Janamejaya

Quick Facts

About Janamejaya

Son of Parikshit who held the great sarpa satra to avenge his father's death by Takshaka. It was at his sacrifice that Vaishampayana first recited the Mahabharata as Vyasa had taught it.

In Their Words

Tell me, sage, the whole of my ancestors' deeds - leave nothing unsaid.

Janamejaya

Traits

• vengeful
• inquiring
• royal
• listener

Story Appearances

• The Epic ComposedThe king who first heard the epic❧ 23 min
• Astika Saves the SnakesHolder of the snake sacrifice❧ 20 min
• Utanka and the EarringsKing urged to vengeance❧ 20 min

Stories Featuring Janamejaya

88 further tales on this site name Janamejaya, in canonical reading order.

• The Age After the AxeHow the warrior caste came back, and how it was spoiled againAdi Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Twins in the HeathIndra's dancer, a sage's dropped bow, and the children a king carried homeAdi Parva ‧ 17 min
• The Heir ApparentA crown promised, a second fee demanded, and the conquests that frightened a blind kingAdi Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Watch Under the BanianOne brother awake while the rest of the Kurus sleep on bare groundAdi Parva ‧ 16 min
• The King Who Made Fire SickTwelve years of butter and the appetite it ruinedAdi Parva ‧ 18 min
• The Bow Out of the WaterWhat Varuna kept until two men needed itAdi Parva ‧ 16 min
• Kunti's SwayamvaraThe princess no king asked for chooses Pandu in a hall of monarchsAdi Parva ‧ 13 min
• Kunti Knows Her SonThe mother who recognised Karna in the arena and stayed silentAdi Parva ‧ 14 min
• The Boons After the BurningIndra comes down onto the ashes of Khandava and offers Arjuna and Krishna each a boon no man can obtainAdi Parva ‧ 12 min
• The Weighing of the BharataThe gods put the epic in a balance against the four Vedas, and Sauti recites the eighteen booksAdi Parva ‧ 24 min
• The Lineages of Gods and DemonsVaishampayana recites the descent of every creature from Brahma and the daughters of DakshaAdi Parva ‧ 22 min
• The Four Ways to Spend a LifeYayati, falling out of heaven, answers Ashtaka on the asramas and the road to BrahmaAdi Parva ‧ 19 min
• The King Who Only BreathedKarna answers Drona with the tale of a minister who took everything but the throneAdi Parva ‧ 13 min
• Hastinapura, City of the ElephantThe capital that held the whole epicAdi Parva
• The Blind Sage on the RiverHow five eastern kingdoms got their namesAdi Parva
• The Snake Who Was a SageA widower's war on an entire speciesAdi Parva
• The Teacher Who RememberedThe third disciple and what he refused to pass onAdi Parva
• The Seven Days of ParikshitA good king's lapse and a good deathAdi Parva
• The Physician Who Turned BackThe man who could have saved the kingAdi Parva
• The Dog at the SacrificeThe curse that began a dynasty's last chapterAdi Parva
• Takshashila, City of the Serpent SacrificeWhere the epic was first heardAdi Parva
• The Fire That Loved a PrincessWhy no army could take MahishmatiSabha Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Errand Vidura Did Not WantCarrying the invitation to the dice game he had begged the king not to sendSabha Parva ‧ 13 min
• The Kingdom Given BackDhritarashtra releases the Pandavas and returns everything they lostSabha Parva ‧ 12 min
• Krishna Takes Leave of IndraprasthaThe farewell on the road to Dwaraka, and the promise to returnSabha Parva ‧ 11 min
• The Ones Who Would Not Turn BackThe city walks out with its kings, and a sage answers the weepingVana Parva ‧ 21 min
• The Promise Made in the Kamyaka WoodsThe allies arrive, and Draupadi asks Krishna what her friendship is worthVana Parva ‧ 17 min
• The Blind King Counts the OddsA father adds up his enemies and hears whose fault it wasVana Parva ‧ 17 min
• The Council at PrabhasaThe Yadavas find the exiles on the shore and argue about ending the exile by forceVana Parva ‧ 19 min
