Maithili

This blog is dedicated to my mother tong - Maithili.

Maithili in Sanskrit means "Of Mithila". I.e. people with Maithili as there mother tong are supposed to be originated from Mithilanchal, once known as Janakpuri. Mithila has been of historical importance way back since Satyug as it is the birth place of goddess Sita. A very obvious question pops up in mind is that "the language of gods is Sanskrit, how did it turn into Maithili?"

History is the guardian of the fact that humans have always been trying to simplify things as they progress, same happened with this language. People of Mithila used to converse in Sanskrit, and not only Brahmins but people from lower casts also conversed in Sanskrit (Such rich was our culture). Soon people started feeling that Sanskrit is tough to stick with and started trying out simpler methods to communicate. This unconscious effort towards simplicity resulted in origin of various languages like Bengali, Oriya, Maithili and many more (This phenomenon can be observed in all languages, for example Hindi is spoken different, in different regions of country. Spoken Hindi has been modified as per local dialect).

As Sanskrit was tough, so was its script, as new languages were formed so were new scripts and there grammar. Maithili was originally written in Mithilakshar and had a very sound grammar. The grammar of Maithili was so robust that it forced many scholars to study it, foreign scholars like Colebrooke (1801), Hoernle (1880), Grierson (1881), Kellog (1893) and others have studied Maithili's grammar, phonology, lexicography, historical surveys, and comparative linguistics.

Year 1352, was the year in which one of the great poets of India named Vidyapati (man of knowledge) made his existence on this holy land. Vidyapati is considered as the architect of Maithili language, he nurtured this language and for the first time Maithili had its own literature. During 1352 - 1448, Maithili language flourished at a rate never seen before and it can be said that these were the golden days of this language.

The language flourished to today's form with more than 45million people speaking this language across Bihar, Nepal, Bengal and other places of India, placing it at 40th position in the world raking. Earlier Maithili was considered as the dialect of both Hindi as well as Bengali, but in year 2003 it got a status of Independent language and in year 2004 it was given an official status.

Humans never stopped themselves from simplifying things, but we simplify things at what cost? Maithili speaking people continued simplifying the language and they have simplified it to such an extent that Maithili lost its script, Mithilakshar is now only found in old books and museums and has become a history. Common people have now started using Devanagri as an alternate script. Once this language attracted foreign scholars and now it has been simplified to an extent that the language has been de-recognised by the state government from the educational curriculum and the civil service examinations.

Why is it that it took ages to form this language and hardly 150 years to bring it to today's level? What are we waiting for? It's a high time to read the signs and make sincere efforts before this language disappears. One of the sweetest languages of its time has already become harsh, lets at least not loose it. It's a language spoken by 40 Million but known by none. We feel proud of the achievements made by ourselves, family and friends but when were we last proud of your community, language and culture? Try feeling proud by contributing towards community and conserving this heritage and pass it to our forthcoming generations to come.

I don't know yet about how to contribute towards conserving my mothertoung but I have observed few things which surely can help. I recently went to a wedding, the bride's family had arranged for a Mithili geet samaroh, and I was really surprised when one of the most popular Mithili singers sung a Hindi film song dubbed in Maithili. People with such capability of reaching mass must start writing and performing in Maithili. Another shock was when I went to my native place, I heard someone talking about a family who has prospered a lot and one of the person's said "The family has advanced so much, that they no more speak Maithili". I don't understand how does discarding ones mother tong makes someone successful in life?

I know that there are many people working towards conservation of the Maithili language and culture, and I wish they succeed in doing it.





Some of the figures have peen picked from following websites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maithili_language
http://www.mithilalive.com/Mithila/Originmaithili.htm