Nimi Vaṃśa
Nimi Vaṃśa, “the line of Nimi”
Citraratha has other meanings too: see all meanings of Citraratha. Vijaya has other meanings too: see all meanings of Vijaya. Janaka has other meanings too: see all meanings of Janaka. Jaya has other meanings too: see all meanings of Jaya. Nimi has other meanings too: see all meanings of Nimi.
A vaṃśa is a family line or dynasty. The Nimi Vaṃśa is the royal line started by King Nimi, the twelfth son of Ikshvāku. Nimi was cursed by Vasishṭha Ṛshi and became videha, “without a body”. When the ṛshis churned his body between two araṇi sticks, a son named Mithī was born. Mithī founded the city of Mithilā and set up the kingdom of Videha.
By custom, every king of this line was called Janaka, but the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa keeps their own personal names. The most famous of them is Sīradhvaja Janaka, who found Sītā while ploughing a field.
The Bhāgavata Purāṇa, in Śuka Maharshi’s telling to Parīkshit Mahārāja, gives its own account of the line. Nimi, son of Ikshvāku, did not wait for his guru Vasishṭha and began his satra-yāga with other ṛtvijas; guru and king pronounced a śāpa on each other, and both gave up their bodies. Nimi, great in ātmajñāna (knowledge of the Self), refused a new body when the devatās offered it, and he dwells now in the eyes of all embodied beings, in the opening and closing of their eyelids. From the churning of his body the maharshis brought forth Janaka, also called Vaideha and Mithila, who built Mithilā. Śuka then names the kings of the line one by one, from Janaka to Mahāvaśī, among them Sīradhvaja, from the furrow of whose plough Sītā Devī was born, and he says that by the grace of Yājñavalkya and the other lords of yoga every Maithila king stood firm in ātmajñāna and, though a householder, was beyond attachment and aversion. The Bhāgavata also tells how a king of Videha received Balarāma in Mithilā, and how Bahulāśva, a king of the line of Nimi, received Śrī Kṛshṇa in his own home and attained moksha.
Nimi’s Curse: Becoming Videha
Nimi was the twelfth son of Ikshvāku. His father gave him the eastern land of Vaijayanta. Nimi wanted to perform a great yajña (fire ritual) and asked Vasishṭha to lead it as chief purohita. Vasishṭha said no for now, because he had already agreed to lead Indra‘s yajña; he would come afterwards. Nimi did not want to wait. He asked Gautama Ṛshi and other ṛshis to perform the yajña instead.
When Vasishṭha came back and found his place taken, he grew angry and cursed Nimi: “Your body will fall, because you did not wait for me.” Nimi was just as hurt, and cursed Vasishṭha in return. Both curses came true. Vasishṭha lost his body and was born again from the tejas (radiant power) of Mitra and Varuṇa. Nimi’s body also fell.
Nimi’s ātmā did not want to enter a new womb. He asked the gathered devas to let him live in the eyes of all beings, and this was granted. That is why living beings blink. The word nimesha, “the blink of an eye”, is linked to Nimi’s name.
Mithī: Born from Churning the Araṇi
With Nimi gone, the ṛshis of his court had no king. They churned Nimi’s body between two araṇi sticks (the sticks rubbed together to make fire for rituals), and from this churning a son was born.
He was named Mithī, and also Janaka. Janaka means “the one who was fathered”: born without the usual way of birth, or “one who brought himself into being”. He was also called Mithila, the one born from the body through churning. The great city of Mithilā takes its name from him.
The Janaka Line
Every king of this line came to be called Janaka. It was a family title, not only a personal name. The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa records the individual names of the kings of the Nimi Vaṃśa. The line runs:
- Mithī (Janaka I)
- Udāvasu
- Nandivardhana
- Suketu
- Devarāta
- Bṛhaduktha
- Mahādhṛti
- Kīrtirāta
- Mahāroma
- Svarṇaroma
- Hrasvaroma
- Sīradhvaja Janaka (the famous father of Sītā)
- Kuśadhvaja
- Dharmadhvaja
- Śatadyumna
- Śuci
- Sanadvāja
- Ūrjavaha
- Satyadhvaja
- Kṛti
Sīradhvaja Janaka and the Birth of Sītā
The most famous king of this line is Sīradhvaja Janaka, “the Janaka whose banner bears a plough”. He found Sītā while ploughing a sacred field. As he prepared a field for a yajña (or for a ritual ploughing), the earth opened, and in the furrow lay a baby girl of great beauty and divine radiance. She was named Sītā, meaning “the furrow”, because she came from the ploughed groove of the earth.
