil Brahmin dynasty. 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 princely states got merged with the Union of India.

## See Also

* Ancient Mithila University
* Mithila State Movement
* Industrial ruins in Mithila region
* Raj Banauli
* Mithila Vishwavidyalaya Panchang