Festival story
Sama Chakeva
Sisters mould clay birds for their brothers and sing them across winter nights, then release them to the river at the festival's end.
Language profile
Maithili
𑒧𑒻𑒟𑒱𑒪𑒲 / मैथिली
Maithili is the language of Mithila, with a literary line from Jyotirishwar's Varna Ratnakara and Vidyapati's 14th-century padavali to modern novels. Its Tirhuta script, once used for manuscripts and marriage documents, is being taught again in Janakpur classrooms.
- Language family
- Indo-European › Eastern Indo-Aryan
- Script
- Tirhuta (Mithilakshar), Devanagari
- Speakers
- ≈ 3.1 million in Nepal
- Status
- Vital
- Also called
- Tirhutiya, Dehati
- Greeting
- 𑒮𑒹𑒓𑒰𑒞 — Pranam
Where it is spoken
Geographic distribution
DhanushaMahottariSirahaSaptariSarlahiMorang
Script
Tirhuta (Mithilakshar), Devanagari
Writing sample
𑒮𑒹𑒓𑒰𑒞 𑒧𑒻𑒟𑒱𑒪𑒲
Scripts carry more than sound: letterforms, numerals and orthographic conventions record centuries of contact, patronage and revival.
Numbers 1–5
- 1ek
- 2dui
- 3tin
- 4chair
- 5panch
Words & expressions
Everyday speech
प्रणाम
Pranam
Respectful greeting
अहाँ केना छी?
Ahan kena chhi?
How are you?
धन्यवाद
Dhanyavad
Thank you
फेर भेंट हएत
Pher bhent haet
We'll meet again
Alphabet
Letters and numerals
Tirhuta (Mithilakshar)
The historical script of Mithila, used for Maithili manuscripts, marriage documents and palm-leaf records.
Vowels
𑒁𑒂𑒃𑒄𑒅𑒆𑒇𑒉𑒊𑒋𑒌
Consonants
𑒏𑒐𑒑𑒒𑒓𑒔𑒕𑒖𑒗𑒘𑒙𑒚𑒛𑒜𑒝𑒞𑒟𑒠𑒡𑒢𑒣𑒤𑒥𑒦𑒧𑒨𑒩𑒪𑒫𑒬𑒭𑒮𑒯
Devanagari
Official script of Nepal, used for Nepali and most Indo-Aryan and many Tibeto-Burman languages of the country.
Vowels
अआइईउऊऋएऐओऔअंअः
Consonants
कखगघङचछजझञटठडढणतथदधनपफबभमयरलवशषसहक्षत्रज्ञ
Numerals
०१२३४५६७८९
Words
Core vocabulary
𑒧𑒰𑒁
maa
mother
𑒧𑒰𑒙𑒱
maati
soil
𑒣𑒰𑒢𑒱
paani
water
𑒑𑒰𑒧
gaam
village
𑒥𑒲𑒩
beer
brave one
𑒁𑒹𑒩𑒱𑒣𑒢
aripan
ritual floor art
𑒮𑒰𑒧𑒰
sama
sister-brother festival
𑒦𑒰𑒂
bhai
brother
Idioms & sayings
How the language thinks
आँखिक पानि
Ankhik paani
Water of the eye — a person's sense of shame and honour.
गाम घर के बात
Gaam ghar ke baat
Village-and-house talk: matters settled within the community.
माटिक सुगन्ध
Maatik sugandh
The scent of soil — attachment to Mithila.
History
How Maithili came to be written and spoken
14th century
Jyotirishwar's Varna Ratnakara, the earliest Maithili prose; Vidyapati's padavali follows.
Medieval
Tirhuta script used for manuscripts, land deeds and marriage records across Mithila.
20th century
Modern novel and theatre; Maithili gains recognition and radio broadcasting in Nepal.
Today
Tirhuta taught again in Janakpur classrooms; Mithila painting reaches global markets.
Tales
Told and retold
Folk epic
Salhesh
The warrior-hero of the eastern plains, sung in nightlong Salhesh gatherings with drum and harmonium.
Indigenous knowledge
Knowledge carried in the language, not in books
Aripan geometry
Ritual floor drawings encode agricultural and marriage calendars in repeated lotus and pond motifs.
Pond-and-field water sharing
Ahar-pyne style tanks and channels managed village-wise, with fishing rights tied to maintenance labour.
AI preparedness index
How ready is Maithili for language technology?
Overall readiness
1.19%
readiness score from the global index of 6,000+ world languages
AI resource readiness0.01%
Infrastructural readiness32.64%
Socioeconomic readiness4.12%
ISO 639-3
mai
Speakers (index)
195,000
Endangerment
Potentially vulnerable
Open datasets
74
Published models
125
Wikipedia articles
0
Dictionary exists
Yes
Full text corpus
Yes
These figures place Maithili on the readiness index: how much machine-readable text, speech and model work already exists, and how far the digital and socioeconomic conditions around its speakers support building them. A low AI resource score is exactly where corpus collection changes the outcome.
Source: global language readiness index (Maithili, mai). Scores are readiness percentages across the full index of 6,000+ languages.
Stories
Oral tradition
Epic
Sita of Janakpur
King Janak's plough struck a golden casket in the furrow and Sita rose from the earth; Mithila still sings her marriage as a village wedding, with jest-songs aimed at Ram's party.
Legend
Vidyapati and the water-carrier
Shiva, disguised as the servant Ugna, carried water for the poet Vidyapati — until a slip of the tongue revealed him and he vanished into the Ugnasthan grove.
Songs & music
Sung heritage
♪
Vidyapati padavali
Classical lyric
Radha–Krishna songs still sung at festivals.
Recording being catalogued
♪
Samdaun
Farewell wedding song
Sung by women as the bride leaves her home.
Recording being catalogued
♪
Jhijhiya
Ritual dance song
Danced with perforated pots of fire during Dashain.
Recording being catalogued
Culture & traditions
Festivals, dress, food, craft
Festivals
ChhathSama ChakevaJur SitalVivaha Panchami
Dress
Red-bordered sari with lehthi; men's dhoti, kurta and gamchha.
Food
Bagiya, tilkor, dahi-chura, machh-bhat of the pond villages.
Crafts
Mithila painting, sikki grass weaving, aripan rice-paste floor art.
People & community
The people who keep Maithili alive
Maithil communities of the eastern Tarai, known for aripan floor art, Mithila painting and a deep wedding-song repertoire held by women.
Language → People → Place → Culture → Heritage
Maithili → Maithil communities of the eastern Tarai → Dhanusha, Mahottari, Siraha → Chhath → audio, video, text and images held with community consent.
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