Bihar Days

Prior to 1947, the Maithil Brahmans dominated North Bihar culturally, politically, and economically. Darbhanga Raj, the richest zamindari estate in British India, was owned by a family of the elite sub-group of Brahmans, the Srotriyas. The high prestige of this elite was based on a lifestyle prescribed by ancient law codes involving simplicity of life,...
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Prior to 1947, the Maithil Brahmans dominated North Bihar culturally, politically, and economically. Darbhanga Raj, the richest zamindari estate in British India, was owned by a family of the elite sub-group of Brahmans, the Srotriyas. The high prestige of this elite was based on a lifestyle prescribed by ancient law codes involving simplicity of life, daily Vedic rites, and intermarriage within a small network of lineages 24 generations deep. It was a highly conservative, inward-looking, isolationist community.

In 1980, anthropologist Carolyn Brown Heinz was privileged to see inside this elite community with a one-year grant from the Indo-US Subcommission and return trips over the next two decades. Independence had brought elimination of royal titles and dismantling of the vast Darbhanga Raj estate. The last king had died. These changes upended the old order, and she was able to observe the fall-out at close range. Told in first person, this is a highly personal account, told with grace and compassion.

An unexpected development during the same period was the emergence of a women's art form known as Mithila or Madhubani Art, which Heinz was also able to observe at first hand and describe in this work.