History of Mithila

I was going through a blog. It was regarding Noakhali. It is very touching. In that I came across a line regarding Mithila.
It went like this
"Bhulua is now a village situated a few miles west of Noakhali town on the Lakshmipur road. According to tradition it derived its name from a scion of Raja Adi Shur of Mithila in the early 13th century."
I was suprprized to see mention of Mithila in as far as Tripura. This led me to look for history of Mithila. Wikipedia is now a days one of the common source for such knowledge. The page gave following information about Adi Shur.

Around 6th century to 9th century (Pal Dynasty)

Mithila, being part of erstwhile Bengal, was ruled by Pal Dynasty for three centuries. Pal Dynasty were followers of Buddhism.The last king of Pal Dynasty was Madanpal. Madanpal proved to be a weak king and was defeated by Adishur Samant Sen's army.
[edit] Around 9th century to 11th century (Sen Dynasty)

Sen Dynatsy were followers of Hinduism and hence people of Mithila, being followers of Hinduism, helped Samant Sen in defeating Madanpal. Mithila thus came under the rule of Sen Dynasty. Eminent scholar Vachaspati Mishra (from Village Thardhi in Madhubani district) was from this period, Sen Dynasty had five kings - Samant Sen, Hemant Sen, Vijay Sen, Vallal Sen and Laxman Sen (until the 11th century).
[edit] Around 11th century to 14th century (Deva Dynasty)

Nanya Deva defeated the last King of Sen Dynasty, Laxman Sen and became King of Bengal and thereby Mithila which till bifurcation of Bihar from bengal was a part of that State. Nanya Deva had come from west and had his first capital at Simraun Garh (Birganj).

Krnat Dynasty also had five kings namely Nanya Dev, Gang Dev, Narshingh Dev, Shakrasingh Dev and Hari Singh Dev. Of these Hari Singh Dev became the most famous. He was instrumental in initiating and implementing PANJI Prabandha system in Maithil Brahmins and Maithil Kayasthas (Karn Kayasthas). He was also great patron of art and literature. In the court of Hari Singh Dev the Royal Priest was Pt. Kameshwar Thakur the author of 'VARNA RATNAKAR', which is considered to be the first prose, an encyclopedia in any north Indian language. Pt. Kameshwar Thakur later became founder of Oinwar Dynasty.

It was very interesting to read those words so I continued. Following there was information which I could relate to.

In 1326, Firoz Shah Tughlak attacked and conquered Mithila region. The last king of Karnat Dynasty Harisingh Dev fled to Nepal. According to historian Dr. Upendra Thakur anarchy prevailed in Mithila region for next 27 years. In 1353 Firoz Shah Tughlak appointed Pt. Kameshwar Thakur as KARAD RAJA (rent paying king). Kameshwar Thakur belonged to village named Oini, which is presently in SAMASTIPUR District. The dynasty was named after the village Oini as Oinwar Dynasty. Kameshwar Thakur, being of scholarly nature, was unable to collect and pay tax to Firoz Shah Tughlak. Thus, Kameshwar Thakur was dethroned and his son, Bhogishwar Thakur was made next King of Mithila region. This dynasty was one of the few ruling dynasties of India who were Brahmins. Thereafter, the Mithila region had Kings from Brahmin caste only.

The list kings of Oinwar Dynasty is as under:

* Kameshwar Thakur
* Bhogishwar Thakur
* Ganeshwar Singh
* Kirti Singh
* Bhavesh Thakur (also known as Bhav Singh) – He was younger son of Kameshwar Thakur. Since Kirti Singh died issueless, the kingdom passed over to Bhavesh Thakur.
* Dev Singh
* Shiv Singh – He declared himself to be independent King and stopped paying taxes to Tughlak empire. Due to his decision to challenge authority of Tughlaks empire, Ibrahim Shah Tughlak attacked Mithila. In the battle, Shiv Singh was killed.
* Padma Singh – He was younger brother of Shiv Singh.
* Queen Bishwas Devi – Padma Singh died issueless at an early age. After his death, his wife Queen Bishwas Devi ruled Mithila region, but she too died soon after taking over reign of Mithila.
* Hari Singh – He was cousin of Padma Singh. Since Padma Singh died issueless, the throne passed to Hari Singh.
* Nar Singh
* Dhir Singh (ruled 1459–1480)
* Bhairav Singh (ruled 1480–1515) - He was a very popular king and initiated several development works like digging of ponds construction of roads, wells, temples, etc. He was a great patron of art and culture as well.
* Rambhadra Singh Dev
* Laxminath Singh Dev – He was the last King of OINWAR dynasty. Sikandar Lodhi attacked Mithila region in 1526 and Maharaja Laxminath Singh Dev was killed in the ensuing battle.

Shivdhara, which is the nearest Major crossroad belongs to that Shiv Singh. He must have fought at that place. We happen to be at that place at many times for purchase of all petty things.

I also got interested with mention of Raja Salhesh. He was mentined in ancient history of Mithila.

The most important reference to Mithila is in the Hindu epic, Ramayana where Lord Rama's wife Sita is said to have been the princess of the land, born to King Janaka, who ruled Mithila from Janakpur. Other famous kings of Mithila during ancient period are King Bhanumath, Satghumanya, Suchi, Urjnama, Satdhwya, Kriti, Anjan, Arisnami, Srutayu, Supasyu, Suryasu, Srinjay, Sourmabi, Anena, Bhimrath, Satyarath, Upangu, Upgupt, Swagat, Snanand, Subrachya, Supraswa, Subhasn, Suchurut, Susurath, Jay, Vijay, Critu, Suny, Vith Habya, Dwati, Bahulaswa, Kriti Tirtiya.

It is said that the last King of Janak Dynasty was of bad character. He was dethroned by public under leadership of Acharyas (Learned Men). Thereafter, Mithila remained without King for hundreds of years. Instead of King, a democratic system was followed were the ruler was elected by the people and the decisions were taken in a collective manner. In fact, Mithila can be said to be the first democracy of the world. This continued for several centuries till the region was attacked and conquered by Maghadan Empire.

Thereafter several dynasties such as Vajjisangh, Lichhavis, Shaishunag, Nand, Maurya, Shung, Kant, Gupta, Vardhan etc. ruled there from time to time. There was no significant ruler in Mithila after Janaks till 5th–6th century when Jaywardhan Raja Salhesh became King. He made his capital at Mahisautha-Sirha (presently in Nepal). He defended the region against attacks by Tibetans several times. Hence, he was called Shailesh (king of Mountains) from Jaywardhan which in local dialect was called Salhesh.

He is mentioned only briefly. But we find his temple in many villages. He was worshiped more among Dushadh caste. There must be some incident which elvated him to level of demigods. People worship and dance in his name. More should be searched regarding him. I remember words of Tagore. who wrote that history is not only in the throne but a greater part was in the mass. Story of throne becomes bookish history but public keeps the untold history in customs and culture.
In this process I got interested in knowing about the Panji. So I got another link