Maithili is an “ancestor” of today’s Hindi language. Maithili is closer in spirit, vocabulary and grammatical structure to Prakrit, itself a derivative of Sanskrit, than Hindi proper, which really flowered as a literary language with the great Bhakti poets (Tulsidas, Suradas, Kabir, Ramananda). Incidentally, Maithili is still spoken as a...

Maithili is widely spoken in Northern Bihar, from Muzaffarpur on the west, past the Kosi on the east to western Purnia District, to the districts of Munger and Bhagalpur in the south, and the Himalayan foothills on the north. Cultural and linguistic center are the districts of Madhubani and Darbhanga. Janakpur also important culturally and religiously. Also...