So Sītā was born of the earth itself; she is the daughter of Bhūdevī (Mother Earth). From the moment of her wondrous birth, it was fixed that she would become the wife of Bhagavān Rāma.
Kuśadhvaja
Kuśadhvaja, the brother of Sīradhvaja Janaka, ruled a smaller kingdom, sometimes identified with Sāṅkāśya or Kāśī. His two daughters married sons of Daśaratha: Māṇḍavī married Bharata, and Śrutakīrti married Śatrughna.
Rāma, Bharata, Lakshmaṇa and Śatrughna married Sītā, Māṇḍavī, Ūrmilā and Śrutakīrti. These marriages joined the Videha and Ikshvāku families, the two great solar lines.
The End of the Nimi Line
The Purāṇa follows the line down to Kṛti. After him, no more kings of Videha are recorded. Like the main Ikshvāku line, the Nimi Vaṃśa comes to its end in the Kali Yuga (the present age), having done its part in the larger plan of the universe.
Per Bhāgavata Purāṇa
In the Ninth Skandha of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Śrī Śuka Maharshi tells Parīkshit Mahārāja the account of Nimi Mahārāja and of the vaṃśa that came from him.
Nimi’s satra and the two śāpas
Nimi, the son of Ikshvāku, began a satra-yāga (a long yajña) and chose Vasishṭha as his ṛtvik, the priest who would conduct it. Vasishṭha answered: “O Mahārāja, Indra has chosen me first. I will complete his yajña and come back; until then, wait for me.” Nimi, the master of the house, kept silent, and Vasishṭha went and conducted Indra’s yajña.
But Nimi knew that this life is unsteady. When his guru did not come for a long time, he began the satra-yāga with other ṛtvijas. Coming back after completing Indra’s yajña, Vasishṭha saw that Nimi had gone against his word, and pronounced a śāpa: “May this Nimi, who prides himself on being learned, die!”
Nimi answered that his guru had set aside the dharma that there must be no delay in doing dharma, and had pronounced the śāpa out of greed for the dakshiṇā of two yajñas. So Nimi in turn pronounced a śāpa that Vasishṭha too would die. Nimi was great in ātmajñāna, and having said this, he gave up his body. Vasishṭha, whom Śuka calls “our great-grandfather”, also died, and was born again as the son of Mitra and Varuṇa through Urvaśī.
Nimi in the eyes of all beings
The maharshis who were Nimi’s ṛtvijas kept his body in fragrant oil. When the satra-yāga was finished, they said to the devatās who had come there: “If you, who are able, are pleased, let this body of the Mahārāja live!” The devatās said: “Tathāstu (so be it).”
But Nimi said: “May I not have the bond of a body!” And he taught them. Those who are given to reflection and have fixed their minds on Śrī Hari do not long for union with a body, for they fear the separation from it that is death; they serve the lotus feet of Śrī Hari. The body is the home of bodily pain, of suffering of the mind and of fear, and he had no wish for such a body. For the jīva (the living being) who takes a body, death waits on every side, as the bigger fish waits for the fish in the water.
Then the devatās said: “Let Nimi, without a body, dwell at will in the eyes of embodied beings, within the adhyātma, the gathering of body, senses and mind. The opening and closing of the eyelids will show his presence.”
Janaka born from the churning
Thinking that without a king the people would live in fear, the maharshis churned the body of Nimi, and a son was born. He was given three names:
- Janaka, because he was born in an unusual way;
- Vaideha, because he was born in the line of the bodiless (videha) Nimi;
- Mithila, because he was born from the churning (mathana) of the body.
The city he built is Mithilā.
