Maithili language
Categories: Indo-European language stubs | Indo-Aryan languages | Languages of India | Languages of Nepal
| Maithili (?) | |
|---|---|
| Spoken in: | India, Nepal |
| Region: | Bihar in India |
| Total speakers: | 24 million |
| Ranking: | 40 |
| Genetic classification: | Indo-European
Indo-Iranian |
| Official status | |
| Official language of: | Bihar state in India |
| Regulated by: | none |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | bh |
| ISO 639-2 | bih/mai |
| SIL | MKP |
| See also: Language – List of languages | |
Maithili is of the family of Indo-Aryan languages, which are part of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is spoken in the Indian state of Bihar and in the eastern Terai region of Nepal. It is considered by many to be a dialect of Hindi, and thus not a separate language. Nevertheless, a movement to give the language official status in the Indian Constitution so that it could be used in education, government, and other official contexts, resulted in Maithili being given official status in 2003.
The term Maithili comes from Mithila, which was an independent state in ancient times. Maithili is a separate language, having a large Maithili-speaking community (4.5 crore people) with a rich literature. The most famous literary figure in Maithili is the poet Vidyapati. He is credited for raising the importance of 'people's langauage' i.e. Maithili in the official work of the state by influencing the king of Darbhanga with the quality of his poetry. The state's official language used to be Sanskrit, which distanced common people from the state and its functions.
One of the names of Goddess Sita (Wife of Lord Rama) also is Maithili.
It is certaily different lanugage than Hindi. It can not be equated as dialect of Hindi as this language matured before the advent of Hindi.
There is a special script of this language. There is resemblence with Bengali script.
See also
Reference
- This language's entry in the Ethnologue.
- Download Maithili Word Processor: Madhyam developed by Balendu Sharma Dadhich