kingdom · South Asia

Videha

1100 BCE – 600 BCE (approx.) · capital Mithila

A Later Vedic kingdom in Mithila, north of the Ganges, famed for the philosopher-king Janaka and the debates that shaped the Upanishads.

Origins

The Shatapatha Brahmana tells how Videgha Mathava, guided by the fire god Agni, carried Vedic culture east across the Sadanira river, probably the Gandak, into the marshy lands of Mithila. The kingdom that grew there lay in what is now northern Bihar and the Terai of Nepal, and it was one of the easternmost Vedic states.

Rule and society

Videha's court became a centre of speculative thought. In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad King Janaka hosts contests between Brahmin teachers, and the sage Yajnavalkya expounds the doctrine of the self, atman, and its identity with brahman. Wealth came from rice grown on the fertile floodplain. Later epic tradition made Sita, heroine of the Ramayana, the daughter of a Janaka of Videha.

Decline and legacy

By around 600 BCE the monarchy had given way to a republican order, and the Videhas became members of the Vajji confederacy centred on Vaishali. Magadha conquered the confederacy in the 5th century BCE. The name Mithila survives for the region, and its people still speak Maithili.

Lineage

VidehaVajji 700 BCE – 468 BCE

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Videha. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/videha
MLA
“Videha.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/videha. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Videha.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/videha.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Videha’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/videha (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