Videha
| Videha Kingdom | |||||
| Nepali: विदेह | |||||
|
|||||
.png) Videha and other kingdoms of the late Vedic period
|
|||||
| Capital | Janakpur of  Nepal |
||||
| Languages | Maithili | ||||
| Religion | Vedic Hinduism Buddhism Jainism |
||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||
| Historical era | Iron Age | ||||
| • | Established | unknown (~1100 BCE) | |||
| • | Disestablished | unknown (~500 BCE) | |||
| Currency | Mohar[citation needed] | ||||
| Today part of |  India Nepal |
||||
Videha (Nepali: विदेह) was an ancient South Asia kingdom between Ancient India and Ancient Nepal, now located in a region that overlaps with what is now Mithila federal state in eastern Madhesh of Nepal and the eastern Indian state of Bihar.[1] The borders of Videha cannot be identified with certainty because the Videha rivers mentioned in the Vedic literature have changed course and shifted by a few hundred kilometers over their history.[2]
During the late Vedic period (c. 1100-500 BCE), Videha became one of the major political and cultural centers of South Asia, along with Kuru and Pañcāla.[3] Late Vedic literature such as the Brahmanas and the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad both mention Janaka, as a great philosopher-king of Videha, renowned for his patronage of Vedic culture and philosophy, and whose court was an intellectual centre for Rishi (sages) such as Yajnavalkya.[4] Raychaudhuri suggests 14th- to 8th-century BCE range, while Witzel suggests 11th-8th century BCE for this Brahmanas and Upanishads composition period in Videha.[5] The Vedic school of Aitareyins probably moved to Videha and other centers of scholarship, during the late Vedic period.[6]
The region and culture of Videha is often mention in Hindu literature, states Samuel.[7] The texts mention the idea of royal dynasty and the tradition of philosopher-kings who renounce, with examples including Nami (or Nimi in some texts), Janaka and other kings.[7] Their stories are found in ancient surviving Hindu, Buddhist and Jaina texts, suggesting that renunciation by kings was a respected tradition before the birth of Buddha, and that this tradition was also broadly accepted in regions other than Videha, such as in Pancala, Kalinga and Gandhara.[7] King Nimi or Nami of Videha is included as the 21st of the twenty four Tirthankaras in Jainism (not to be confused with closely spelled Nemi, the 22nd Tirthankara).[7]
Towards the end of the Vedic period, Videha likely became part of the Vriji (Pali: Vajji) confederation and subsequently into the Magadha empire.[8] The Videha kingdom is also mentioned in the Sanskrit epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. In the Ramayana, Sita is the princess from Videha,[7] who marries Rama creating an alliance between the kingdoms of Kosala and Videha.[9] The capital of Videha was in Dhanusa district, identified with the modern town of Janakpur in Southern Nepal.[10]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Michael Witzel (1989), Tracing the Vedic dialects in Dialectes dans les litteratures Indo-Aryennes ed. Caillat, Paris, pages 13, 116-124, 141-143
- ^ Michael Witzel (1989), Tracing the Vedic dialects in Dialectes dans les litteratures Indo-Aryennes ed. Caillat, Paris, pages 17
- ^ Michael Witzel (1989), Tracing the Vedic dialects in Dialectes dans les litteratures Indo-Aryennes ed. Caillat, Paris, pages 13, 141-143
- ^ H. C. Raychaudhuri (1972), Political History of Ancient India and Nepal, Calcutta: University of Calcutta, pp.41–52
- ^ Michael Witzel (1989), Tracing the Vedic dialects in Dialectes dans les litteratures Indo-Aryennes ed. Caillat, Paris, pages 13, 39-46, 141-143
- ^ Michael Witzel (1989), Tracing the Vedic dialects in Dialectes dans les litteratures Indo-Aryennes ed. Caillat, Paris, pages 76-77, 125
- ^ a b c d e Geoffrey Samuel, (2010) The Origins of Yoga and Tantra: Indic Religions to the Thirteenth Century, Cambridge University Press, pages 69-70
- ^ H.C. Raychaudhuri (1972), pp. 70-76
- ^ Raychaudhuri (1972)
- ^ Raychaudhuri (1972)
- Mahabharata of Krishna Dwaipayana Vyasa, translated to English by Kisari Mohan Ganguli
- The Geography of India: Sacred and Historic Places. Britannica Educational Publishing.
External links[edit]
|
||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
