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SECTION II. THE AGE OF THE GREAT JANAKAO
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Sarve rājño Maithilasya Mainākasyeva parvatāḥ nikrishtabhūtā rājāno...........
-Mahābhārata.1
We have seen that a series of calamities sadly crippled the Kurus. The kingdom fell to pieces and one of the princes had to leave the country. During the age which followed the Kuru people played a minor part in politics.
The most notable figure of the succeeding age was Janaka, the great philosopher king of Videha, mentioned in the Vedic texts as the contemporary of Uddālaka Āruņi and Yājsavalkya. The waning power of the Kurus and the waxing 'strength of the Vaidehas are shown by the fact that while Kuru princes are styled rājan (king) in certain Brahmanas, Janaka of Videha is called samrāt (supreme king). In the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇas the samrāj is asserted to be of higher dignity than a rājan. :
That the great Janaka was later than the Pārikshitas admits of no doubt. We shall show later on that he was a contemporary probably of Nichakshu (if Purāņic tradition is to be accepted), and certainly of Ushasta or Ushasti Chākrāyaṇa during whose time disaster befell the Kurus. In Janaka's time we find the notable achievements, as well as the mysterious fate, of the Parikshitas, still fresh in the memory of the people and discussed as a subject of general curiosity in the royal court of Mithilā. In the Brihad-āranyaka Upanishad
1 III. 134. 5. As all other mountains are inferior to Maināka so are kings inferior to the lord of Mithilā.
2 Ait., VIII. 14. Pañchavimśa, XIV. 1. 12, etc. 3 V, 1, 1, 12-13.
