Janaka of the Solar Dynasty and Janasthāna

This Janaka was a king of the Solar dynasty (sūryavaṃśa). He married Guṇārṇavā, the daughter of Varuṇa. He is not the Janaka of Mithilā who was the father of Sītā. He is a different king of the same line.

With his priest Yājñavalkya, he looked for the path to easy moksha (liberation). Varuṇa, his father-in-law, sent him to the Gautamī as the best kshetra (holy field). Janaka performed the Aśvamedha and other yajñas on the bank of the Gautamī and reached liberation. The place of his great yajñas became the tīrtha called Janasthāna, which spreads over four yojanas.

Who he was

The Brahma Purāṇa introduces him simply as a king of the Solar dynasty. He married Guṇārṇavā, whose name means “ocean of virtue”. She was the daughter of Varuṇa, the deva of the waters. The name fits her because she truly gave all four aims of life: dharma, artha, kāma and moksha. His royal priest (purohita) was the great ṛshi Yājñavalkya.

The question about moksha

King Janaka spoke to Yājñavalkya. He said that worldly enjoyment and moksha are both called supreme by the greatest ṛshis. Enjoyment through wealth, servants, horses and chariots is fine, but in the end it has no sap. Moksha alone gives immortality, so it is better. But giving up attachment is a hard path. He asked Yājñavalkya, the greatest of ṛshis, how moksha could be reached easily.

Yājñavalkya answered that Varuṇa, the deva of the waters, was the king’s father-in-law and well-wisher. Varuṇa could be his teacher. He told the king to go to Varuṇa and ask, and Varuṇa would instruct him in what is truly good for him.

Varuṇa’s teaching

Yājñavalkya and Janaka went together to Varuṇa and asked him the path of liberation. Varuṇa taught:

Moksha is reached in two ways: through karma (holy rites) and through akarman (keeping away from work).
The path declared in the Veda is that karma is better for one’s welfare than akarman.
Everything, including all four aims of life, is bound up with karma.
It is not true that the path of moksha comes from akarman alone.
All grains come through karma. So Vedic karmas should be done with the whole heart.
Through that karma people gain both worldly enjoyment and moksha.
Among the four āśramas (stages of life), the householder’s stage gives puṇya (merit).
Varuṇa gave his own view that both enjoyment and moksha are possible in the householder’s life.

Janaka and Yājñavalkya then asked which place, which tīrtha, gives both worldly pleasures and liberation. Varuṇa answered:

In the whole Earth, Bharatavarsha is the most meritorious.
In Bharatavarsha, the Daṇḍaka region is the most meritorious. Karma done there gives worldly pleasures and moksha.
Among tīrthas, Gautamī Gaṅgā is the best. It gives moksha.
By yajña and gifts given there, a person gains worldly pleasures and liberation.

The yajña and the moksha

Janaka and Yājñavalkya went back to their city with Varuṇa’s leave. King Janaka, with Yājñavalkya as his chief priest, performed the Aśvamedha and other holy rites. He went to the bank of the Gautamī Gaṅgā and reached liberation through yajña. Many other kings also reached liberation by the grace of the Gautamī.

From then on the place was called Janasthāna, “the seat of people”. It was the seat of many yajñas and the place where many reached liberation. It spreads over four yojanas. A person who remembers it, goes to it, bathes there, gives gifts, or offers water and food to the pitṛs (ancestors) there, or simply goes to it with devotion, gains all cherished wishes and even moksha.

Sources

Brahma Mahā Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 17