Sūrya-vaṃśa, the Solar Dynasty

Sūrya-vaṃśa · sūrya-vaṃśa, “the line of the Sun”

Citrasena has other meanings too: see all meanings of Citrasena. Indrasena has other meanings too: see all meanings of Indrasena. Gaya has other meanings too: see all meanings of Gaya. Vasu has other meanings too: see all meanings of Vasu.

The Sūrya-vaṃśa, the Solar Dynasty, is the family line of kings who trace their descent from Vivasvān, Sūrya Deva (the sun). The line runs through Vaivasvata Manu and the famous King Ikshvāku, and reaches its height in Bhagavān Śrī Rāma and his descendants. A vaṃśa is a family line or dynasty.

The Agni Purāṇa presents this vaṃśa as the most glorious of all royal lines. Its kings ruled from Ayodhyā, and their branches spread into many smaller kingdoms across Bhārata-varsha (the land of India). The Garuḍa Purāṇa and the Bhavishya Purāṇa give their own accounts of the line, described further below.

The Bhāgavata Purāṇa gives the whole line in its Ninth Skandha, told by Śrī Śuka Maharshi to Parīkshit: from Purushottama and the lotus of his navel through Brahmā, Marīci, Kaśyapa and Sūrya to Śrāddhadeva Manu, the lines of his ten sons, Iḷā and Sudyumna, the line of Dishṭa to the kings of Vaiśālī, Śaryāti‘s line to Kakudmī and Revatī, Ambarīsha, and the main line of Ikshvāku through Purañjaya Kakutstha, Māndhātā, Hariścandra, Sagara, Bhagīratha, Khaṭvāṅga and Raghu to Daśaratha, whose sons Rāma, Bharata, Lakshmaṇa and Śatrughna were Śrī Hari himself with his aṃśas. It follows Kuśa’s descendants to Bṛhadvala, who fell in the Mahābhārata war, and the kings to come down to Sumitra, the last of the line in the Kali yuga, and tells that Maru, living by yoga in Kalāpa, will set the Sūrya-vaṃśa going again at the end of the Kali yuga. It gives also the line of Nimi, the son of Ikshvāku, and the Janakas of Mithilā, and says that the telling of the vaṃśa brings purity of mind.

In the Agni Purāṇa, Agni Deva tells the line to Vasishṭha Maharshi in Chapter 273, called the glorification of the Sūrya-vaṃśa (Sūrya-vaṃśa-kīrtana). He begins at the navel-lotus of Mahāvishṇu and goes down through Brahmā, Marīci, Kaśyapa and Vivasvān to Vaivasvata Manu and his ten sons. He tells of Ilā, who became Sudyumna, and of Raivata Kakudmī, who visited Brahmā and came back to find Dvāravatī in place of his city. Then he follows the Ikshvāku kings through Kuvalāśva Dhundhumāra, Māndhātā, Hariścandra, Sagara, Bhagīratha, Raghu and Daśaratha to Śrī Rāma, whose life Vālmīki heard from Nārada and sang as the Rāmāyaṇa, and on through Kuśa‘s descendants to Śrutāyu. He ends by calling all the kings of the Ikshvāku line the pravartakas of the Sūrya-vaṃśa, the ones who carried it forward. Chapter 5, which opens the Agni Purāṇa’s telling of the Rāmāyaṇa, gives the same line in brief, from Brahmā to Daśaratha.

Origin: From Brahmā to Vivasvān

The Sūrya-vaṃśa begins at the very top of creation. Brahmā was born from the nābhi-kamala (navel-lotus) of Mahāvishṇu. From Brahmā came the maharshi Marīci, and from Marīci was born Kaśyapa. From Kaśyapa came Vivasvān, the radiant solar deva who stands at the head of the Solar Dynasty.

Vivasvān had three wives: Saṃjñā (daughter of Tvashṭṛ), Rājā (daughter of Raivata) and Prabhā. From Rājā was born Revanta. From Prabhā was born Prabhāta. From Saṃjñā, Vivasvān had Manu (Vaivasvata Manu) and the twins Yamunā and Yama. Saṃjñā also had a second form called Chāyā. Through her were born Sāvarṇya Manu, Śani, Tapatī, Vishṭi and other daughters, and later the Aśvinī Kumāras.

