History of Mithila (From The Earliest Times To 1556 A.D.) (An Old And Rare Book)

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Mithila is one of the few regions of India possessing an ancient civilisation about which we have little definite historical information. Variously known Videha, Tirabhukti, Tapobhūmi, Sambhavi, Suvarņakänana, Vaija- yanti, (Janakapura) or after the name of its capital Mithila, this ancient land is mainly famous for its many-sided cultural achievements. It is a land with an ancient history traditions of which it retains to the present day. For centuries it has been a tract too proud to admit other nationalities to inter- course on equal terms. For centuries it has passed through conquest after conquest, from the north, from the east and from the west without changing its ancestral peculiarities. This has been a very important trait of their character as a result of which the Brahmaņical domination has left its ineffeceable marks upon the nature of the rest of population.

It is my privilege to write this foreword to the History of Mithila written by Dr. Upendra Thakur. Mithila is an ancient land, mainly famous for its many sided cultural achievements. There was hitherto no full, systematic and elaborate account of Mithila, though some previous scholars had shed light on particular aspects of the ancient and mediaeval history of the country. But these works were comparatively few in number, and I am glad that it is one of my former students who has striven to remove this long-felt want. When the author came to me, sometime after taking his M. A. degree, for a suggestion about the topic of his research, I told him to take up the scientific study of the political and cultural history of his own country. It is gratifying to me that he accepted my suggestion, and devoted himself whole-heartedly to the pursuit of this subject. He worked ceaselessly with a great deal of earnestness, and I had the privilege of seeing him at his work from time to time.

A new edition of the History of Mithila is placed before the world of scholars. The book has been out of print for some time and need has long been felt for a fresh edition. Therefore, it goes forth once more having been thoroughly revised and re-written in the light of new information that are coming in so rapidly and in such vast bulk. I have taken every pain to make the book up-to-date and more attractive to scholars. Material emendations have also been made in every chapter. When my work was first published in 1956 there was hardly any work worth the name on Mithila except a survey by Shyam Narain Singh and a few traditional accounts. During the last twenty years a few works on different aspects of the history of Mithilā have come out and even the critics of the regional history are now agreed that regional studies deserve a considerable treatment and are no less important.