BIHARI LANGUAGES

eastern Indo-Aryan languages spoken in the state of Bihar, India, and in the Tarai region of Nepal. There are three main languages: Maithili (Tirhutia) and Magadhi (Magahi) in the east and Bhojpurl in the west, extending into the southern half of Chota Nagpur. Maithili, spoken in the old country of Mithila (Tirhut), was famous from ancient times for its use among scholars, and it still retains many antiquated linguistic forms. It is the only Bihari dialect with any real literature and has been the object of increasing interest since 1947. Magadhi is considered the modern representative of the Magadhi Prakrit. The Bihari languages are linguistically related to Bengali but are culturally identified with Hindi. Most educated Bihari speakers also know Bengali and Hindi.