Janaka

Quick Facts

About Janaka

The philosopher-king of Mithila, whose name the whole Videha line carried, and the epic's standing example of a ruler who owns a kingdom without being owned by it. He banished a brahmana and then could not name a border beyond which the man might go; he kept Vyasa's son standing at his gate a night and a day before coming out on foot with the water-offering on his own head; and he is quoted again and again for the line that if Mithila burned nothing of his would burn. It was from his house that Sita was given to Rama.

In Their Words

Let Mithila burn - nothing that is mine is burning in it.

Janaka

Traits

• detached
• learned
• just
• hospitable

Story Appearances

• Where the Kingdom EndsThe judge who could not locate his own frontier❧ 18 min
• Three Doors and Fifty WomenThe king who made Vyasa's son wait❧ 19 min
• The Queen's Answer to the Beggar KingThe renouncer taken apart by his own queen❧ 16 min

Stories Featuring Janaka

6 further tales on this site name Janaka, in canonical reading order.

• The Ones Who Would Not Turn BackThe city walks out with its kings, and a sage answers the weepingVana Parva ‧ 21 min
• The Arrow From Behind the TreeA wife who read the omens, and a king who would not listenVana Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Testimony of the ElementsWhat Rama said when she was brought back to himVana Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Victory Nobody WantedFive brothers, a wife and a sage argue a king back onto his throneShanti Parva ‧ 21 min
• The Yajus Taken From the SunA goddess entering a man's mouth, and the fee split in twoShanti Parva ‧ 17 min
• The Rain Agastya Did Not NeedTwelve years of drought against one sage's seedsAshvamedhika Parva ‧ 16 min

Character Arc

1. 1The SentenceOrders a brahmana out of his dominions and cannot say where they end
2. 2The GateThree doors, fifty women, and a whole night before the answer
3. 3The BarleyHis queen shows him that the shaved head was the cheap part

Key Relationships

• Instructed➝Shuka
• Wife➝The Queen of Videha
• Daughter➝Sita

Places in Janaka's Story

Drawn from the stories Janaka appears in.

• Mithilaमिथिला
• Hastinapurहस्तिनापुर
• Forest Hermitageवन आश्रम
• Amaravatiअमरावती
• Uttarakuruउत्तरकुरु
• Chediचेदि
• Kurukshetraकुरुक्षेत्र
• Videha (Mithila)विदेह
• Kosalaकोसल
• Vyasashramaव्यासाश्रम
• Himavatहिमवत्
• Mount Meruमेरु

Related Characters

Others counted among the Sages & Others.

• ✦Sage Kanva
• ◎Eklavya
• ★Shukracharya
• ♛Vrishaparva
• ♛Yadu
• ✧Princess Amba