Vaivasvata Manu and His Sons

Vaivasvata Manu had ten mighty sons, each as great as he was. All of them settled and ruled in Ayodhyā:

1. Ikshvāku
2. Nābhāga
3. Dhṛshṭa
4. Śaryāti
5. Narishyanta
6. Prāṃśu
7. Nṛga
8. Dishṭa
9. Karūsha
10. Pṛshadhra

Manu also had a daughter named Ilā. Budha fathered Purūravas with her. After giving birth to Purūravas, Ilā became the male king Sudyumna.

Three kings were born to Sudyumna: Utkala, Gaya and Vinatāśva. Utkala received the kingdom of Utkala, and the western country became the kingdom of Vinatāśva. Gaya, the best of kings, received rule over the eastern quarter, with his capital at Gayāpurī. By the word of Vasishṭha, Sudyumna went to Pratishṭhānapura, won the kingdom there and gave it to Purūravas (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 273).

Several regional lines came from Manu’s sons:

• Narishyanta’s sons were called the Śakas.
• From Nābhāga came the great Vishṇu-bhakta (devotee of Vishṇu) Ambarīsha. He ruled his people well.
• From Dhṛshṭa grew the Dhāshṭraka clan.
• Śaryāti’s children were Sukanyā and Ānarta. From Ānarta came Reva, ruler of the land of Ānarta with Kuśasthalī as his capital.

Reva’s son was Raivata, also known as Kakudmī, who became ruler of Kuśasthalī. He was dhārmika, a keeper of dharma, and the eldest of his father’s hundred sons, and so the kingdom of Kuśasthalī came to him. Kakudmī went to Brahmaloka. He went with his daughter, and there he listened to the music in Brahmā’s presence. There only one muhūrta (about 48 minutes) passed in Brahmā‘s presence, while many yugas (ages) went by on earth. During that time Dvārakā was built in place of Kuśasthalī, and the Bhoja, Vṛshṇi and Andhaka clans lived there under the leadership of Vāsudeva. When Kakudmī returned, he gave his daughter Revatī in marriage to Balarāma and went to Sumeru for tapas (spiritual discipline).

The Agni Purāṇa names the new city Dvāravatī, the city of many gates, now full of the Yādavas and guarded by the Bhojas, Vṛshṇis and Andhakas with Vāsudeva at their head. Knowing saṃsāra (the round of birth and death) to be impermanent, Raivata did his tapas on the peak of Mount Sumeru (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 273).

Nābhāga’s two sons became vaiśyas (members of the merchant class) and later attained the status of brāhmaṇas. The Karūshas, a warrior kshatriya line, came from Karūsha. The Agni Purāṇa calls them kshatriyas eager for war. Pṛshadhra had killed his guru’s cow, and so he fell to the status of a śūdra.

The Ikshvāku Line down to Sagara

Ikshvāku was the eldest of Manu‘s sons and the source of the main Sūrya-vaṃśa. The line then runs as follows:

1. Ikshvāku
2. Vikukshi (also called Śaśāda), the king of the devas
3. Kakutstha
4. Suyodhana
5. Pṛthu
6. Viśvanāśva
7. Vāyu
8. Yuvanāśva
9. Śrāvanta, the great king who founded Lāvaṇtī in the east
10. Bṛhadaśva
11. Kuvalāśva, who earned the name Dhundhumāra by slaying the rākshasa Dhundhu

Kuvalāśva had three sons: Dṛḍhāśva, Daṇḍa and Kapila.

From Dṛḍhāśva came Haryaśva and Pramodaka. From Haryaśva came Nikumbha, then Saṃhatāśva, then Akṛshāśva and Raṇāśva. From Raṇāśva came Yuvanāśva, whose son was the great Māndhātā, a king who conquered the world. Māndhātā’s sons were Purukutsa and Mucikunda.

From Purukutsa and the river Narmadā was born Trasaddasyu (also called Saṃbhūta). After him came Sudhanvā, then Tridhanvā, then Taruṇa, then Satyavrata, then Satyaratha. From Satyaratha came Hariścandra, the model of truthfulness, then Rohitāśva, then Vṛka, then Bāhu, and then the mighty Sagara.

