Ikshvāku Vaṃśa Krama

At Citrakūṭa, Bharata had come to persuade Rāma to return to Ayodhyā, and the debate about dharma had reached its sharpest point. Then Vasishṭha Maharshi, the royal teacher of the Ikshvāku dynasty, told the whole line of the Sūryavaṃśa, the family of the Sun. He began with its first beginnings through Brahmā and the seven ṛshis, and came down to Daśaratha and Rāma. This is told in the Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa of the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa.

The setting at Citrakūṭa

Rāma had just answered Jābāli’s nāstika (materialist) argument and refuted it. Vasishṭha then stepped forward and gave a teaching of a different kind. He did not argue against a view. He told history. By telling the line of the Ikshvāku kings, he showed that the principles Rāma was keeping were not empty ideas. These principles were pitṛ-vākya-pāripālana (keeping the word of one’s father), the unbroken word once given, and respect for the ancestor. They were the living tradition on which the glory of the Sūryavaṃśa had stood for countless generations.

The line from Brahmā to Rāma

Vasishṭha told the line from its first beginnings.

Brahmā → Marīci → Kaśyapa → Vivasvān (Sūrya) → Manu → Ikshvāku

  • From Brahmā, the creator, came Marīci. Marīci was one of the saptaṛshis, the seven ṛshis, who were the mind-born sons of Brahmā.
  • From Marīci came Kaśyapa. He was the father of the great clans of devas, asuras and all living beings.
  • From Kaśyapa and Aditi came Vivasvān. He is Sūrya, the Sun. His son was Manu Vaivasvata.
  • Manu was the father of the human race and the first king. He began the rule of dharma among men.
  • His son Ikshvāku became the first king of Ayodhyā. He founded the dynasty that carries his name.

From Ikshvāku came a long line of great kings. In his narration, Vasishṭha named each one and praised him for his own virtues: his yajñas (fire rituals), his conquests, his reign in dharma and his famous deeds.

The line passed through these kings:

  1. Vikukshi
  2. Śaśāda
  3. Kakutstha. From him the dynasty also took the name Kākutstha.
  4. Anenas
  5. Pṛthu
  6. Vishṭarāśva
  7. Ārdra
  8. Yuvanāśva
  9. Śrāvasta
  10. Bṛhadaśva
  11. Kuvalāśva
  12. and many more, down to Sagara

Sagara dug the ocean. His descendants then follow:

  • Aṃśumān
  • Bhagīratha, who brought the Gaṅgā down to earth
  • Dilīpa
  • Raghu. From him the dynasty takes the name Raghuvaṃśa.
  • Aja
  • Daśaratha, the father of Rāma

What Vasishṭha showed

Vasishṭha’s narration made a point stronger than any argument of philosophy. The Ikshvāku kings had kept their line, their fame and their glory in dharma through countless generations, by keeping the very principles that Rāma was now keeping. The word that is given, the duty that is honoured and the tradition of the ancestor that is kept: these were the living substance of the greatness of the Sūryavaṃśa.

If Rāma gave up his father’s word, however strong the arguments, he would break the unbroken chain of kingship in dharma that had made the Ikshvāku dynasty what it was. So Vasishṭha’s narration was a teaching and also a defence of Rāma. It told Rāma what his line is and what it has always stood for. It showed that Rāma’s conduct was the perfect form of it.

Sources

  • Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, the chapters of Vasishṭha’s narration (within Chapters 100–110)