जनकं ह वैदेहं याज्ञवल्क्यो जगाम सम् एनेन वदिष्य इति अथ ह यत् जनकः च वैदेहः याज्ञवल्क्यः च अग्निहोत्रे समूदाते तस्मै ह याज्ञवल्क्यो वरं ददौ सः ह कामप्रश्नम् एव वव्रे तम् ह अस्मै ददौ तम् ह संराट् एव पूर्वः पप्रच्छ
janakaṃ ha vaidehaṃ yājñavalkyo jagāma sam enena vadiṣya iti atha ha yat janakaḥ ca vaidehaḥ yājñavalkyaḥ ca agnihotre samūdāte tasmai ha yājñavalkyo varaṃ dadau saḥ ha kāmapraśnam eva vavre tam ha asmai dadau tam ha saṃrāṭ eva pūrvaḥ papraccha
Yājñavalkya came to Janaka of Videha, thinking: "I shall not speak." But when [once] Janaka and Yājñavalkya were conversing about the agnihotra, Yājñavalkya had granted him a boon; he chose the right to ask questions at will, and it was granted him. And so the king himself asked first.
a2ec06421a85 · published Jul 27, 2026, 1:11:14 AM UTC
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The prologue of the greatest of the conversations, with a sly prehistory: Yājñavalkya came "thinking: I shall not speak" (by another reading, "I shall speak"): the sage meant to keep silent! But he is in debt: once, for a conversation about the agnihotra, he granted the king a kāma-praśna — the right to "a question at will", an open promissory note for any question. And Janaka presents it.
The detail is precious: the highest teaching will be obtained not by the favour of a mood but by the keeping of a word: the sage is bound by his own gift. A teacher may be weary, may evade — but a promise to a pupil is sacred; and Janaka's glory is that out of all the gifts in the world he once chose the right to ask. The ability to choose a question instead of a treasure is the mark of all the great ones of this book, from Maitreyī to Gārgī.