Sagara and His Sons

Sagara‘s elder wife Pratā, by the grace of Aurva Ṛshi, gave birth to sixty thousand sons. His second wife Bhānumatī gave birth to one son, Asamañjasa. Sagara’s sixty thousand sons dug into the earth while searching for the yajña horse, and they were burnt to ashes by the fiery gaze of Kapila Muni. Only Asamañjasa’s son Aṃśumān was left to carry on the line.

From Aṃśumān came Dilīpa. From Dilīpa came the great Bhagīratha, who by tapas beyond compare brought Gaṅgā down from svarga (the heavenly realm) to the earth to purify the ashes of his ancestors.

From Bhagīratha to Daśaratha

After Bhagīratha the line runs:

1. Nābhāga
2. Ambarīsha (the great Vishṇu-bhakta)
3. Sindhudvīpa
4. Śrutāyu
5. Ṛtuparṇa (famous from the story of Nala and Damayantī)
6. Kalmāshapāda
7. Sarvakarmā
8. Anaraṇya
9. Nighna
10. A second Dilīpa
11. Raghu, after whom the line was given its famous name, Raghu-vaṃśa
12. Aja
13. Daśaratha

The Vāmana Purāṇa (Chapter 34) tells of Raghu Mahārāja, king of the Sūrya-vaṃśa, at a yajña on the bank of the Sarayū. When the dānava Mura had taken svarga from Indra, he came to the Sarayū mounted on an elephant and found Raghu consecrated for a yajña. He commanded him: “Either you must fight with me, or give up this yajña. From now on the devas must not be worshipped with yajñas at all.” Then Vasishṭha, the son of Mitra and Varuṇa, a great tapasvī, came to the dānava and turned him aside: “What use is there in conquering human beings? If you truly wish to fight, bring Yama Dharmarāja under your control.” Hearing this, Mura set out to conquer Dharmarāja.

Bhagavān Rāma and His Sons

Daśaratha‘s four sons were forms of Nārāyaṇa himself, born to set up dharma and destroy adharma. The eldest was Śrī Rāma, the Raghūttama (“best of the Raghus”), who defeated Rāvaṇa and became the righteous king of Ayodhyā. Vālmīki Ṛshi heard his story from Nārada and composed the Rāmāyaṇa to make his glory last forever. Rāma and Sītā had twin sons, Kuśa and Lava, who carried the Solar Dynasty forward.

The Agni Purāṇa (Chapter 5) tells that to slay Rāvaṇa and the others, Śrī Mahāvishṇu made himself fourfold and was born through Daśaratha Mahārāja: as Rāma in Kausalyā, as Bharata in Kaikeyī, and as Lakshmaṇa and Śatrughna in Sumitrā.

From Kuśa the line continues: Atithi, Nishadha, Nala, Nabha, Puṇḍarīka, Sudhanvā, Devānīka, Ahīnāśva, Sahasrāśva, Candrāloka, Tārāpīḍa, Candraparvata, Bhānuratha and Śrutāyu. Here the list given in the Agni Purāṇa ends.

The Agni Purāṇa says that all the members of the Ikshvāku line are honoured as the ancestors and shining lights of the Sūrya-vaṃśa. It calls them the pravartakas of the Sūrya-vaṃśa, the kings who carried the line forward (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 273).

Why the Sūrya-vaṃśa Matters

Reciting the Sūrya-vaṃśa is said to destroy pāpa (wrongdoing and its effects). The vaṃśa is called pāpa-nāśana, “the destroyer of pāpa”: simply hearing or chanting these royal names purifies the listener. The Solar Dynasty, rooted in Vivasvān and made holy by the avatāra of Bhagavān Rāma, is the main line through which dharma was upheld on earth across many manvantaras (the ages of the Manus). As the Agni Purāṇa declares, kings, princes, ṛshis and devas are all, in their essence, forms of Mahāvishṇu.

The Sūrya-vaṃśa in the Bhavishya Purāṇa

The Pratisarga Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa follows the Sūrya-vaṃśa through all four yugas of the Vaivasvata Manvantara (the present age of Manu). It begins with the birth of Vaivasvata Manu by the grace of Sūrya and runs to the restoring of the solar line at the start of the new Satya Yuga.

