One thing that should be remembered is that in this universe nothing is useless or meaningless. Each word, each existence has a certain meaning; perhaps that meaning is not known to you, but whether you know it or not, there is a meaning. Take for example the colour white. You see white colour with your eyes; the vibration of this colour enters your brain, and there this vibration emits a sound wave, “dhab, dhab, dhab.” From this sound came the Saḿskrtá root verb dhav, and from this root verb came words like dhavala (“white” in Saḿskrta) and dhavlá (“white” in Hindi). So you see, from a particular acoustic vibration has evolved a word with a particular meaning.

On the north of this land of Mithila stands the Himalayas; to the west the Nárayańii-Gańd́aka river; in the south the Ganges, and to the east, the old Kaoshii river. The ancient name for Mithila was Videha. When the Aryans first entered India from Central Asia to the west, in the first stage they advanced up to Allahabad, and then they proceeded to Varanasi. In Central Asia there was neither sufficient land nor water; but after arriving in India they found that the land there was very fertile; there were plenty of resources for food, clothing, etc. Thus they first named the country Jambudviipa (“an island with an abundance of stones of the colour of blackberries”) and later renamed it Bháratvarsa. The root verb bhr means “to feed” or “to maintain”; ta means “that which helps in expansion”, and varśa means “land”. So the name Bháratvarsa means “the land where there is an abundance of resources for existence and expansion.”

However, as the Aryans advanced eastward from Varanasi, they noticed that the people of the eastern regions did not lag behind in culture. Some minor clashes occurred between the indigenous population and the advancing Aryans; and the Aryans’ sense of superiority and vanity of culture was increasingly deflated as they moved eastward from Allahabad.

Allahabad was originally named Prayága; pra means “well” and yága means “activity”; so Prayága means “the place where the different activities of life are performed in a very nice way.” After coming to Varanasi, the Aryans found it futile to fight with the virtuous people there, because the entire land was a Tantrik area. So they declared that those who would advance eastwards would be degenerated. The purpose behind this declaration was to prevent people from moving eastward in order to avoid any struggle with the people of eastern India; for such a struggle would certainly mean the Aryans’ defeat. Thus Mithila, Magadha, Bengal and Assam were declared as non-Aryan land, and all Aryans were prohibited from going there.

But the land of Mithila was extremely fertile, and the Aryans were greedy to possess it. So the Aryans were in a dilemma: whether or not to advance and occupy the land. Those of them who crossed the Sarayu river and entered the non-Aryan land were declared to be of an inferior caste; they were called Sarayúpáŕii Bráhman. But as their greed increased more and more, they crossed the Naráyánii Gańd́aka and entered Mithila. Those who came to Mithila became quite prosperous, and those who stayed behind began to feel extremely envious. So they declared that those who crossed the river were of an inferior caste.

The inhabitants of Mithila were of Aryan-Austriko-Mongoloid stock. Those who crossed the Naráyánii-Gańd́aka river were hated by the others, and behind this psychology of hatred was the instinct of greed. In those days there was a rule that during the period of performance of a sacrifice, five scholars were required to be present: one of them was a scholar of the Atharva Veda who was called Bráhmana; another was a scholar of the Yajur Veda who was called Adhvarju; one was a scholar of the Sáma Veda called Udgáta, and the fourth was a scholar of the Rg Veda who was called Rtvika. The supervisor of all the four scholars was called Hotá. In those days the land of Mithila was called Videha. The king of Videha declared that if the people perform yajiṋas or sacrifices, they would become holy (ignorant people think like this). The king thought, “Well, I will perform a sacrifice according to the injunctions of the Vedas, and then people can no longer declare this country as unholy, non-Aryan land.” So he assembled three prominent hotás or sacrificial supervisors, and performed the sacrifice; and thus the land where the sacrifice was performed with the help of those three hotás became known as Trihotriiyabhúmi. Gradually the word became transformed into Tirhotiiyabhumi in Mágadhii Prákrta, and in old Maethilii it became Tirhut. So the second name of Mithila became Tirhut. The king who performed the sacrifice was King Mithi, and in Saḿskrtá the root verb la means “to hold”; so Mithi + la + suffix d́a + t́á (feminine suffix) = Mithilá. Thus Mithila means, “the land which holds, or which is held by, King Mithi”. This is the history of Mithila in a nutshell.