Madhubani

Madhubani belongs to the heart of Mithila, near the seats of rulers whose courts sustained Sanskrit learning and Maithili literary culture. The Oinwar dynasty governed this country during the later Middle Ages. Its rulers shifted their capital to Sugauna near Madhubani when Bengal's intervention divided Tirhut, placing the locality close to an important political centre rather than making it the capital itself.

The wider country subsequently entered the Mughal provincial system. Authority changed again after the British victory at Buxar in 1764, when Madhubani and other parts of Bihar passed under British control. Administrators faced both local resistance and incursions across the Nepal frontier. The resulting conflict formed part of the Anglo-Nepalese War of the early nineteenth century. Madhubani's historical setting thus joins Mithila's courtly traditions with successive provincial governments and the pressures of a northern frontier, whose political relationships extended beyond the boundaries of the present district.