It is native to the Mithila region, which encompasses parts of the eastern Indian states of Bihar and Jharkhand as well as Nepal's Koshi and Madhesh Provinces.

[1] The language is predominantly written in Devanagari, but the historical Tirhuta and Kaithi scripts retained some use until today.

[1][17] Darbhanga, Madhubani, and Janakpur constitutes important cultural and linguistic centers of Maithili language.

[21] The name Maithili is derived from the word Mithila, an ancient kingdom of which King Janaka was the ruler (see Ramayana).

Scholars in Mithila used Sanskrit for their literary work and Maithili was the language of the common folk (Abahattha).

The beginning of Maithili language and literature can be traced back to the 'Charyapadas', a form of Buddhist mystical verses, composed during the period of 700-1300 AD.

These padas were written in Sandhya bhasa by several Siddhas who belonged to Vajrayana Buddhism and were scattered throughout the territory of Assam, Bengal, Bihar and Odisha.

But the disturbed era did not produce any literature in Maithili until Vidyapati Thakur (1360 to 1450), who was an epoch-making poet under the patronage of king Shiva Singh and his queen Lakhima Devi.

He produced over 1,000 immortal songs in Maithili on the theme of love of Radha and Krishna and the domestic life of Shiva and Parvati as well as on the subject of suffering of migrant labourers of Morang and their families; besides, he wrote a number of treaties in Sanskrit.

Vidyapati influenced the religious literature of Asama, Bengal, Utkala and gave birth to a new Brajabuli /Brajavali language.

[35][36] The earliest reference to Maithili or Tirhutiya is in Amaduzzi's preface to Beligatti's Alphabetum Brammhanicum, published in 1771.

Colebrooke's essay on the Sanskrit and Prakrit languages, written in 1801, was the first to describe Maithili as a distinct dialect.

Professional troupes, mostly from dalit classes known as Kirtanias, the singers of bhajan or devotional songs, started to perform this drama in public gatherings and the courts of the nobles.

Lochana (c. 1575 – c. 1660) wrote Rāgatarangni, a significant treatise on the science of music, describing the rāgas, tālas, and lyrics prevalent in Mithila.

The use of Maithili language was revived through personal efforts of MM Parameshvar Mishra, Chanda Jha, Munshi Raghunandan Das and others.

[48] In 1965, Maithili was officially accepted by Sahitya Academy, an organisation dedicated to the promotion of Indian literature.

[52][53] The following diphthongs are present:[55] A peculiar type of phonetic change is recently taking place in Maithili by way of epenthesis, i.e. backward transposition of final /i/ and /u/ in all sort of words.

[58] By the early 20th century, this script was largely associated with the Mithila Brahmans, with most others using Kaithi, and Devanagari spreading under the influence of the scholars at Banaras.

[60][58][59] Tirhuta retained some specific uses (on signage in north Bihar as well as in religious texts, genealogical records and letters), and has seen a resurgence of interest in the 21st century.