Satya Yuga

Vaivasvata Manu was born on the banks of the Sarayū, from the nostril of the forefather. From him came Ikshvāku. The kings of this age ruled for very long spans:

• Kuvalayāśva: 34,000 years
• Dṛḍhāśva: 33,000 years
• Nikumbha: 32,000 years (each king ruling a thousand years less than the one before)
• The line went on through Tridhanu, Trayyāruṇi (2,000 years), Triśaṅku (1,000 years) and Hariścandra (20,000 years)

In the third pāda (quarter) of the Satya Yuga, Sagara was born. He was a Śiva-bhakta who had 60,000 sons from one wife, and he ruled for 30,000 years.

In the fourth pāda of the Satya Yuga, Ambarīsha‘s line went on. Sindhudvīpa, Ayutāśva, Ṛtaparṇa, Sarvakāma and Kalmāshapāda ruled one after another. Kalmāshapāda’s son Sudāsa received a vara (boon) from Vasishṭha, through which Madayantī bore him a son, Aśmaka (Saudāsa). After him seven Vaishṇava kings ruled in turn. Then the dynasty received a warning in a dream from Mahākālī. She told Sudarśana to lead the people to the Himālaya before a pralaya (great flood of dissolution) that would sink much of Bhārata under the ocean.

Kali Yuga

The Sūrya-vaṃśa carries on through the Kali Yuga through Vikramāditya. He was born as the son of Gandharvasena, at the command of Bhagavān Śaṅkara (Śiva), to defeat the Śakas. His grandson Śālivāhana carried the dynasty further. When dharma declined in Śālivāhana’s line, King Bhoja arose.

The End of Kali Yuga

After Bhagavān Kalki destroys the forces of the mlecchas (foreigners outside Vedic dharma) and daityas (asuras) and performs the Brahma-satra yajña, the hosts of devas set up Ikshvāku, son of Vaivasvata Manu, once again as ruler of the earth in Ayodhyā. So the Sūrya-vaṃśa completes a full circle. It begins with Ikshvāku and ends with Ikshvāku being restored, and the whole Vaivasvata Manvantara unfolds within it.

The Sūrya-vaṃśa in the Garuḍa Purāṇa (Chapter 138)

The Garuḍa Purāṇa gives the Sūrya-vaṃśa with a slightly different line of descent: Vishṇu → Brahmā → Daksha → Aditi → Vivasvat → Vaivasvata Manu.

The Nine Sons of Vaivasvata Manu

The Garuḍa Purāṇa lists nine sons of Vaivasvata Manu, where the Agni Purāṇa gives ten:

1. Ikshvāku: founder of the main solar line, ruling from Ayodhyā
2. Śaryāti: the second son
3. Nṛga: the third son, known for the mistake of giving the same cow twice as dāna (a gift)
4. Dhṛshṭa: the fourth
5. Pṛshadhra: the fifth, who killed a cow by mistake and received a śāpa (curse)
6. Narishyanta: the sixth
7. Nābhāga: the seventh
8. Dishṭa: the eighth, known in the Purāṇas for stories of his descendants
9. Śaśaka: the ninth son

Key Kings of the Line

From Ikshvāku the main royal line passes through:

• Kuvalāśva (Dhundhumāra): the slayer of the asura Dhundhu
• Māndhātā: the cakravartī (universal emperor) whose rule reached over the three worlds
• Ambarīsha: the great devotee of Bhagavān Vishṇu
• Sagara: the king who had 60,000 sons, whose digging made the ocean (sāgara)
• Aṃśumān: grandson of Sagara, who tried to revive the 60,000 sons
• Dilīpa: Aṃśumān’s grandson and the father of Bhagīratha
• Bhagīratha: the king whose tapas brought the Gaṅgā from svarga to earth to revive Sagara’s sons
• Through Ṛtuparṇa and Hariścandra the line comes down to the Ikshvāku kings of the Tretā Yuga
• Rāma: son of Kausalyā and Daśaratha, descended from Ikshvāku
• Kuśa and Lava: Rāma’s twin sons, who carried on the solar line
• Kuśa‘s line: continued through many generations down to Janaka (of the Videha branch)

The Garuḍa Purāṇa also notes that Viśvāmitra, the great ṛshi, was first a kshatriya king born in the line of Kuśa. His father Gādhi was a king of the Sūrya-vaṃśa. Viśvāmitra reached the status of a brāhmaṇa through extreme tapas. This makes him the classic example of a rājarshi (royal ṛshi) who rose beyond the varṇa (social class) of his birth.

