I hail from Bhagalpur (historic capital of ancient AngDesh kingdom with Angika dialect of Maithili as lingua franca), have travelled across East India (Assom, Bihar, Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha) with decent understanding of languages spoken in all these states and hence feel eligible to answer this.
Geoculturally, both Bihar and Jharkhand are closer to Bengal, Odisha (part of erstwhile British Bengal Presidency) and hence rightly called as ‘East Indian’.
Yet some residents of these two states may wish to call themselves as North Indian, mostly because of them associating with ‘Hindi’ identity.
Now coming to details around Bihar
(those who wish to study linguistic geography of Bihar are welcome to refer 8-volume series Seven Grammars of Bihar by linguist George Grierson) :
Bihar has a highly heterogeneous populace due to it being divided into three major linguistically diverse segments (with ballpark figure) :
Maithili Family ≈ {Bajjika 12%} + {Kendriya Maithili 12%} + {Thethi 10%} + {Surjapuri 2%} + {Angika 17%} = 53%
a. Western Maithili (Bajjika in North Bihar) ≈ 12%
Districts of Baishali, Muzaffarpur, Sheohar and Sitamarhi
b. Central Maithili (Kendriya Maithili of North Bihar) ≈ 12%
Districts of Madhubani, Darbhanga, Saharsa and Supaul
c. Southern Maithili (Thethi of North-Central Bihar) ≈ 10%
Districts of Samastipur, Begusarai, Khagaria and Madhepura
Thethi dialect is 90% same as Kendriya Maithili in sentence construction but differs in accent, hence many linguists consider this variant under umbrella of Kendriya Maithili itself.
d. North-Eastern Maithili (Surjapuri of North-Eastern Bihar) ≈ 2%
Jokihat subdivision in Araria district, Baisi subdivision in Purnea district,
Barsoi subdivision in Katihar district and entire Kishanganj district
Surjapuri dialect is highly influenced by both Nepali and Bengali languages respectively.
e. Eastern Maithili (Angika/Chheka-Chiki of Anga region in East Bihar) ≈ 17%
Districts of Banka, Bhagalpur, Katihar, Purnea, Araria, Munger and Jamui
Angika dialect has a distinct accent and is principally similar to Bengali language in verbal inflections. Anga region features as melting pot of Tirhutiya and Bengali cultures respectively.
Please note that Anga and Mithila (also known as Tirhut/Bideha), though being separate empires in past, share a common “umbrella language”, therefore Sitamarhi Bajjika Maithili to Samastipur Thethi Maithili to Supaul Kendriya Maithili to Banka Angika etc., all display a dialectal continuum with almost complete mutual intelligibility, similar to what we observe in other languages. For example, to compare extreme dialects of Maithili, like Sitamarhi and Banka, one can think of Bengali spoken in Siliguri vs Bengali spoken in Asansol.
Magahi (Magadh in Central and South Bihar) ≈ 20 %
Districts of Patna, Jehanabad, Gaya, Arwal, Aurangabad, Nalanda, Nawada, Lakhisarai and Sheikhpura
Bhojpuri (Bhabua to Champaran stretch in West Bihar) ≈ 27 %
Districts of Bhabua, Rohtas, Buxar, Bhojpur, Saran, Siwan, Gopalganj, Pashchim Champaran and Purbi Champaran
In broad linguistic sense, consolidating all dialects of Maithili (Maithili has oldest recorded literature, in its own original script Tirhut/Mithilakshar, amongst all languages in Bihar), speakers of broader Maithili language family in Bihar corresponds to tally of 53 % of Bihar’s population i.e., more than half of Bihar speaks Maithili or its variant dialects, in absolute numbers this roughly translates to estimated 60 million resident Biharis in 2020.
Barring Bhojpuri, none of the above languages are mutually intelligible with Hindi but due to historical blunders, Bihar has Hindi as its official language and hence medium of education as well.
Hence what has happened over the years, is a large section of urban, educated Bihari youth prefers Hindi (laced with vernacular pronouns/verbs/adjectives – hence dubbed as ‘Bihari Hindi’) and in most cases would feel shy/ashamed/uncomfortable to speak or won’t even know to speak their mother tongue (Maithili along with Bajjika, Angika dilaects / Magahi / Bhojpuri).