The line of Mithila
“O Parīkshit Mahārāja,” Śuka says, and names the kings of the line, each the son of the one before:
- Janaka (Mithila, Vaideha), born from the body of Nimi
- Udāvasu
- Nandivardhana
- Suketu
- Devarāta
- Bṛhadratha
- Mahāvīrya
- Sudhṛti
- Dhṛshṭaketu
- Haryaśva
- Maru (not the Maru of the Ikshvāku line)
- Pratīpaka
- Kṛtiratha
- Devamīḍha
- Viśruta
- Mahādhṛti
- Kṛtirāta
- Mahāroma
- Svarṇaroma
- Hrasvaroma
- Sīradhvaja
- Kuśadhvaja
- Dharmadhvaja Mahārāja
- Mitadhvaja
- Khāṇḍikya
- Bhānumān
- Śatadyumna
- Śuci
- Sanadvāja
- Ūrdhvaketu
- Aja
- Purujit
- Arishṭanemi
- Śrutāyu
- Supārśvaka
- Citraratha
- Kshemadhi, lord of Mithilā
- Samaratha
- Satyaratha
- Upaguru
- Upagupa, born with an aṃśa (a portion) of Agni
- Vasvananta
- Yuyudha
- Subhāshaṇa
- Śruta
- Jaya
- Vijaya
- Ṛta
- Śunaka
- Vītahavya
- Dhṛti
- Bahulāśva
- Kṛti
- Mahāvaśī
Sīradhvaja. While Sīradhvaja was ploughing the earth for a yajña, Sītā Devī was born from the furrow of his plough. So he was called Sīradhvaja: “he whose banner, the sign of his fame, is the plough (sīra)”. In the Bhāgavata, Kuśadhvaja is his son, and Dharmadhvaja Mahārāja is the son of Kuśadhvaja.
The two sons of Dharmadhvaja. Dharmadhvaja had two sons, Kṛtadhvaja and Mitadhvaja. Kṛtadhvaja’s son was Keśidhvaja, who stood clear and firm in ātmajñāna. Mitadhvaja’s son was Khāṇḍikya, who knew the nature of karma, the rites of the Vedas; out of fear of Keśidhvaja, Khāṇḍikya fled. The line that Śuka follows runs on from Khāṇḍikya to Mahāvaśī.
The Maithila kings and ātmajñāna
“O Parīkshit Mahārāja,” Śuka says at the end of the line, “all these belong to the vaṃśa of Mithila.” By the grace of Yājñavalkya and the other lords of yoga, every one of them stood clear and firm in ātmajñāna. So, though they lived as gṛhasthas (householders), they were beyond attachment and aversion and all the pairs of opposites.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 13
Janaka among the knowers of Śrī Hari
Brahmā, telling Nārada of those who have known the māyā of Śrī Hari, the Supreme Person, names Mahārāja Janaka among them, with Ikshvāku, Purūravā, Mucukunda, Gādhi, Raghu, Ambarīsha, Sagara and others. And Yama, teaching his dūtas, names Janaka among the twelve who alone know the secret dharma taught by Śrī Hari himself: Brahmā the Svayambhū, Nārada, Śiva, Sanatkumāra, Bhagavān Kapila, Svāyambhuva Manu, Prahlāda, Janaka, Bhīshma, Bali, Śuka the son of Vyāsa, and Yama himself. That dharma is bhakti-yoga, and the one who knows it attains moksha.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 2, Chapter 7; Skandha 6, Chapter 3
Sītā Devī, daughter of the king of Videha
Śuka calls Sītā Devī the daughter of Janaka, king of Videha. She is Lakshmī Devī, who has the honour of dwelling on the chest of Śrī Hari, appeared now with the name Sītā, and in qualities, good conduct, age and form she was in every way fit for Śrī Rāma. At her svayaṃvara, three hundred men brought the terrible bow of Īśvara and set it down; Śrī Rāma took it up as a young elephant picks up a stick of sugarcane, strung it, drew it and broke it in the middle. Having made her his own, he set out for Ayodhyā.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 10
Balarāma in Mithilā
In the time of Śrī Kṛshṇa, when Balarāma and Śrī Kṛshṇa pursued Śatadhanvā to the outer garden of Mithilā, Balarāma said: “The king of Videha is very dear to me; I wish to see him,” and he entered Mithilā. The lord of Mithilā saw him and rejoiced. He rose at once and worshipped Balarāma with the finest articles of pūjā, according to the rite. The mahātmā Janaka honoured Balarāma Prabhu with love, and Balarāma lived in Mithilā for some years. During that time Duryodhana, son of Dhṛtarāshṭra, learned gadā-yuddha, fighting with the mace, from him.
