Maithili Detailed Description

13
MAITHILT Oft TIR*HUTIYA.

KulS'*bkmSnin6 yuyaih Mithila^S^ ^ha^sh^Ma,

Hero«i it hom«, Mwwdi ia ttio battlt-fleli, evw qniiirtlliDg amongit yoiiwelw familypridt

iUU je bt in MithilA.

Eama-ehandra^t curse on tk§ MifhiiS J^hnmfia**

MaithiHor Tir*hutiya is, properly speaking, the language of Mithil%or Taira*
wh«r« spoken. bhukti (the ancient name of Tirhut). According to the

Mithila^mahatmyaf a Sanskrit work of considerable repute
in the tOTritoi^ which it describes, MithilS is the" country bounded on the north by the
Himalaya Mountains, on the south by the Ganges, on the west by the Eiver Gandak
and on the east by the Eiver Kosi.^ It thus includes the British Bistricts of Champa-
ran, Muzaffarpur, and Darbhanga, as well as the strip of the Nepal Tarai which runs
between these Bistricts and the lower ranges of the Himalayas. The Districts of
Muzaffarpur and Barbhanga originally formed one District called Tirhut, and that
name is still used as a convenient appellation for the country included in these two Bis-
tricts, At the present day, the language of the greater portion of Chanaparan is a form
of Bhojpuri and not MaithiH, but, with that exception, Maithili is spoken over the
whole of this tract. It has also extended east of the river 'Kosi, and occupies the greater
part of the District of Purnea, and has moreover crossed the Ganges, and is now
spoken over the whole of the south-Grangetic portion of the Bhagalpur District, over the
eastern portion of the south -Gangetio portion of the Monghyr Bistrict, and in the north
and west of the Sonthal Farganas.

Maithili is spoken in its greatest purity by the Brahmans of the north of the Bar-
8ub-diaiect«. bhanga and Bhagalpur Bistricts and by those of western

Purnea. These men have a literature and traditions which
have retarded the corruption of the dialect. It is also spoken with some purity, but
with more signs of the, wearing away of inflexions in the south of the Darbhanga
District, and in those portions of the Monghyr and Bhagalpur Districts which lie on the
northern bank of the Ganges. This may be called Southern Standard Maithili. To
the east, in Purnea, it becomes more and more infected with Bengali, tOl, in the east
of that District it is superseded by the Siripuria dialect of that language which is a
border form of speech, Bengali in the main, but containing expressions borrowed from
Maithili, and written, not in the Bengali character, but in the Kaithi of Bihar. Siripuria
will be found described on pp. 139 and ff. of Vol. v, Pt. I, under the head of Bengali.
The Maithili spoken in Purnea may be called Eastern MaithUi.

South of the Ganges, Maithili is influenced more or less by the Magahi spoken to its
west, and partly also by Bengali. The result is a well-marked dialect, locally known
as Chhikd'Chhiki boll, from its frequent use of the syllable * ehhik,* which is the base
on which the conjugation of the Verb Substantive is conjugated.

^ Gan'gS'kimavaiidr madhyi nadupaficadaiSutari \
TairabhUkHr Ui hi^W dUaf. parama^pawina^ II
• ••••••••••t

MaMklih tu samiiralih$a Gan^Mm adkigamjfa imi t
Yojanani ckaiwpiAia p^a^4ma^ par^rftUa^^

14 BIHlEt.

The MaithiU spoken ib the Mtizaffarptur District, and in a strip of country on tlie
eastern side of Darbhanga is strongly infected by the neighbouring Bhojpuri spoken in
varions forms in the adjacent district of Saran and in the greater part of Champaran.
So much is this the casO) that, as spoken by some people, it is difficult to say where the
dialect is Maithili or Bhojpuri. It may be called Western Maithili.

The Musalmans of Mithila do not all speak Maithili. In Muzaffarpur and Cham-
paran, they speak an altogether different dialect, closely allied to the language of Oudh.
It.is locally known as Shekhai or as Musalmani, and is sometimes called Jolaha Boll,
after the caste which forms one of the most numerous Musalman tribes, according
to popular opinion, of the locality. The true Jolaha Boli, however, is the language
spoken by the Musalmans of Darbhanga, which is a form of Maithili, though some*
what corrupted by the admission of Persian and Arabic words to its vocabulary.

The details of the number of people who speak each form of Maithili will be given
b r f kefft subsequently, in dealing with each of the sub-dialects.

