Mithila region broadly comprises the districts of Vaishali, Muzaffarpur, Madhubani, Darbhanga, Samastipur, Sheohar, Sitamarhi, Begusarai, Khagaria, Madhepura, Saharsa, Supaul, Araria, and Kishanganj in the eastern part of India. This cultural region extends north of India into the Terai plains of eastern Nepal in Morang and Sunsari districts of Kosi Zone; Saptari and Siraha districts of Sagarmatha Zone; Dhanusa, Mahottari and Sarlahi districts of Janakpur Zone; and Rautahat, Bara and Makwanpur districts of Narayani Zone. Maithili is the mother-tongue of people of this area.[1]
The relationship of Maithili community with Bhojpuri and Magahi communities—the immediate neighbors have been neither very pleasant nor very hostile. These two groups have rather been very envious of the series of achievements—both literary and socio-political. But Maithili has been the only one among them which has been trying to constantly deny superimposition of Hindi over her identity. The other two have given up their claims and have resigned to accept the status of dialects of Hindi.
While almost all Maithilis have accepted Hindi as a language of formal occasions, the retention of Maithili for cultual, social , familial as well as literary purposes have also been more or less steady. The trend among the youngest generation to use Maithili in lesser and lesser occasions should be viewed in the context of the same thing happening among Hindi, Telugu or Marathi speakers who are tilting towards use of English rather than their mother tongue.