Gomateshwari at 16:31, 25 May 2023

2023-05-25T16:31:47Z

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{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2016}} {{Use Indian English|date=January 2016}}
{{infobox royalty
| succession = [[King]] [[Kuru Kingdom|of Kuru Kingdom]]
| reign = 12th-9th century BCE
| title = Kuru King
| predecessor = [[Parikṣit]]
| father = [[Parikṣit]]
| mother = Madravati (mother), Adrika (stepmother)
|spouse = Vapusthama
|issue = Chandrapida (Shatanika), Suryapida (Sahasranika)
| religion = [[Historical Vedic Religion]]|
| dynasty = [[Kuru (kingdom)|Kuru]]
}}

'''Janamejaya''' ({{lang-sa|जनमेजय}}) was a [[Kuru (kingdom)|Kuru]] king who reigned during the Middle [[Vedic period]].<ref>[[Michael Witzel]] (1989), ''Tracing the Vedic dialects'' in ''Dialectes Dans Les literatures Indo-Aryennes'' ed. [[Colette Caillat|Caillat]], Paris, 97–265.</ref> Along with his father and predecessor [[Parikshit]], he played a decisive role in the consolidation of the Kuru state, the arrangement of [[Vedas|Vedic hymns]] into collections, and the development of the orthodox [[srauta]] ritual, transforming the Kuru realm into the dominant political and cultural part of northern [[India]]. He also appears as a figure in later legends and traditions, the [[Mahabharata]] and the [[Puranas]].

== Etymology ==
The name ''Janamejaya'' means "man-impelling".<ref name=":0" />

==In Vedic Literature==

The ''[[Aitareya Brahmana|Aitareya Brāhmaṇa]]'' states that he was a great conqueror and that his ''[[purohita]]'' (domestic priest) Tura Kāvaṣeya consencrated him as king and officiated his ''[[ashvamedha|aśvamedha]]'' (horse sacrifice). It also states that at one of his sacrifices he did not employ the Kaśyapas as priests but rather the Bhūtavīras. It states that the Asitamr̥ga family of Kaśyapas were eventually reemployed by Janamejaya. The ''[[Shatapatha Brahmana|Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa]]'' mentions that he along with his brothers Ugrasena, Bhīmasena, and Śrutasena performed an ''[[ashvamedha|aśvamedha]]'', officiated by Indrota Daivāpa Śaunaka, in order to cleanse themselves of sin. Both previous Brāhmaṇas state that his capital was Āsandīvant. The ''Gopatha Brāhmaṇa'' narrates an "absurd" anecdote regarding Janamejaya and two ganders.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Macdonell|first=Arthur Anthony|title=Vedic Index of Names and Subjects|last2=Keith|first2=Arthur Berriedale|publisher=John Murray|year=1912|volume=I|pages=72, 78–79, 273–274, 314|language=}}</ref>{{Sfn|Raychaudhuri|1923|p=11}}

The ''[[Panchavimsha Brahmana|Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa]]'' mentions a Janamejaya who was a priest at a snake sacrifice, but Macdonell and Keith consider him to be a different person than Janamejaya the Kuru king.<ref name=":0b">{{Cite book|last=Macdonell|first=Arthur Anthony|title=Vedic Index of Names and Subjects|last2=Keith|first2=Arthur Berriedale|publisher=John Murray|year=1912|volume=I|pages=78–79, 273–274, 314|language=}}</ref>

==Historicity==

[[File: Late_Vedic_Culture_(1100-500_BCE).png|right|thumb|[[Kuru Kingdom|Kuru]] and other kingdoms of the [[Vedic period]]]]
[[Hem Chandra Raychaudhuri|H.C. Raychaudhuri]] dates [[Parikshit]], his father, in ninth century BC.{{sfn|Raychaudhuri|2006|pp=29-30}} [[Michael Witzel]] states the Pārikṣita dynasty corresponds with the presence of [[Black and red ware|Black and Red ware]] in the Panjab and West & South regions of North India, which archeologically dates to 1180 BCE.<ref>Michael Witzel (1989), [http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/dialects.pdf ''Tracing the Vedic dialects''], p.141</ref>

