MAITHILI GRAMMAR. 



PAET I. 

 Chaptee I. 

 THE ALPHABET. 



§ 1. The Alphabets in use in Mithila are three. — The Deva-nagari, the 

 Maithili, and the Kayathi. The first is familiar to every reader of this, and 

 need not be described here. It is not much used in common life, and seldom 

 even in manuscripts. 



§ 2. The Maithili is the char;icter used by the Maitliil Brahmaiis, 

 both in the affairs of common life, and in their sacred boolvs. Few of the 

 Brahmans, who are not professed pandits, can read the Deva-nagari charac- 

 ter. The Maithili character is also affected by Maithil Kayasthas, who 

 pretend to be better educated than their fellows. The Maithili cliaracter 

 is nearly the same as Bangali, differing only in one or two letters. 



§ 3. The Kayathi character is that in general use throughout 

 Mithila by all educated persons who are not Brahmans. It is a corruption 

 of the Deva-nagari, and can be written much faster than the latter, or even 

 than sldlcasta U'rdu. There is a clerk in my office in Madhubani, who can 

 wi'ite excellent Kayathi much quicker than even the most practised of the' 

 old " Persian" muharrirs. Besides the speed with which it can be wi-itten, it 

 has the advantage of thorough legibility. It is being gradually introduced 

 by Government into ofl&cial documents and with considerable success, in spite 

 of the opposition of the old Persian School of Government officials. 



§ 4. A lithographed comparative table, giving specimens of these three 

 alphabets, will be found at the end of this grammar. 



Pronunciation. 



(a.) Vowels. 



§ 5. The vowels should l^e pronounced as in Samskrit, with tlic fol- 

 lowing exceptions. 



§ G. The pronunciation of the vowel ^ a is peculiar. It is not so 

 broad as that of the corresponding vowel in Bengali, but on the other liand 

 it is liroadcr than that of the neutral vowel in High Hindi. I know of no 



