Janamejaya
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Emperor Janamejaya was the son of Maharaja Parikshita and great-grandson of Arjun the valiant warrior hero of the Mahabharat epic.
He was a chandravanshi Pandava descendant of the kuru Bharata dynasty, an Aryan dynasty that was the ruling elite of India from approximately 1500BC. A warrior king, Janamejaya was famously reverred during his age as the King of the Kurus as well as one of the greatest Emperors of Indian history.
Mahabharata
Emperor Janamejaya was responsible for the re telling of the famous epic Mahabharata a story of Janamejaya's ancestors from the time of Bharata up to the great Kurukshetra war between his great grandfathers the Pandavas and their paternal cousins the Kauravas. This was recited to him by the sage Vaishampayana after he asked the sage about his ancestors.
The Mass Revenge of Janamejaya on the Nagas
Emperor Janamejaya ascended to the throne of Hastinapura upon the death of his father Parikshita. According to Hindu legends, it is stated that Parikshita, the lone descendant of the House of Pandu, was assassinated by the Naag people of a nearby state, worshippers of the Nagas (snake worshippers).
It is narrated that one day whilst seated on his throne, Emperor Janamejaya was informed by a Brahmin that his father Parikshita did not die of natural causes, but was assassinated by a Prince of the Nagas, Takshaka. This made Janamejaya furious and he promised to avenge the murder of his father. He proceeded to what was mentioned in scriptures as the great mass genocide of snakes and the Nagas people ever recorded, as a mass sacrifice.
The mass sacrifice was performed on the banks of the river Arind at Bardan, now Known as Parham, a corrupt form of Parikshitgarh, A masonry tank said to have been built by Emperor Janamejaya to mark the site of the sacrificial pit, known as Parikshit kund, still exists in Mainpuri district. Close to this village a very large and high khera containing the ruins of a fort and some stone sculptures has been found . It is said to date back to the time of Emperor Parikshita. A popular local legend is that as a consequence of the virtues of that sacrifice snakes are still harmless in this place and its neighborhood.
This sacrifice is today reverred by Hindus as the Naag Panchmee ritual.
| The Mahabharata by Vyasa | |
|---|---|
| Characters | |
| Kuru Dynasty | Others |
| Santanu | Ganga | Bhishma | Satyavati | Chitrāngada | Vichitravirya | Ambika | Ambalika | Vidura | Dhritarashtra | Gandhari | Shakuni | Subhadra | Pandu | Kunti | Madri | Yudhisthira | Bhima | Arjuna | Nakula | Sahadeva | Duryodhana | Dushasana | Yuyutsu | Dushala | Draupadi | Hidimbi | Ghatotkacha | Ahilawati | Uttara | Ulupi | Chitrāngadā | Amba > Barbarika | Babruvahana |Iravan | Abhimanyu | Parikshita | Virata | Kripa | Drona | Ashwatthama | Ekalavya | Kritavarma | Jarasandha | Satyaki | Mayasura | Durvasa | Sanjaya | Janamejaya | Vyasa | Karna | Jayadratha | Krishna | Balarama | Drupada | Hidimba | Dhristadyumna | Shalya | Adhiratha | Shikhandi |
| Other | |
| Pandava | Kaurava | Hastinapura | Indraprastha | Kurukshetra war | Bhagavad Gita | |
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