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

18 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 Friend of DasarathaA vulture fights Ravana in the sky, and a headless Rakshasa points the way to SugrivaVana Parva ‧ 14 min
• Sakamvari and the Ford of GoldThe goddess who fed the sages on herbs, and the tirtha where Vishnu knelt to RudraVana Parva ‧ 21 min
• Panchashikha and the KingLiberation Without Leaving the ThroneShanti Parva
• The Song of AshmanJanaka's Question About GriefShanti Parva
• 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 ‧ 16 min
• The Night Janaka Opened the SkyBefore the battle with Pratardana, the king of Mithila shows his army heaven and hellShanti Parva ‧ 14 min
• Does Consciousness SurviveYudhishthira asks whether anyone is left awake in the emancipate state, and Bhishma answers out of the Sankhya of KapilaShanti Parva ‧ 22 min
• The Signs of Approaching DeathYajnavalkya tells the king of Mithila which door the soul leaves by, and how a man learns that his year has begunShanti Parva ‧ 20 min
• The Seven WindsVyasa halts a recitation on the Himavat and names the winds that move the worldsShanti Parva ‧ 21 min
• The Names That Cleanse SinAsked what destroys sin, Bhishma answers with a litany of gods, rivers, mountains, sages and kingsAnushasana Parva ‧ 15 min
• The Five Forms of MarriageBhishma on how a daughter is given, what a dower does not buy, and the honour owed to womenAnushasana Parva ‧ 24 min
• The Fourfold Religion of CompassionBhishma on abstaining from meat, and the kings who kept the vowAnushasana Parva ‧ 24 min
• The Rain Agastya Did Not NeedTwelve years of drought against one sage's seedsAshvamedhika Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Kings Who Gave LawfullyIndra refuses the Rishis, a king answers for convenience, and the names of those who reached heaven by honest giftsAshvamedhika Parva ‧ 18 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.

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

Related Characters

Others counted among the Sages & Others.

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