________________
THE VIDEHAS
237 the Videhas maintained a high position in Vedic society at least in the Brāhmaṇa period, and from the superior intellectual position that they had attained in this period it is legitimate to assume that Vedic Aryan culture had taken its root in Videha long before the Brāhmaṇa age, and most probably in the early Samhitā age of the Rgveda.
The Jātaka stories, too, refer to sacrifices performed by the Videhan kings, saying that goats were sacrificed in the name of religion. We are told in the Purāṇas that Nimi, Ikşvāku's son, performed a sacrifice for a thousand years, with the help of Vasistha who had previously officiated as high-priest at a certain Yajña performed by Indra.
The evidence of the Adhyātma Rāmāyana also testifies to the sacrificial activities of the Videhan royal family. Viśvāmitra is represented as saying to Rāma : 'We are going to Mithilā, of which Janaka is the ruler. After attending the great Yajña of Janaka we shall make for Ayodhyā'.
Coming to the Epic age, we find Rāmacandra, the hero of the Rāmāyaṇa, marrying Vaidehi (= Sītā), the adopted daughter of Janaka, king of Mithilā. This Janaka is probably not the same person as the patron of Yājñavalkya; it appears that several sovereigns of the dynasty bore that name which had been rendered glorious by the intellectual and political powers of the Vedic king. The Rāmāyaṇa gives a splendid picture of the Videhan capital and the wide and richly equipped sacrificial ground of King Janaka. the wide and richly equipped
a The distance between Mithilā and Ayodhyā may b
n dhva may be gauged from the fact that during the reign of Janaka, king of Videha, it took Viśvāmitra, together with Rāma and Laksmana, four days to reach Mithilā from Ayodhyā. On the way they rested for one night only, at Viśālā.5 The messengers sent by Janaka reached Daśaratha's capital in three days of very fast travelling; while Daśaratha on his journey to the Videhan capital in his chariot took four days. Mithilā is identified by tradition with the modern Janakapura in the hills in the present Nepalese territories; a large number of pilgrims visit it every year.
Videha, its capital, Mithila, and its King Janaka are mentioned many times in the Mahābhārata. After Yudhisthira's accession to the throne of Indraprastha, before the Rājasūya sacrifice, Bhima
1 Jataka (Fausböll), Vol. I, pp. 166ff. 2 Vişnupurāna, p. 246 (Vangavāsi edition).
3 Adhyātma Rāmāyana, Bālakānda, Chap. VII, p. 68, Kāli Sarkara Vidyāratna's edition.
4 Rāmāyana, Bālakānda (Bombay edition), Chap. 73. 5 Rāmāyana (Vangavāsi edition), 1-3.