Per Bhāgavata Purāṇa

The Ninth Skandha of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa is the skandha of the royal lines. Parīkshit, having heard from Śrī Śuka Maharshi of the fourteen manvantaras, recalled that Satyavrata, the rājarshi who ruled the Draviḍa country at the end of the past kalpa and gained ātma-jñāna by serving Śrī Hari in his form as Matsya, became in this kalpa Śrāddhadeva Manu, the son of Sūrya, and that Ikshvāku and the others were his sons. He asked Śuka to tell him the separate lines of Ikshvāku and the others, and the valour of all their kings, past, present and to come, for their fame is pure. Sūta tells the maharshis that Śuka, learned in bhakti, the highest dharma, answered in the assembly of the knowers of Brahman. “I shall tell the chief matters of the line of Manu,” he said; “to tell that line in full, even hundreds of years would not be enough.”

From Purushottama to Śrāddhadeva Manu

At the pralaya this world existed only as Purushottama, the ātmā of all beings. From his navel a shining golden lotus was born, and in it appeared the four-faced Brahmā, the Svayambhū. From Brahmā’s saṅkalpa Marīci Maharshi was born; Kaśyapa was the son of Marīci; and to Kaśyapa, in Aditi, the daughter of Daksha, was born Sūrya of great radiance. To Sūrya, in Saṃjñā, was born Śrāddhadeva Manu, also called Vaivasvata Manu.

To Manu, powerful and wise, ten sons were born in his wife Śraddhā. In the text’s order:

1. Ikshvāku
2. Nṛga
3. Śaryāti
4. Dishṭa
5. Dhṛshṭa
6. Karūshaka (called Karīsha in Chapter 2)
7. Narishyanta
8. Pṛshadhra
9. Nabhaga
10. Kavi

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 1

Iḷā and Sudyumna

Before these sons were born, Manu had no children, and Vasishṭha had him perform a yajña to Mitra and Varuṇa for offspring. Śraddhā, living on milk alone, asked the hotā to pray for a daughter, and because the hotā made the offering meditating on her words, a daughter named Iḷā was born. At Vasishṭha’s prayer Śrī Hari, pleased, changed her into a man, Sudyumna. Hunting at the foot of Meru, Sudyumna entered the Ilāvṛta forest, where by the word of Bhagavān Rudra every man who enters becomes a woman, and he became the woman Iḷā. Budha, the son of Candra, saw her near his āśrama, and to them was born Purūravas. Vasishṭha then served Bhagavān Śaṅkara, who, keeping his own word true, granted that Sudyumna should be a man for one month and a woman for the next.

Sudyumna had three sons who loved dharma, Utkala, Gaya and Vimala, and they became kings of the southern country. Sudyumna ruled from the city of Pratishṭhāna, and when he grew old he gave the kingdom to Purūravas and went to the forest. With Purūravas, the line passes to the Candra-vaṃśa.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 1

The lines of Manu’s sons

When Sudyumna had gone to the forest, Manu performed tapas without a break for a hundred years on the bank of the Yamunā, worshipping Śrī Hari for sons, and gained ten sons equal to himself, Ikshvāku the eldest.

Pṛshadhra. Set by Vasishṭha to guard the cows, Pṛshadhra kept watch through the night in vīrāsana. One night of rain a tiger seized a cow, and in the darkness he cut off the head of a kapilā (tawny) cow, thinking it the tiger. For this pāpa done without intent, Vasishṭha pronounced a śāpa that he should become a śūdra. Pṛshadhra accepted it, kept lifelong brahmacarya, came to love Bhagavān Vāsudeva above all, and wandered with his mind fixed on the ātmā, until his body was burned in a forest fire and he merged into Parabrahman.

Kavi. Kavi, the youngest son of Manu, had no thirst for pleasures. While still a youth he left the kingdom, went to the forest with his kinsmen, fixed his mind on the self-luminous, full Brahman and reached the Paramātmā.

Karūsha. From Karūsha arose the kshatriyas called the Kārūshas, who, devoted to the knowers of the Veda and loving dharma, ruled the northern country.