The following are the totals :-^

Kam.e of Sub-diftleot. Camber of Speakeri.

Standard . 1,946,800

Soutliern Standard . • • . 2,300,000

Eastern . . • . . 1,302,3001

Cliluk&-clibik! 1,719,781

Wertem . 1,783,495

Jolahft 337,000

Total number of speakers of Maithil! in Maithill-speaking districts . 9,389,376

These figures do not inqlude the speakers of Maithili in the Nepal Tarai, concern-
ing whom no figures are arailable. Under any circumstances, therefore, we shall be
justified in assuming that at least ten million people speak Maithili in the country of
which it is the Temacular.

It is impossible to state how many speakers of Maithili live outside the Maithil!

tract proper, as no figures are available. In the census of 1891, Maithili and the

other Bihar dialects were grouped together with the various languages of Central

and Western Hindostan under the one head of * Hindi' We cannot now separate

the figures. It is possible, in the case of the Provinces of Lower Bengal and

Assam, to ascertain from the Census records, the number of people hailing from each

District in Bihar, and also the total number of persons who come from all parts of

India in which, according to the Census, * Hindi ' is spoken. With the aid of these figures

we can, in. the case of these two provinces, divide the number of people recorded in the

Census as speaking • Hindi/ proportionately to these two sets of figures, and the results

may be expected to represent approximately the number of people in each District of

these two Provinces speaking, respectively, the language of each District of Bihar. By

totalling up the figures thus gained for the Maithili-speaking Districts, we may expect

to obtain the number of people speaking that dialect outside the Maithili-speaking

area. Unfortunately, the theory is not bprne out by local experience. For instance, a cal«

culation of this kind shows that there should be 6,900 speakers of Maithil! in Burdwan,

* Include 2,800 Thirfit of North Pumea, who, apparttitly, epcak a corropt form of Eaatern Maith

IHmODUCflON* MAITHILl.

U

but the local authoftties report, m answer to enquirm subsequmtly made, tbat m a matter
of fact there are no speakers of the language in the Distriet. In snch a matter, even the
experience of Bistrict Officers may be at fanlt, and though J do notoffa? the following
figures relating to Bengal and Assam as certainly correct, I belieTe that they hare a
better foundation than any other assertion which can be made on the point, and giro
them toft what th^ are worth.

Table $houmg' the estimated number qf$peaker8 qf Maithili mthin the Lower Provinces
qf Bengal, but outside the area in which Maithili is the Vernacular Zanguage*

NaMB Of DiSTBICT.

Kambdr of
Sptftkers.

BlMA&KS,

Bardwftn

Bankam
Birbhimi
Midnftpore

Howmh •
24«P»rgft]ia8
Calcnlta
Kadia •

Jessore .

Murshidabad

Kirnlna .

Dinajpnr

BajshaM

Bangpur

Bogra •

Pabna •

Darjeeliag

KQch-Biliar

Dacca •

Faridpar

Baokcrgunge

MjmeiiaiDgh

ChittagoDg

Noakhali

Tippera

llalda •

Cuttack •

Pari •

Baiasore

(State)

TOTit

6,900

300

3,900

7,900

2,400

4,000

8,800

34,000

3,300

700

33,100

400

26,700

9,100

5,000

4,000

3,500

13,900

3,200

10,800

1,500

1,000

5,000

1,200

32

800

5,000

100

110

140

196,782

The local authorities rep6rt that there are no
speakers ol Maithili in the Bisiariot.

16

BIHARi.

Table shotoing the eatitnated tmihkr of apeahert of Maithili witlwt tU Province of

Jaaam.

Kilts Of DittBICT.

Kvmber af
fip«»kcn-

Cachar Plains .^

.

20,400

Sylfcet .

«

•

•9,200

Goalpara

8,700

Camrup •

^0

Darrang

4,100

NowgODg

2,250

Sibsagar. •

15,600

liakhlmpur

10,050

Kaga Hills

150

Khasi and Jainiia H

ills

. -

300

Lushai Hilk .

