City of the Mahabharata
Mithila
मिथिला
Janaka's city of philosopher-kings
Mithila (Janakpur in the Nepal Tarai, capital of the Videha country): Janaka's city of philosopher-kings, located at coordinates 26.72°N, 85.93°E.
Key Facts
| Type | City |
|---|---|
| Sanskrit name | मिथिला |
| Coordinates | 26.72°N, 85.93°E |
| Modern location | Janakpur in the Nepal Tarai, capital of the Videha country |
| Significance | Janaka's city of philosopher-kings |
About Mithila
The capital of Videha and seat of the Janakas, the philosopher-kings of the epic, where Yajnavalkya, Sulabha, Panchashikha and Ashtavakra all held their disputations. Vyasa sent his son Suka across the whole earth on foot to its gate, where the porters turned him away with rough words and fifty women trained to read men's minds tested him through a night before Janaka came out on foot with the arghya on his head. It was of this city that Janaka said that if Mithila burned, nothing of his would burn with it.
Why it matters: Janaka's city of philosopher-kings
Details
- Saying
- If the whole of Mithila be consumed in a conflagration, nothing of mine is burnt
On the Map
Mithila sits at 26.72°N, 85.93°E, in Janakpur in the Nepal Tarai, capital of the Videha country.
View on the full mapStories Set at Mithila
Where the Kingdom Ends
A sentence of exile that its author could not locate
The Victory Nobody Wanted
Five brothers, a wife and a sage argue a king back onto his throne
The Queen's Answer to the Beggar King
Janaka shaves his head, and his wife takes his renunciation apart
The Yajus Taken From the Sun
A goddess entering a man's mouth, and the fee split in two
Three Doors and Fifty Women
The son of Vyasa is made to walk, and then made to wait