Dhṛshṭa. Dhṛshṭa’s son Dhārishṭa, though a kshatriya, attained the state of a brāhmaṇa in this very world.

Nṛga. Nṛga’s line runs: Nṛga, Sumati, Bhūtajyoti, Vasu, Pratīka, Oghavān, and a second Oghavān. Oghavān also had a daughter, Oghavatī, whom Sudarśana married.

Narishyanta. Narishyanta’s line runs: Narishyanta, Citrasena, Ṛksha, Mīḍhvān, Kūrca, Indrasena, Vītihotra, Satyaśravas, Uruśravas and Devadatta. To Devadatta, Agni Deva himself was born as a son named Agniveśya, famed also as Kānīna and as Jātūkarṇya Maharshi, and from him arose the line of brāhmaṇas called Āgniveśyāyana.

Dishṭa. Dishṭa’s son was Nābhāga, a different Nābhāga from the one still to come, who became a vaiśya by the karma he did. From him the line runs:

1. Nābhāga
2. Bhalandana
3. Vatsaprīti
4. Prāṃśu
5. Pramati
6. Khanitra
7. Cākshusha
8. Viviṃśati
9. Rambha
10. Khaninetra, a dharmātmā
11. Karandhama
12. Avīkshit
13. Marutta, the cakravartī
14. Dama
15. Rājyavardhana
16. Sudhṛti
17. Nara
18. Kevala
19. Bandhumān
20. Vegavān
21. Bandhu
22. Tṛṇabindu Mahārāja

Saṃvarta, the son of Aṅgiras, a great yogī, had Marutta perform a yajña such as no one else has ever performed: every vessel was of gold, Indra was delighted with soma and the brāhmaṇas with dakshiṇā, the Marud-gaṇas served the food and the Viśvedevas sat in the assembly. Tṛṇabindu, the home of every virtue, married Alambushā Devī, the best of the apsarās, and had many sons and a daughter, Iḍaviḍā; to Viśravas Maharshi, the son of Pulastya, in Iḍaviḍā, Kubera was born.

Tṛṇabindu’s sons were Viśāla, Śūnyabandhu and Dhūmraketu. Viśāla founded a line and built the city of Vaiśālī. His line runs: Viśāla, Hemacandra, Dhūmrāksha, Saṃyama; Saṃyama’s sons were Kṛśāśva and Devaja; Kṛśāśva’s son was Somadatta, Somadatta’s son Sumati, and Sumati’s son Janamejaya. Somadatta worshipped the full Īśvara with many aśvamedha yāgas, took refuge in Nārada and the other great yogīs, and attained moksha. These kings of Vaiśālī, beginning with Hemacandra, upheld the fame of Tṛṇabindu.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 2

Śaryāti. Śaryāti, a knower of the Veda, set in order the rite of the second day at the satra-yāga of the Āṅgirasas. His daughter Sukanyā, in her youth, pierced two lights in an anthill with a thorn; they were the eyes of Cyavana Maharshi, who sat hidden in it, and Śaryāti gave her to the ṛshi in marriage. The Aśvins gave Cyavana youth in a lake made by the siddhas, and Cyavana, at Śaryāti’s soma-yāga, offered the soma-cup to the Aśvins and stopped the arm of Indra raised with the vajra; from then the Aśvins too received a share of soma.

Śaryāti had three sons: Uttānabarhi, Ānarta and Bhūrisheṇa. Ānarta’s son was Revata, who built the city of Kuśasthalī inside the ocean and from it ruled Ānarta and other lands. Revata had a hundred excellent sons, Kakudmī the eldest. Kakudmī took his daughter Revatī to Brahmaloka to ask Brahmā for a groom; when the music there ended, Brahmā laughed and told him that twenty-seven mahāyugas had passed on earth, and that Nārāyaṇa had descended by his aṃśa as Baladeva: let Revatī be given to him. Those who hear and sing the līlās of Śrī Hari become pure. Kakudmī returned, found that his kinsmen had fled the city for fear of the yakshas, gave Revatī to Baladeva, and went for tapas to the āśrama of Nara and Nārāyaṇa in the Badarī forest.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 3

Nabhaga. Nābhāga, the youngest son of Nabhaga, came home from the gurukula to find that his brothers had given him their father as his share. On his father’s counsel he helped the Āṅgirasas at their satra with the two sūktas of the Viśvedevas and received the wealth left over; Bhagavān Rudra, appearing as a dark man from the north, claimed it, and Nābhāga’s truthfulness won his grace. Nābhāga’s son was Ambarīsha, the great bhakta of Śrī Hari, whose every sense was given to him, who ruled the earth of seven khaṇḍas, and whom the Sudarśana cakra protected when Durvāsa Maharshi sent against him a kshudra-devatā made from his jaṭā. In the end he gave the kingdom to his sons and entered the forest.

