Maithili Bible (MAIWBT)

Overview

The Maithili New Testament, titled "Jivan Sandesh" (Message of Life), was published in 2010 as a joint effort of Wycliffe Bible Translators and the Bible Society of India [1][2]. Maithili is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by approximately 34.7 million people, with about 31.9 million speakers in India and 2.8 million in Nepal, making it one of the major languages of the Indian subcontinent [3][4]. The language is native to the Mithila region, encompassing parts of the Indian states of Bihar and Jharkhand as well as Nepal's Koshi and Madhesh Provinces [3]. Maithili was historically written in the Tirhuta (Mithilakshar) script, though it has increasingly adopted the Devanagari script for modern use; the Tirhuta script was formally standardized through its inclusion in Unicode version 7.0 in 2014 [3][5]. Maithili is one of the 22 scheduled languages recognized in the Constitution of India, having gained this status through the 92nd amendment in 2003 [3]. It is also the second most commonly spoken native language in Nepal [5].

Language and People

Maithili (ISO 639-3: mai) is spoken by approximately 31,900,000 people in India: Index Map. [Glottolog: mait1250]

Publishing and Organizations

Published by BS of India and WBT, Bangalore. Translation type: First.

References