25

TOTA.1

u . 66,675

BiXAixfl,

We cannot give similar figures for other Provinces of India, as in their Census
Reports, the population figures for people whose home is Bihar are not given district by
district. In most of them the number of people coming from the Province of Bihar
as a whole is given, and it might be thought that it would be possible to ascertain from
this the approximate number of people coming from the Maithili-speaking tract by
dividing that number in the proportion that the whole population of the Maithili-
speaking tract bears to the total population of Bihar ; but any such attempt would be
misleading. Of the three nationalities which occupy Bihar, the Maithili, the Magahi,
and the Bhojpuri, the first are a timid, home-staying people, who rarely leave their
abodes for distant provinces of India, while, on the other hand, the Bhojpnris are an
enterprising tribe found in numbers all over the land, and even in distant countries,
like Mauritius and Natah Any proportional division would not take this important
I'actor into consideration, and, as a result, would show a far greater number of inhabit-
ants of Mithila in foreign provinces than is really the case.

We must therefore content ourselves with recording the following figures for the
Provinces of Bengal and Assam, and leave the question of the number of speakers of
Maithili in other provinces of India as an insoluble problem :—

Total number of people speaking Maithili at home, say • . . • • 10,000,000

Estimated number of people speaking Maithili elsewhere in the Lower Prorinces . 196,782
Estimated namber of people speaking Maithili in Assam . . . • . 06,575

TOTAt

10,263,357

INlBODtJCTIOK, UAltmid. 17

Maithili is the only one of the Bihari dialects which has a literary history. Tor
Maithni Kt«r«ture. ceotiiries the Pandits of Mithila have been famows for their

learning, and more than one Sanskrit work of authority
has been written by them. One of the few learned women of India whose name
has come down to us, was Iiakhima Thakkurani, who, according to tradition, lired at
the middle of the 16th century A.B. Nor was the field of vernacular literature neg-
lected by them. The earliest vernacular writer of whom we have any record was the
celebrated Vldyapati ^hakkura, who graced the court of Maharaja iiva Simha of
Sugaoua, and who flourished about the same time. As a writer of Sanskrit works
he was an author of considerable repute, and one of his works, translated into
Bengali^ is familiar as a text-book, under the name of the Furmhit-parikBhat to every
student of that language. But it is uppn his dainty songs in the vernacular that his
fame chiefly rests. He was the first of the old master-singers whose short religious
poems, dealing principally with Badha and Kyishna, exercised such an important
influence on the religious history of Eastern India. His songs were adopted and enthusias-
tically recited by the celebrated Hindu reformer Chaitanya who flourished at the
beginning of the sixteenth century, and, through him, became the house-poetry of the
Lower Provinces. Numbers of imitators sprung up, many of whom wrote in Vidya-
pati's name, so that it is now difl5.oult to separate the genuine from the imitations,
especially as in the. great collection of th^e Vaishnava songs, the Fada^kalpa'taru,
which is the accepted authority in Bengal, the former have been altered in the course
of generations to suit the Bengali idiom and metre. Up to nearly twenty years ago, the
Pada-kalpa4aru was the only record which we had of the poet's works, but, in the
year 1882, the present writer was enabled to publish, in his Maithili Ohreatomaihy^ a
collection of songs attributed to him, which he collected in Mithila itself, partly from
the mouths of itinerant singers and partly from manuscript collections in the possession
of local Panidits. I'hat all the songs in this collection are genuine, is not a matter
capable of proof, but, there can be little doubt that most of them are so, although the
language has been greatly modernised in the course of transition from mouth to
mouth during the past five centuries.

Vidyapati Thakkura or, as he is called in the vernacular, Bidyapat* Thakur, had
many imitators in Mithila itself, of whom we know nothing except the names of the
most popular, and a few stray verses. Amongst them may be mentioned Umapati,
Nandipati, M6da-nurayana, llamapati, Mahipati, Jayananda, Chaturbhuja, Sarasa-rama,
Jayadevaj Kesava, Bhafljana, Chakrapani, Bhanunatha, and Harshanatha or, in the
vernacular^ Harakh-nath. The last two were alive when the present writer was. in
Darbhanga twenty years ago.

Amongst other writers in Maithili may be mentioned Man-bddh Jha, who died
about the year 1788 A.D. He composed a Maribans, or Poetical Life of Epshna, of
which ten cantos are still extant, and enjoy great popularity.

The drama has had several authors in Mithila. The local custom has been to
write the body of a play in Sanskrit, but the songs in the vernacular. The best-known
of these plays are as follows. None of them has been published.

The Farijata-harami and the JRukminhparimyc^i both by Vidyapati Thakkura.

The Oauri^parinapa by Kavi-ljla.

