Samastipur

Samastipur lies in the fertile plains of Mithila, amid rivers flowing south from the Himalayan foothills. Local histories trace its older name to Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah of Bengal, who established authority over southern Tirhut in the fourteenth century. Nearby Oini was associated with the Oinwara rulers, whose court supported Sanskrit learning and the poet Vidyapati. Their territory lay to the north of lands held by Ilyas Shah.