Maithil

Maithil properly means the native speaker of Maithili language, and includes all the natives of Mithila. They are natives of some districts south of the Ganges near Bhagalpur and Monghyr, most of North Bihar and adojining Terai of Nepal. All castes living in Mithila and speaking Maithili are Maithils. Most of North Bihar excluding some western districts, centered around Darbhangā-Madhubani and some areas south of the Ganges including Bhāgalpur and Munger, and region from Rauthatta to Birātnagar in Nepāl centered at Janakpur in south-eastern Nepal form modern Mithila This area was known as the kingdom of Videha with capital at Mithila or Mithilanagar which has not been identified by archaeologists but folklore ascribes it to Janakpur in Nepal. It was a Kingdom written about in Hindu folklore (Videha Kingdom) and is the birthplace of the Goddess Sita according to Ramayana and other ancient texts.

The common language between these people is Maithili which has found a place in the Eighth Schedule of Indian Constitution. The Maithili language is very ancient. The modern day Bengali and related scripts have evolved from Maithili. Oldest specimen of this Mithilakshar or Tirhuta script is at a Shiva Temple inscription in Tilkeshwarsthāna near Kusheshwarsthāna in Darbhangā district, in which it is mentioned in Eastern Māgadhi Prākrit that the temple was built on "Kāttika sudi" (i.e., Kārtika Shukla pratipadā or first tithi in the bright half of the Hindu lunar month of Kārtika) in "Shake 125" (AD 203),i.e., on the day following Diwāli which is still regarded as very auspicious for installing the icon in a temple. The script of this inscription has little difference with modern script of Maithili. But in 20th century, most of Maithili writers gradually adopted Devanagari for the accepted vehicle of Maithili. Some traditional pandits still use this Tirhutā or Mithilākshara script for sending 'pātā' (ceremonial letters related to some important function such as marriage) to each other. Fonts for this script were developed in 2003 AD.

Maithils come from a culturally rich and ancient society who have created great works of Maithili literature.

Maitil's diet includes grains, many types of fresh water fish for the majority and occasionally goat. Mustard seeds and mustard oil are very common ingredients in Maithil cuisine. Tilkor taruya is special dish of maithil. These ingredients give their cuisine a unique taste unlike any other cuisine in India.

The term Maithil also denotes Maithil Brāhamana which is one of the principal branches of Brāhmaṇas (or Brahmins), being a part of pañch-gauḍa (cf. Indian caste system and History of the Indian caste system). Typical Maithil Brahmin surnames are Mishra, Jha, Chaudhary, etc.