Janak

Also known as: King Janak · Family: Videha · Role: king · First appears: Book I, Canto 1 · Nárad

In Book I, Janak recounts that he found the infant Sítá beneath his plough and raised her as his daughter. He vowed to give her to a hero worthy of her; when suitors could not lift the divine bow, they were turned away, and their later siege of Míthilá ended after Janak won help from the Gods. He received the famous bow from the Gods as the price of his imperial sacrifice, and welcomed Viśvámitra with honour at the sacrificial ground.

When Ráma broke the bow, Janak declared that Sítá was his by right and promised her to him. He sent ministers to Ayodhyá and proposed that Ráma and Lakshmaṇ marry his daughters. Janak also arranged marriages for Bharat and Śatrughna to his nieces, and named his brother Kuśadhwaj king in the place of Sudhanvá, whom he had slain after refusing his demands for the bow and Sítá. In Book II, Sítá recalls that Janak gave her to Ráma and Urmilá to Lakshmaṇ.