Mithila’s culture is not only inherited but made anew — in a small, searching cinema, in folk song from Sohar to Chhath, in tales of Salhesh and Gonu Jha, and in a living movement for the recognition of Maithili identity.
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Maithili cinema
From the first film Kanyadaan to the National-Award-winning Mithila Makhaan and the festival darling Gamak Ghar.
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Folk music & song
Sohar, Samdaun, Jat-Jatin and the Chhath songs — the soundtrack of the Maithil year.
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Folk tales & heroes
Raja Salhesh, the witty Gonu Jha, and the love-epics that fill Mithila's oral tradition.
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The Mithila statehood movement
A century-old demand for a separate Mithila state, and for recognition of the Maithili language.
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The Paag & Maithil dress
The headdress that signals honour, and the everyday and ceremonial dress of Mithila.
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Jat-Jatin & folk dance
The monsoon-night dance-drama of a farmer couple, and the wider world of Maithil folk dance.
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One culture, two nations — Mithila & Nepal
How a single Maithil civilisation came to straddle the India–Nepal border, and how it stays one across the line.
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Kirtaniya theatre
Mithila's old devotional musical theatre, born from the songs of Vidyapati.
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Surnames & communities of Mithila
The social mosaic of the Maithil world — Brahmins, Kayasthas and the many communities, and the surnames they carry.