Tlift ZTtAd-Aarafia by Harshanatha above mentioned.

18 SifiARt.

The Prabhamtl-havnua by Blmnunatlm above mentioned.

Under the enlightened guidance of the late Maliaraja of Darbhanga, there has
been a remarkable revival of Maithili literature during the past few years. At least
one author deserving of special note has come to the front, Cliandm J ha, who has shown
remarkable literary powers. He has written a Mithikhbhdshd Echndyanaf and a
translation, with an edition of the original Sanskrit text, of tlie Pnrusha'parlkBha of
Vidyapati Thakkura, both of which will well repay the student by their perusal.

Ko translation of any part of the Bible into Maithili ha^ been issued by the Bible

Society, nor is that language included amongst those into
Transfationso^^he^Scriptures ^^^^^^ ^^^ Serampore Missionaries translated the Scrip-

tures. At the same time, if an article in the Calcutta Memew is to be believed, the
first translation of any portion of tlie Bible made into any language of Northern India
was that of the Gospels and Acts, made into the Chhika-chhiki dialect of Maithili by
Pather Antonio at the end of the eighteenth century. For further particulars refer-
ence may be made to the section on Chhika-chhiki boli, on p. 96 j^ost. The only other
translations with which I am acquainted are versions of the Sermon on the Mount, and
other short portions of Scripture, made about twenty years ago by Mr. John Christian,
and lithographed and published at Monghyr.

AUTHORITIES—

I, — Early Refeeences.— tTho earliest reference which I can find to Maithili or
Tir*hutiya is in the Preface to the Alphabet am Brammhcmicnm, published in 1771, from
which an extract has been quoted in dealing with the Bengali language in Vol. v. Ft. I,
p. 23. In the list of languages mentioned on p. viii is ' Tourutiana.'

Colebrooke in his famous Essay on the Sanskrit and Prakrit languages written in

the year 1801, is the first to describe Maithili^ as a distinct dialect. He points out

its affinity with Bengali, discusses the written character used by the Brahman?, and

adds, * As the dialect of Mithila has no extensive use, and does not appear to have been

at any time cultivated by elegant poets, it is unnecessary to notice it any further in

this place.' Since then,^ like the other dialects of Bihar, Maithili remained unnoticed

and forgotten, till Mr. Fallon gave a few specimens of it in the Indimm Amtiquary iu the

year 1875. In the preceding year, it is true, some examples of tile dialect were given

in Sir George Campbeirs Specimens;^ but they are there classed as some of many

dialects of Hindi spoken in Bihar. Indeed, at this time, it was the general belief that,

all over Bihar, the language spoken was a corrupt form of Hin^ whereas, as

Colebrooke had long previously pointed out, it was much more ncarfy allied to Bengali

than to the Hindi oE the North-Western Provinces. Matters remained in this state,

tin the present writer published his Maithili grammar in the year 1&90-81.

* Anatic liescanUe^, YoU Vil, iSul, pp. lUU ani If. Reprinted in bis Essays, Ed- JSA fw26.

'Note, however, Aim^-Mai'tin's ZeUres iiUJiante§ et i?«rieiw«#, Paris, 184','. I- T«£ II, p. 295, when describing
the langnages of India, he says • the Marthila (sic) se retrouTe dans Neypi^/
» Indian AnUquar$f Vol. Vf 1875, p. 340.

* Specimens of Languages ^ India, including th>»9 qfthe Aboriginal TriimW flM^«l, th0 Central Frovinea
and the Maitern Frontier* Calcutta, 1874. The speeimens given arc headed, * Tcmmmrti West Tirhoot*; * Vtmacular
of East Tirhoot* ; and * Vernacniar of West Parne^h (HiadeeJ,' respectively, Tk^ ' ■J fc.fci tead ca pp. 60 and Mowlag.

