Janamejaya

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Janamejaya II
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Janamejaya
Historical Vedic Religion

Janamejaya (

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" or "victorious from birth".[2]

In Vedic literature

The Aitareya Brāhmaṇa states that he was a great conqueror and that his purohita (domestic priest) Tura Kāvaṣeya consencrated him as king and officiated his 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 Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa mentions that he along his brothers Ugrasena, Bhīmasena, and Śrutasena performed an 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.[2][3]

The 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.[4]

Historicity

Kuru and other kingdoms of the Vedic period

H.C. Raychaudhuri dates Parikshit, his father, in ninth century BC.[5] Michael Witzel states the Pārikṣita dynasty corresponds with the presence of Black and Red ware in the Punjab and West and South regions of North India, which archeologically dates to 1180 BCE.[6]

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."[7][note 1]

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.[8][9]

In Puranic literature

Janamejaya
Madravti (mother), Asvmedhadatta
(grandson)

He was the son of King

Devi Bhagavata Purana was narrated to him by Vyasa.[13]

In Mahabharata

In Mahabharata, Janamejaya was mentioned as having six able brothers, Kakshasena, Ugrasena, Chitrasena, Indrasena, Sushena, and Nakhashena.[14] The initial chapters of the epic narrate various aspects of his life including his conquest of 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.

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

Vedavyasa,[15]
after he asked Vaishampayana about his ancestors.

Sarpa Satra (snake sacrifice)

Main article: Sarpa Satra
Astika
tries to stop it

Emperor Janamejaya ascended to the throne of

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, 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).[16]
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] 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.

Succession

Janamejaya was succeeded by his grandson Ashwamedhadatha.[17][page needed][18]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Also, Witzel (1995) only refers to one Parikshit and one Janamejaya.

References

Citations

  1. ^ Michael Witzel (1989), Tracing the Vedic dialects in Dialectes Dans Les literatures Indo-Aryennes ed. Caillat, Paris, 97–265.
  2. ^ a b Macdonell, Arthur Anthony; Keith, Arthur Berriedale (1912). Vedic Index of Names and Subjects. Vol. I. John Murray. pp. 72, 78–79, 273–274, 314.
  3. ^ Raychaudhuri 1923, p. 11.
  4. ^ Macdonell, Arthur Anthony; Keith, Arthur Berriedale (1912). Vedic Index of Names and Subjects. Vol. I. John Murray. pp. 78–79, 273–274, 314.
  5. ^ Raychaudhuri 2006, pp. 29–30.
  6. ^ Michael Witzel (1989), Tracing the Vedic dialects, p.141
  7. ^ Raychaudhuri (1996), pp.2-19
  8. ISBN 978-0-19-509984-3
    .
  9. OCLC 34752382
    .
  10. ^ "The Mahabharata, Book 1: Adi Parva: Sambhava Parva: Section XCV". Archived from the original on 16 January 2010.
  11. ^ Raychaudhuri 2006, p. 15, 35n.
  12. ISBN 81-7276-413-8
    , p.278
  13. ISBN 9780791413814
    .
  14. ^ Journal of the Department of Letters by University of Calcutta (Dept. of Letters), Publ. Calcutta University Press, 1923, p2
  15. ISBN 81-85843-03-1
    , p.60
  16. ^ "Janamejaya's Sarpa Yaga (Snake Sacrifice) | Mahabharata Stories, Summary and Characters from Mahabharata". www.mahabharataonline.com. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  17. ^ Raychaudhuri 1923.
  18. ^ Wilson, Horace H. (1868). Select Works: "The" Vishnu Purana ; 4 : a system of Hindu mythology and tradition ; translated from the original Sanskrit, and illustrated by notes derived chiefly from other Puranas. Trübner.

Sources

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