Mahesh Thakur (Mahesha Thakura) was a renowned scholar of Sanskrit, Nyaya philosophy and astronomy whom the emperor Akbar, impressed by his erudition, declared ruler of Mithila on the day of Ram Navami in 1557 — founding the Khandavala dynasty that would govern the region as the Darbhanga Raj for almost four centuries, until Indian independence.
Even as a king he remained a Naiyayika of standing, writing commentaries — the Aloka Pradipa on Pakshadhara Mishra and the Darpan on Gangesha Upadhyaya’s Tattvachintamani. In him the two great Mithila ideals, the philosopher and the prince, were joined; from his line would come the maharajas who built railways, temples and the great palaces of Darbhanga.