Janaka

Janaka was the father of Sita and father-in-law of Lord

Rama. Janaka, the King of Videha, of Mithila
(a subdivision of Bihar province in India), was the eldest
son of Hrasvaroma While plowing a tract of land to be
used for a sacrificial performance, he obtained a
self-manifest daughter from the tip of the plowshare and
therefore he became known as Shiradhvaja and that
daughter became known as Sita. Being the daughter of the
royal saint Janaka, she is also sometimes called Janaki.
Parashara Muni, the grandson of Vashistha Muni and the
father of Vyasadeva, was the spiritual master of Maharaja
Janaka. The almighty Lord Balarama stayed in Mithila
for several years, honored by His affectionate devotee
Janaka Maharaja.
The great and learned scholar
Janaka was born in the dynasty of
Maharaja Nimi. When Maharaja
Nimi began performing great
sacrifices, he appointed Vashishta
to be chief priest, but Vashishta
refused, for he had already agreed
to be priest in performing a yojna
for Lord Indra. Vashishta
therefore requested Maharaja
Nimi to wait until Lord Indra's
sacrifice was finished, but Maharaja Nimi did not wait and
appointed another priest to perform the yajna. Vashishta
was very angry at King Nimi and cursed him. As a result
of this cursing and counter-cursing, both of them died.
The priests who were engaged in the sacrifice for King
Nimi preserved Nimi's body in fragrant chemicals. When
the sacrifice was over, the priests prayed for Nimi's life to
all the demigods who had come to the arena of yana but
Maharaja Nimi refused to take birth again in a material
body because he considered the material body inferior.
The great sages then churned Nimi's body, and as a result
of this churning, Janaka was born. Because he was born
in an unusual way, the son was called Janaka, and because
he was born from the dead body of his father, he was
known as Vaideha. Because he was born from the
churning of his father's material body, he was known as
Mithila, and so also the city constructed by him.
King Janaka was presented with Lord Shiva's
formidable bow. Acknowledging that the personality who
could string the sacred bow must be an extraordinary
power, King Janaka offered the hand of his daughter Sita
to the man who would come and string the bow Kings of
various kingdoms who come to Mithila with a desire for
the hand of Sitadevi were not even able to pick up the
bow. One day the great sage Vishvamitra came to the
saintly King Janaka's sacrificial arena accompanied by
Lord Rama and Lakshmana, the two sons of Dasharatha,
the King of Ayodhyo. Lord Ramacandra, on the signal of
Vishvamitra and Janaka, easily pulled the string of Lord
Shiva's enormous bow in front of innumerable spectators
and broke it in two pieces with a tumultuous sound.
 Thereafter He duly married Sitadevi. King Janaka's
affection for Lord Rama was boundless.
Janaka was a self-realized soul. Being a great devotee of
the Lord, he was transcendentally situated. Consequently
he had no obligation to perform the prescribed duties in
the Vedas. Nonetheless he performed all prescribed
activities just to set examples for the people in general.
King Janaka is mentioned in the Bhagavad gita as
having attained perfection by carrying out his
occupational duties as a Kshatriya king.
Bhagavad Gita 3.20
karmanaiva hi samsiddhim
āsthitā janakādayah
loka-sangraham evāpi
sampasyan kartum arhasi
Kings such as Janaka attained perfection solely by
performance of prescribed duties. Therefore, just for the
sake of educating the people in general, you should
perform your work
King Janaka was a raja-rishi as he was a pure devotee
of the Lord as well as the king of Mithila Contact with
matter is unavoidable in our present conditioned state as
we have to perform activities to sustain the body and to
accomplish other purposes. But if we spiritualize these
activities by performing every one of them as a service to
God, then these activities become yajna or sacrifice.

Today, we can
visit the palace of King
Janaka at Janakpur in
Nepal. Here we can see
the place of Sita's birth,
the palace where she
grew up and the capital
of the Janaka's
kingdom.

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