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Mithila is the land of Raja Janak and Mata Sita, the place of great poet Vidyapati . The beauty of this place lies in its thousand years History and Culture. There are several things which remark the identification of any place and language is one of them. Language not only connects people to people but it also connects people to culture and culture to people.
Maithili is the language of Mithila. It is the mother tongue and the vernacular language of the Maithil people.
22nd December 2003 is the remarkable date for 13.5 million people who are proud Maithili speakers. This was the day when Maithili was included in the 8th schedule in the Indian constitution. It is among 22 recognized languages of our country .From then it has been used officially by the government of India. And it is the only language of Bihar which has achieved such recognition. It has been included in the UPSC syllabus as an optional paper. It is the first language recognized by Sahitya Academy. Maithili is the medium of correspondence in the Universities of Bihar. Some Universities of Kolkata and Varanasi has also adopted this language as their subject. In Tribhuvan University of Nepal Maithili has been taught. Maithili is the 16th largest language of India according to P.E.N.[ Poets, Essayists, Novelists] and the Sahitya Akadami.
Maithili consists of various dialects too like Angika , Bajjika . Angika is spoken in Bhagalpur, Banka, Godda and Sahibganjdistricts. Bajjika is spoken in Purvi Champaran and and Paschimi Champaran. Dakshani Maithili is spoken in Jharkhand districts like Devghar, Dumka , Pakur and Jamtara. Kendriye Maithili is spoken from Muzzafarpur to Kishanganj, from Madhubani to Supaul and from Begusarai to Khagaria. Thethi Maithili or Mungeri Maithili is spoken in Shekhpura,Jamui,Lakhisarai and Munger. In the March 2018, Maithili received the second official language status of Jharkhand. Maithili is widely spoken in the Terai region of Nepal and is the second most prevalent language of Nepal.
Maithili is the only language of Bihar carrying ancient literary History. It history go back to many centuries ago. Poet Vidyapati is the great name in Maithili literature. His work in Maithili is highly recognizable. Jyotirishwar Thakur’s prose work in Maithili of 1324 is something to be proud on Maithili Literature.
In recent times Maithili is considered as the language of common people, and by the time it has become the language of elites and officials too. From the ancient time to Medieval and to the Modern Era Maithili has bee growing.
Today the people of Mithila can proudly consider themselves as the official Maithili speakers and it is possible because of those great people who were the part of the Maithili Movement for 150 years and because of them the people in Mithila is on this proud position. It is the time to celebrate the sacrifices of the 150 years long movement.
The language having such beautiful culture and history shouldn’t be forgotten and for this, it is the responsibility of every generation to preserve the Maithili language . Including the language in spoken only could be the first step. Use it as much as possible , inform children about the importance of the language.
JAI MITHILA, JAI MAITHIL.