History

Established on December 1st, 1972 the newly created district of Madhubani was carved out of the old Darbhanga District as a result of reorganization of the district in the State. This was formerly the northern subdivision of Darbhanga district bounded on the north by a hill region of and extending to the border of its parent district Darbhanga in the south,Sitamarhi in the west and Supaul in the east. Madhubani fairly represents the centre of the territory once known as Mithila and the district has maintained a district identity of its own.

Practically there are no prehistoric sites in the district though remains of the earliest aboriginal population can be seen in some parts of the district. Hunter in his “Statistical Accounts” has referred to the existence of the people, known as the Tharus in the erstwhile old subdivision of Madhubani. The Bhars are also believed to have belonged to some aboriginal race though nothing positive about them is known from any reliable source. The Bihar settlements in the north-eastern part of the district indicate that they possibly wielded some power in the remote part. From the work of Dr. Suniti Kumar Chatterji entitled ‘Kiratajanakirti’ it appears that Kiratas also inhabited the district for a considerable period. The Mahabharata also throws light on the Kirata culture. Prior to the Aryanisation of this land the area seems to have been under the aboriginal population and Shiva worship was predominant. The association of the family of Janaka with the worship of lord Shiva is an indication of the fact that though they formed the vanguard of Aryan culture they had to compromise with the local religious belief, dominated by the Shaivas. The kingdom of Videha included a greater portion of the district. In course of time it was ruled by a successive line of kings known as Janakas.

If tradition is to be relied upon, the Pandavas during their exile stayed in some portion of the present district and Pandaul (block headquarters) is associated with them. Janakpur, capital of Videha is situated at a short distance to the north-west of the district in the Nepalese territory and tradition points to the village of Phulhar in the north- east corner of the Benipatti thana as the flower- garden where the kings’ priests used to gather flowers for worship and identifies its temple with that of Devi Girija, which was worshipped by Sita before her marriage with Ram. Legends and traditions associate this district with a number of sages and master- minds of ancient times. Village Kakraul is associated with Kapil, Ahiari with Ahilya wife of Gautama, Bisaul with Vishwamitra and Jagban with Yajnavalkya (ascribed to the great sage of Mithila).