These Urban Biharis would then prefer their identity to be linked with Hindi Heartland of North India instead of exploring/understanding their socio-cultural or linguistic or culinary affinity with East India (Assom/Bengal/Odisha).
On the other hand, Biharis who are aware of their native language and cuisine would always associate themselves with their eastern neighbor and would feel at home in Bengal/Odisha compared to being in UP/Delhi, hence identifying themselves with East India. Good mutual intelligibility exists between Maithili (especially Angika, Surjapuri dialects) and Bangla languages coupled by extremely similar culinary preparations ( + preference for fish ). In fact, influence of Eastern Magadhi Prakrit language (Maithili, Bengali, Odiya and Assomiya are derivatives of Eastern ArdhaMagadhi Prakrit ), which do not have the sound ‘v’ but have the sound ‘b’ in their vocabulary, has led to the pronunciation of Bihar as ‘Bihar’ instead of ‘Vihar’ (The present region of Bihar during the Maurya, Kushan, Gupta, Pala, Sena periods had a large number of Buddhist Vihars as Bihar was the epicentre of Buddhism. Some of the prominent ones were Nalanda Vihar, Vikramshila Vihar, Odantpuri Vihar and others. The name of the state Bihar originated from the same word – Vihar, which in turn, is derived from Sanskrit meaning – dwellings of Buddhist Vikhus)
I feel sorry for fellow Biharis who lack self-esteem for their respective mother tongue. We need to learn from our eastern neighbor Bengal and other states regarding pride for speaking our mother tongue, and resisting Hindi imposition.
Though here I would like to add a special word of praise for Bhojpuri speakers who have assertively held the flag of their language sky-high and are proud of speaking Bhojpuri everywhere, unlike Maithili (and Bajjika, Angika dialects) and Magahi speakers.
“In 2003, Maithili was included in the 8th schedule of Indian Constitution as a recognised Indian language, which allows it to be used in education, government, and other official contexts in India. The Maithili language is included as an optional paper in the UPSC Exam. Maithili has a script of its own, called Tirhut/Mithilakshar (almost same as Bangla/Axomi script), and a strong literary history.’’
आउ सीखी अपन मिथिलाक्षर
But even till date, vernacular education remains a distant dream. My mother tongue Angika Maithili has been listed as an ‘Endangered Language’.
Coastal Karnataka where Tulu, Kannada and Konkani languages are spoken have education in all three mediums, thanks to patronising efforts made by Government of Karnataka.
Hindi could have coexisted with regional languages in Bihar, but its forced imposition is causing slow death of Maithili (+ dialects)/ Magahi / Bhojpuri.
As a well-travelled citizen, I have always placed ‘Being Indian’ sentiments on top with a keen interest to learn, understand language and cuisine of states/regions I have visited and hence I cherish the ‘Unity in Diversity’ our country offers.
To ensure ‘Dignity and Linguistic Identity’ in unison with ‘Unity in Diversity’, it becomes our fundamental duty to promote/patronize respective mother tongue to keep our diversity with dignity intact, and if we happen to step out of our native region, then we should also make a genuine attempt to gain insight into local customs, language etc. of the place we are visiting.
To sum up for Bihar,
Gandhiji once said, “The soul of India lives in its villages”, and so if I consider rural Bihar, then no native over there speaks Hindi at their homes. Hence, Bihar is NOT a Hindi Heartland state.
Bhojpuri is NOT the only language spoken in Bihar as many fellow Indians perceive it to be, in fact it is the second most spoken language in Bihar while Maithili occupies the first position (ballpark figure from basic demographic analytics illustrated above).
Bihar’s identity is strongly embedded into Eastern India – language, customs, festivals and food – all aspects are closer to Bengal and Odisha.
Regarding Jharkhand, it is even more complicated. Its population is an admixture of urban settlers (Biharis/Bengalis/Marwaris), native Bengali-speaking non-tribals (Kudmali/Manbhumi/Singhbhumi dialects of Bengali), native Odia-speaking non-tribals (Singhbhumi Odia), native Khortha/Nagpuri speaking non-tribals and Tribals (Santhali/Mundari/Ho/Kharia/Kurukh).
So any native Jharkhandi would clearly associate with East India, but there is some probability that a person of Bihari origin who (or whose parents) has settled in Jharkhand might identify oneself with North India for the same reasons as mentioned above.
Bande Mataram. Bande Matribhasa.