IKTROBUCTION, MAXTUILI. U)

II. — ^Grammaks—

Gkurso., G A -^„ IntrMo^yo th. MaMiU Language of NoHk BiMr. Containing a Grammar

of BctTl Srt T'^lT J'*'*I'«~'-- E.t.. Number to Journal, Ltlo 8^"^
Of Bengal, Pm-fc I, for 1880. Separate Reprint. Calcutta 1881 Pn,.f it nr . «^»«^J

vocabulary Extn. Nu.W to di for 1882. Cte RepHn^" Jcla is'f"^"'' "'
Gbiebsox G. A.,-S«,«„ Gra^„«.r, 0/ .A« D.aZec^, and Sui-DiaZec., 0/ ./.. BikM Language. Parti
Infroducforj/. Oalontta, 1883. Part IV, Maithil-Bhojpuri Dialect of Oentral and sLk

andtke MadhepurA aubd.vu^on of Bhagalpur. Part VI, Soutk Maithil-MagaM BiL
ofSauhMung^and the Bark Subdivision of Fatna. Part VII, SoutK MaitMli-Beng&U
y cot of 8outh Bhagalp&r. Part VIII. MaithiUBangali Dialect of Oentral and jZern

HoEEmi, A.F. R.--^ Qrammar of the Eaitern MinU compared with the other Qaudian Languagu
London, 1880. In this Gmmmar. Dr. Hoemle was the first to recognise Maithili as a diJect
separato from Hindi. He was able to give some specimens of its grammatical forms, but no
published materials were then available.

Kltt0G0,TheRevd.S. H.,^4 Qrarmrnt of the Eindi Language, in which are treated ....
the colloquial dialecti of Maithila, etc, with copious philological notes. Second Edition, Revised
and Enlarged. London, 1893. (The first edition does not deal with Maithill.)

III. — Dictionaries—

Gbheson, G. A.,~-There are tooabnlaries attached to the Maithill Chrestomathy, above mentioned,

and to the edition of Manbodh's Haribans mentioned below.
HOEENLB, A. F. R., and Geiebsoh, G. A.,— ^ Comparative BieHonarjg of the Bihari Language. Part I,

Calcntta, 1885. Part II, 1889. Only two parts issued.

IV.— General Liteeatwre —

Regarding Vidy^pati, see Beames, The Early Vaishnam :Poete of Bengal Indian Antiquary il, 1873
p. 37, and the sam^ antibor's On the Age and Country of Bidydpaii, ibid, iv, 1876, p. 299. See also, the
Bengali Magazine, the Ba^ga-dariana, Tol. iv, for Jyaishtha, 1282, Bg. san, pp. 75 and ff. Also the
ptesent writer's Vidydpati and his Contemporariei, Indian Antiquary, Vol, xiv, 1886, p. 182 • EggelKng
Oato%ufl of Sanskrit MSS. in the India Office Library, Part iv, No. 2864 j and the present writer in the
Broceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, for August, 1895, Also the present writer's On some medimml
Kings of MithUd, Indian Antiquary, Vol. zxviii, 1899, p. 67. The following contain editions of the Bengali
recension of the poet's works, Vidyspaii^hrita-padamli, edited by Akshaya-chandra Sarkar. Ohinsnrah, 1286,
Bg. 8. Vidyapatir Fadavali, Edited with an Introduction by Sarada-chara^ Maitra. Second Edition*
Calcutta, 1286, Bg. s. PrSchina Kavya Sa^graha, Part I, Edited by Akshaya-chandra Sark&r. Calcutta'
1291, Bg. s. The Mithila recension is puWished in the presen t writer's Maithill Chrestomathy.

for the benefit of those who wish to study Maithill, the following is a Hst of the principal works which
have been published in the language.

The present writer's MaithOl Chrestomathy referred to above under the head of Gmmmaro, contains
several other texts besides the poems of Vidy&pati.

Twenty-one Vaishnava Bymne, Edited and tmnslated by the present writer. Journal of the Ariatic
Society of Bengal, Vol. iiii, 1884, Special Nmmber, pp. 76 and ff,

Manhodh's Baribans, Edited and translated by the same. Ibid. Vol. li, 1882, m 129 And # ^^^
Vol. Iiii. 1884, Special Number, pp. 1 and ff. *' ^

Selected Specimens of the Bihari Language, BaH I, The MaiihiU Bialeet. The QU BlnS Bhadrik and the

mtNebarak Edited and translated by the same. ^«»V«^W^ der denteohen moigenl&ndischen Qes^Uschaft
Vol. %%xi%, 1886, pp. 617 and ff.

, Vidyapati'8Pi*rt.*?^a-|»anfc#fe5, Edited and translated in prose and verse into Maithill by Chandia Jha
DarbhangS, Raj Press, Sake 1810. '

Mithild.BhiUha Bamayana, by Chandra Jha. A version of the stoiy of the Bftm&ya^a inMaitliill verse
Darbbaugi, Union Press, San 1299 PaslL

D9

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