• The Golden PloughThe sacrifice a king held because the one he wanted was forbidden himVana Parva ‧ 18 min
• The Warning in the DreamA father begs his son to live, and the son chooses to be rememberedVana Parva ‧ 18 min
• Indra Comes to GandhamadanaMatali brings Arjuna home from heaven, and the king of the gods follows him downVana Parva ‧ 11 min
• The Pyre and the Uprooted TreeA hundred and five kinsmen and one bound womanVirata Parva ‧ 17 min
• Where a Good King Must Be LivingThe Kuru court tries to find five men by their weatherVirata Parva ‧ 18 min
• Five Men on the ThronesThe morning the servants stopped pretendingVirata Parva ‧ 21 min
• The Braid She Refused to BindDraupadi answers Bhima's peace with her own hairUdyoga Parva ‧ 20 min
• Garuda's Map of the WorldThe four directions described from a bird's backUdyoga Parva ‧ 18 min
• The Choosing of the GeneralissimoFive brothers name five different men, and Krishna names the sixthUdyoga Parva ‧ 16 min
• Poverty Is a Person's DeathYudhishthira tells Krishna why a ruined man loses his shame, and still asks for peaceUdyoga Parva ‧ 18 min
• The Signs Before the WarWhat Vyasa saw in the sky, the cattle and the birth-roomsBhishma Parva ‧ 18 min
• Karna Takes the FieldThe vow that kept him out of ten days of war, and the grief that brought him into itDrona Parva ‧ 17 min
• The King Falls Out of His SeatDhritarashtra hears that Drona is dead, faints in his hall, and wakes to ask who was supposed to be guarding himDrona Parva ‧ 20 min
• The Word Brought to HastinapuraSanjaya rides through the night with the news of KarnaKarna Parva ‧ 21 min
• The Son Bhima BeheadedBhima cuts down Karna's son Bhanusena while Karna fights his way toward YudhishthiraKarna Parva ‧ 14 min
• The Night After DronaThe sleepless camp, four men in a tent, and the thread tied round Karna's wristsKarna Parva ‧ 14 min
• The River With Seven NamesWherever she was called, she cameShalya Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Head That Would Not Let GoWhy the ford on the Sarasvati is called KapalamochanaShalya Parva ‧ 19 min
• The Pupil Who Could Not LearnYears in a teacher's house, and nothing to show for themShalya Parva ‧ 19 min
• The Kingdom Poured on the FireA sage is mocked with dead cattle and burns a realm with themShalya Parva ‧ 17 min
• The Head That Followed IndraA treaty kept to the letter and broken in every other wayShalya Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Anointing of the War GodEvery god brings a gift to a six-day-old commanderShalya Parva ‧ 21 min
• The Errand Before the GriefKrishna drives to Hastinapura to reach a mother before her curse doesShalya Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Lords of the Waters and the TreasuresBalarama walks the Sarasvati past the fords where Varuna, Kubera, Indra and Surya won what they holdShalya Parva ‧ 18 min
• The Gem on Ashwatthama's HeadDraupadi sits down to starve until the stone is brought to herSauptika Parva ‧ 15 min
• The Duel of the Brahmashira WeaponsAshwatthama and Arjuna loose the world-ending astra at Vyasa's hermitageSauptika Parva ‧ 18 min
• Gandhari Shows Krishna the FieldWith the sight Vyasa gave her, the blindfolded queen walks Krishna through the dead of KurukshetraStri Parva ‧ 21 min
• The Secret of the GodsVyasa tells the blind king why the war was ordained before his eldest son was bornStri Parva ‧ 14 min
• The Victory Nobody WantedFive brothers, a wife and a sage argue a king back onto his throneShanti Parva ‧ 21 min
• What the Brothers Wanted MostAn evening argument about virtue, wealth and desireShanti Parva ‧ 19 min
• Three Balls of MudThe Boar invents the rite for the dead, and has no one above him to offer it toShanti Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Horse-Headed Voice in the DeepHow the Vedas were sung back out of the hands of thievesShanti Parva ‧ 17 min
