Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Madhesh Madhesh


Madhesh (Maithili:मधेश), also known as Terai or Tarai, is the flat southern region of Nepal which stretches from east to west. It is a part of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It occupies about 17% of the total land and is home to almost 50% of the total population of Nepal.

The Madhesh is a 20 to 30 km wide broad belt of flat and fertile land stretching from the east to the west of Nepal. To the south are the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, and the Sivalik/Chure Range is to the north of Madhesh.

Contrary to the frequent image of Nepal as mountainous country with snow-covered Himalayas and Mongoloid people, the region is a flat, fertile piece of land with people and culture mostly resembling to that of northern India. The major languages in the region are Maithili, Bhojpuri, Nepali and Hindi .

The eastern part of Madhesh was a part of the ancient kingdom Mithila with Janakpur as its capital.

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