Raj Darbhanga | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1557 CE–1947 CE | |||||||||
 Flag | |||||||||
| Capital | Darbhanga | ||||||||
| Common languages | Maithili, Sanskrit | ||||||||
| Religion | Hinduism | ||||||||
| Government |
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| Historical era | Medieval India | ||||||||
• Established | 1557 CE | ||||||||
• Disestablished | 1947 CE | ||||||||
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| Today part of | India and Nepal | ||||||||
The Darbhanga Raj, also known as Raj Darbhanga and the Khandwala dynasty, was a Maithil Brahmin dynasty and the rulers of territories, not all contiguous, that were part of the Mithila region, now divided between India and Nepal. The rulers of Raj Darbhanga were Maithil Brahmins and their seat in the town of Darbhanga became the core of the Mithila region as the rulers were patrons of Maithil culture and the Maithili language.
At its peak, the dynasty encompassed over 4000 square miles (10,360 km2) and is described as the "largest and richest of the North Bihar zamindaris and one of the greatest zamindaris of British India".[2] Despite not being recognised as a princely state by the British Raj, Darbhanga was larger and held more magisterial powers than many princely states, particularly those in Western India.[3] The region was highly prosperous until the late 1990s.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
rorabacherwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Henning Brown, Carolyn (1988). "Raja and Rank in North Bihar". Modern Asian Studies. 22 (4): 757–782. doi:10.1017/S0026749X00015730. JSTOR 312524. S2CID 143084073.
- ^ Ramusack, Barbara (2004). The Indian Princes and Their States. Cambridge University Press. pp. 3–5. ISBN 9781139449083.