• The Rishi Born From a WordVyasa tells his disciples who he was before he was VyasaShanti Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Road of WorksBrahman and the first Rishis stand a thousand years on the shore, and sacrifice is foundedShanti Parva ‧ 22 min
• Krishna's Gift to the Dying GrandsireThe Boon That Took Away Pain, Hunger and Thirst So Bhishma Could SpeakShanti Parva ‧ 19 min
• The King Who Was Left AloneVyasa tells Yudhishthira of Hayagriva, who fought robbers after his army was gone and won heaven at his postShanti Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Gods and the SalavrikasVyasa answers Yudhishthira's guilt with the war heaven fought for thirty-two thousand yearsShanti Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Curses of the RishisKrishna names the marks that Brahmanas left on gods, seas and mountainsShanti Parva ‧ 19 min
• The Gold Mountain in the Ocean of MilkBrahma tells Rudra of the one Purusha whom neither of them can seeShanti Parva ‧ 17 min
• The Mysteries of Religion, Part OneThe deities, the Pitris and the Rishis each give up a duty whose reason is secretAnushasana Parva ‧ 24 min
• The Cow Born of NectarDaksha's gift, Mahadeva's third eye, and why cattle wear many coloursAnushasana Parva ‧ 14 min
• The Departure of BhishmaThe sun turns north, and the grandsire lets goAnushasana Parva ‧ 17 min
• Where the Kingdom EndsA sentence of exile that its author could not locateAshvamedhika Parva ‧ 18 min
• The Earrings of MadayantiA pupil grown old, and a bargain with a man-eating kingAshvamedhika Parva ‧ 19 min
• The Horse Goes SouthEkalavya's son, and the day Dwaraka grabbed the bridleAshvamedhika Parva ‧ 17 min
• The Rain Agastya Did Not NeedTwelve years of drought against one sage's seedsAshvamedhika Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Adhwaryu and the YatiA wandering ascetic stops at a sacrifice and asks the priest who gave the goat his consentAshvamedhika Parva ‧ 14 min
• The Kings Who Gave LawfullyIndra refuses the Rishis, a king answers too quickly, and the names of those who reached heaven by honest giftsAshvamedhika Parva ‧ 18 min
• The Wordy DartsFifteen Years of Bhima's UnforgivenessAshramavasika Parva ‧ 19 min
• The King Asks Leave of His PeopleAn Assembly Absolves the Man Who Ruined ItAshramavasika Parva ‧ 17 min
• The Court Comes to the ForestAn Army Marches Out to Visit Two Old AsceticsAshramavasika Parva ‧ 18 min
• The Night the Dead ReturnedVyasa Calls the Fallen Out of the GangaAshramavasika Parva ‧ 20 min
• Vyasa Brings Back ParikshitA Son Bathes His Dead Father at the Snake SacrificeAshramavasika Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Omens of DwarakaA City Watches Its Own Death ApproachMausala Parva ‧ 17 min
• Balarama Returns to the SeaThe Serpent Leaves by the Mouth It Came FromMausala Parva ‧ 16 min
• Arjuna Empties DwarakaOne bowman escorts a dead city inland, and the sea walks behind himMausala Parva ‧ 18 min
• Uddhava Takes His LeaveThe one Yadava who left Prabhasa before the grass turned to ironMausala Parva ‧ 12 min
• The Return of the PortionsWho everybody turned out to have beenSvargarohana Parva ‧ 17 min
• The Rewards of the Eighteen ParvasVaishampayana prices each stage of hearing the Bharata against a sacrifice, from the Agnishtoma to twenty-one thousand years with IndraSvargarohana Parva ‧ 17 min

Places in Janamejaya's Story

Drawn from the stories Janamejaya appears in.

• Nagalokaनागलोक
• Hastinapurहस्तिनापुर
• Takshashilaतक्षशिला
• Badarikashramaबदरिकाश्रम
• Naimisharanyaनैमिषारण्य
• Kurukshetraकुरुक्षेत्र
• Banks of the Gangaगङ्गा तट
• Angaअंग
• Vangaवङ्ग
• Kalingaकलिंग
• Pundraपुण्ड्र
• Suhmaसुह्म

Related Characters

Others counted among the Kuru Dynasty.

• ✦Pritha (Kunti)
• ✦King Dushyanta
• ✦Shakuntala
• ✦Emperor Bharata (Sarvadamana)
• ⚔︎Bhishma
• ∵Drona