The kings of Mithilā were also among the kings who came to Samantapañcaka at the time of the great eclipse of the sun, and who were filled with wonder at the form of Śrī Kṛshṇa and his queens.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapters 57, 82
Bahulāśva receives Śrī Kṛshṇa
Śuka tells Parīkshit of a king of the line of Janaka, famed as Bahulāśva, who ruled Videha and was free of ahaṅkāra (the sense of “I”). In his city of Mithilā lived the brāhmaṇa Śrutadeva, whose every wish was fulfilled through one-pointed bhakti to Śrī Kṛshṇa. Both were dear to Śrī Kṛshṇa. Gracious to both, Bhagavān Kṛshṇa mounted the chariot brought by Dāruka and set out for Videha with the maharshis: Nārada, Vāmadeva, Atri, Vyāsa, Paraśurāma, Asita, Aruṇa, Śuka himself, Bṛhaspati, Kaṇva, Maitreya, Cyavana and others. On the way, people of many lands came with pūjā materials in their hands and drank in his lotus face with their eyes.
When he reached Mithilā, the citizens and village people went out to meet him. Knowing that the father of the world had come to bless them, Bahulāśva, lord of Mithilā, and Śrutadeva both fell at his feet, and at one and the same moment, with cupped hands, each invited Śrī Kṛshṇa and the maharshis to be his guests. Wishing to give joy to both, Śrī Kṛshṇa entered both homes in two separate forms, without either knowing.
The great-hearted Janaka king Bahulāśva offered his guests excellent seats. His bhakti grew, joy surged in his heart and his eyes filled with tears. He bowed to them and washed their feet, and with his family he sprinkled on his head that water, which purifies the people. He worshipped them with gandha (sandal paste), garlands, cloths, ornaments, dhūpa (incense), dīpa (lamps), other pūjā materials, and gifts of cows and bulls. When they were satisfied with food, he pleased them with sweet words, and he placed the feet of Śrī Kṛshṇa in his lap and pressed them gently with joy.
Then Bahulāśva praised Śrī Kṛshṇa:
- “O Prabhu Kṛshṇa, you are the witness-consciousness in all beings, the inner witness of the mind, the very Ātmā. That is why you have given darśana to us who remember you.”
- “You have said: ‘Neither Saṅkarshaṇa, nor Lakshmī Devī, nor Brahmā Deva is dearer to me than an ananya-bhakta, a devotee who has no other refuge.’ To make that word of yours true, you have given us darśana.”
- “To munis who have given up everything and abide in peace, you give your very Self. Who that knows this truth would leave your lotus foot?”
- “Taking avatāra in the Yadu line, you have spread your fame, which removes the pāpa of the three worlds and brings saṃsāra to rest for those bound in it.”
- “Namaskāra to you, whose power of knowledge never fails, who as Nārāyaṇa Maharshi performed the most tranquil tapas.”
- “O Parabrahman, stay a few days in our house with the maharshis, and with the dust of your feet purify the line of Nimi.”
Śrī Kṛshṇa stayed, and brought auspiciousness to the men and women of Mithilā. In the other house he received the simple pūjā of Śrutadeva and taught him the greatness of the mahātmās and of the brāhmaṇa, and told him to worship the maharshis with the same śraddhā he showed to Bhagavān Kṛshṇa himself. So Śrutadeva, and Bahulāśva the lord of Mithilā too, worshipped Śrī Kṛshṇa and the maharshis with the understanding that they are one Ātmā, and attained the goal of the good, moksha. Śrī Kṛshṇa, who loves his devotees, lived with them both, taught them the path of the sādhus, and returned to Dvārakā.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 86
Sources
- Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa, Madhyama Bhāga, Chapter 64
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 2, Chapter 7; Skandha 6, Chapter 3; Skandha 9, Chapters 10, 13; Skandha 10, Chapters 57, 82, 86