Sages & Others
The Queen of Videha
The Wife Who Argued Back
Who was The Queen of Videha?
The Queen of Videha: The Wife Who Argued Back, one of the sages and supporting figures in the Mahabharata. The unnamed princess of Kosala and wife of Janaka, who found her husband alone after he had shaved his head, abandoned Mithila and taken up the vow of living on a handful of barley picked from crevices in the fields.
Quick Facts
| Title / Epithet | The Wife Who Argued Back |
|---|---|
| Faction | Sages & Others |
| Key traits | Fearless, Reasoning, Wrathful, Unanswerable |
| Notable relationships | Husband: Janaka, Quoted Her Words: Arjuna, Her Argument Aimed at Him: Yudhishthira |
| Featured in | 1 story |
About The Queen of Videha
The unnamed princess of Kosala and wife of Janaka, who found her husband alone after he had shaved his head, abandoned Mithila and taken up the vow of living on a handful of barley picked from crevices in the fields. Fearlessly and in anger she took his renunciation apart: with a handful of grain he could satisfy neither guest nor god nor ancestor, he had made his mother sonless and his wife a widow while both still lived, and if a kingdom and a handful of barley were truly equal to him, then why abandon the one and covet the other. Arjuna recited her speech to Yudhishthira when he too wanted to walk away from a throne.
In Their Words
If a kingdom and a handful of barley are the same to you, why then have you abandoned the one?
The Queen of Videha
Traits
- Fearless
- Reasoning
- Wrathful
- Unanswerable
Story Appearances
Character Arc
- The ApproachFinds the shaven king alone and speaks without fear
- The ArgumentShows that a giver of food sustains every mendicant alive
Key Relationships
- HusbandJanaka
- Quoted Her WordsArjuna
- Her Argument Aimed at HimYudhishthira
Places in The Queen of Videha's Story
Drawn from the story The Queen of Videha appears in.
Related Characters
Others counted among the Sages & Others.