Historian [[H. C. Raychaudhuri]] notes that there are two pairs of Parikṣits and Janamejayas in epic and Puranic genealogies, but believes that the second Janamejaya's description better corresponds to the Vedic king, whereas the information available about the first is scant and inconsistent, but Raychaudhuri questions whether there were actually two distinct kings. He suggests that there "is an intrusion into the genealogical texts" of the late, post-Vedic tradition, which also has two of Janamejaya's father Parikṣit, possibly "invented by genealogists to account for anachronisms" in the later parts of the ''Mahābhārata'', as "a bardic duplication of the same original individual regarding whose exact place in the Kuru genealogy no unanimous tradition had survived."<ref>Raychaudhuri (1996), pp.2-19</ref>{{refn|group=note|Also, Witzel (1995) only refers to one Parikshit and one Janamejaya.}}

Four copper-plate grant inscriptions purportedly issued during Janamejaya's reign were discovered in the 20th century, but were proved to be fake by historians.<ref>{{cite book |author=Richard Salomon |title=Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t-4RDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA167 |year=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press, USA |isbn=978-0-19-509984-3 |page=167 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Shankar Goyal |title=History writing of early India: new discoveries and approaches |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pS9uAAAAMAAJ |year=1996 |publisher=Kusumanjali |oclc=34752382 |page=1}}</ref>

==In Puranic Literature==
{{Infobox character
| color = #FFD300
| info-hdr = Personal Information
| name = Janamejaya
| image = The sage Vyasa and the king Janamejaya..jpg
| caption = The sage [[Vyasa]] and King Janamejaya
| spouse = Vapushtama <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m01/m01096.htm|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100116130453/http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m01/m01096.htm|archive-date = 16 January 2010|title = The Mahabharata, Book 1: Adi Parva: Sambhava Parva: Section XCV}}</ref>
| children = Śatáníka, Sankukarna
| affiliation = Kurus
| relatives = [[Parikṣit]] (father), [[Madravti]] (mother), [[Draft:Adrika|Adrika]] (stepmother), [[Asvmedhadatta]] (grandson)
}}
He was the son of King [[Parikshit]] and Queen Madravati and stepson of queen [[Draft:Adrika|Adrika]] according to the [[Mahabharata]] (I.95.85). {{sfn|Raychaudhuri|2006|p=15, 35n}} He was the grandson of great warrior [[Abhimanyu]] and the great-grandson of [[Arjuna]], the valiant warrior hero of the [[Mahābhārata]]. He ascended to the Kuru throne following the death of his father. His significance comes as the listener of the first narration of the Mahābhārata, narrated by [[Vaishampayana]], a pupil of [[Vyasa]]. According to the [[Vayu Purana]] and the [[Matsya Purana]], there was a dispute between him and Vaishampayana. Possibly, as its aftermath, he abdicated and his son Shatanika succeeded him.<ref>Misra, V.S. (2007). Ancient Indian Dynasties, Mumbai: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, {{ISBN|81-7276-413-8}}, p.278</ref> Also the [[Devi-Bhagavata Purana|Devi Bhagavata Purana]] was narrated to him by Vyasa.

===In Mahabharata===

In [[Mahabharata]], Janamejaya was mentioned as having six able brothers viz, Kakshasena, Ugrasena, Chitrasena, Indrasena, Sushena, and Nakhaysena.<ref>'' Journal of the Department of Letters'' by University of Calcutta (Dept. of Letters), Publ. Calcutta University Press, 1923, p2</ref> The initial chapters of the epic narrate various aspects of his life including his conquest of [[Taxila|Takshasila]] and about his encounter with [[Nāga]] [[Takshaka]]. He wanted to exterminate the race of Nagas since Takshaka was responsible for the death of his father Parikshit.

[[File: Kashyapa_alive_tree_what_is_burnt_by_Takshak_(_near_Pond_)_and_parikshit_bitten_by_Takshak.jpg|left|thumb|Parikshit bitten by Takshak from Birla razmnama.]]

Emperor Janamejaya was responsible for the retelling of the famous epic ''[[Mahābhārata]]'', a story of Janamejaya's ancestors from the time of [[Bharata (Mahabharata)|Bharata]] up to the great [[Kurukshetra]] war between his great-grandfathers the [[Pandavas]] and their paternal cousins the [[Kauravas]]. The Mahabharata states that it was recited to Janamejaya at the ''sarpa satra'' (snake sacrifice) by the sage [[Vaishampayana]] to whom it had been imparted by his preceptor [[Vedavyasa]],<ref>Vaidya P.L. and A.D. Pusalkar (1962, reprint 2003). ''The Mahabharata: Its History and Character'' in S. Radhakrishnan (ed.) ''The Cultural Heritage of India'', Vol.II, Kolkata: The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, {{ISBN|81-85843-03-1}}, p.60</ref> after he asked [[Vaishampayana]] about his ancestors.

===Sarpa Satra (snake sacrifice)===
{{main|Sarpa Satra}}
[[File:Snakesacrifice.jpg|thumb|The snake sacrifice of Janamejaya, as [[Astika (mythology)|Astika]] tries to stop it.]]
Emperor Janamejaya ascended to the throne of [[Hastinapura]] upon the death of his father [[Parikshit]]. According to legend, Parikshit, the lone descendant of the House of [[Pandu]], had died of snakebite. He had been cursed by a sage to die so, the curse having been consummated by the serpent-chieftain [[Takshak]].
Janamejaya bore a deep grudge against the serpents for this act, and thus decided to wipe them out altogether. He attempted this by performing a great ''Sarpa Satra'' – a sacrifice that would destroy all living serpents.
At that time, a learned sage named [[Astika (mythology)|Astika]], a boy in age, came and interfered. His mother [[Manasa]] was a Naga and his father a [[Brahmin]]. Janamejaya had to listen to the words of the learned Astika and set the then-imprisoned Takshaka free. He also stopped the massacre of the Nagas and ended all enmity with them (1,56).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Janamejaya's Sarpa Yaga (Snake Sacrifice) {{!}} Mahabharata Stories, Summary and Characters from Mahabharata|url=https://www.mahabharataonline.com/stories/mahabharata_story.php?id=28|access-date=2020-09-03|website=www.mahabharataonline.com}}</ref> From that time onward, the Nagas and Kurus lived in peace.
The mass sacrifice was started on the banks of the river Arind at Bardan, now known as Parham, a corrupt form of [[Parikshitgarh]]. {{citation needed|date=April 2016}} A masonry tank (reservoir) said to have been built by Emperor Janamejaya to mark the site of the sacrificial pit, known as ''Parikshit kund'', still exists in [[Mainpuri]] district. This is known as Gowdvana. Close to this village a very large and high Khera-''(Regional Word meaning Hamlet)'' containing the ruins of a fort and some stone sculptures has been found. It is said to date back to the time of Emperor Parikshit. A popular local legend is that as a consequence of the virtues of that sacrifice snakes are still harmless in this place and its neighborhood.

==See also==

* [[Kuru Kingdom]]
* [[Hindu mythology]]
* [[Janaka]]
* [[Bimbisara]]
*[[Historicity of the Mahabharata]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
* {{citation|last=Raychaudhuri|first=Hemchandra|title=Political History of Ancient India: From the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty|url=|year=1923|author-link=Hem Chandra Raychaudhuri|publisher=University of Calcutta|isbn=}}
{{Mahābhārata}}

[[Category:Vedic period]]
[[Category:9th-century BC Indian monarchs]]
[[Category:Characters in the Mahabharata]]

Janamejaya - Revision history

Gomateshwari at 16:31, 25 May 2023