Ambarīsha’s sons were Virūpa, Ketumān and Śambhu. Virūpa’s son was Pṛshadaśva, and Pṛshadaśva’s son Rathītara. Rathītara had no offspring, and at his request Aṅgiras begot sons on his wife, endowed with brahmavarcas (the radiance of a brāhmaṇa). Born of a kshatriya’s wife, they became famous as Āṅgirasas: brāhmaṇas joined to a kshatriya gotra, of two vaṃśas.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapters 4–6

The line of Ikshvāku

When Manu sneezed, Ikshvāku was born from his nose. Ikshvāku had a hundred sons, the eldest Vikukshi, Nimi and Daṇḍaka. Of the hundred, twenty-five ruled in the east of Āryāvarta, twenty-five in the west, three in the middle region and forty-seven in the remaining directions.

Sent to bring pure meat for the ashṭakā-śrāddha, Vikukshi, tired and hungry, ate a hare, and Vasishṭha declared the rest unfit for the śrāddha; Ikshvāku banished him. Ikshvāku, by inquiry into tattva with Vasishṭha, attained Parabrahman, and Vikukshi returned, ruled and worshipped Śrī Hari with yajñas. He became famous as Śaśāda, “the one who ate the hare”.

Vikukshi’s son was Purañjaya. At the end of the Kṛta yuga, when the rākshasas defeated the devas, the devas chose him as their helper. At the word of Bhagavān Vishṇu, Indra became a great bull; Purañjaya sat on its hump, and strengthened by the tejas of Bhagavān Vishṇu he took the rākshasas’ city in the west and gave its wealth to Indra. So he was named Purañjaya, “conqueror of the city”, Kakutstha, “seated on the hump”, and Indravāha, “whose vāhana is Indra”.

From Purañjaya the line runs:

1. Purañjaya
2. Anenas
3. Pṛthu
4. Viśvarandhi
5. Candra
6. Yuvanāśva
7. Śābasta, who built the city Śābastī
8. Bṛhadaśva
9. Kuvalayāśvaka

Kuvalayāśvaka, with his twenty-one thousand sons, killed the rākshasa Dhundhu to please Uttaṅka Maharshi and won the name Dhundhumāra. All his sons but three were burned in the fire from Dhundhu’s mouth; the three were Dṛḍhāśva, Kapilāśva and Bhadrāśva. From Dṛḍhāśva the line runs: Dṛḍhāśva, Haryaśva, Nikumbha, Barhaṇāśva, Kṛśāśva, Senajit and Yuvanāśva.

Yuvanāśva had no son. In the forest with his hundred wives, the maharshis had him perform a yāga to Indra; in the night, thirsty, he drank the water they had consecrated for the birth of a son, and in time a son was born from the right side of his belly. Indra gave the crying child his finger to drink, saying “māṃ dhātā”, “he shall drink me”, and the child was named Māndhātā; Indra named him also Trasaddasyu, “before whom the dasyus tremble”. By the tejas of Śrī Hari, Māndhātā ruled the earth of seven khaṇḍas under one umbrella, all the land from where the Sun rises to where he sets, and worshipped Śrī Hari with yajñas of great dakshiṇā. By Bindumatī, the daughter of Śaśabindu, he had three sons, Purukutsa, Ambarīsha and the yogī Mucukunda, and fifty daughters, who chose Saubhari Maharshi as their husband.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 6

Māndhātā’s son Ambarīsha, the best of his sons, was adopted by his grandfather Yuvanāśva; his son was Yauvanāśva and Yauvanāśva’s son Hārīta, and these became founders of gotras in the line of Māndhātā. The nāgas gave their sister Narmadā to Purukutsa, and she took him to Rasātala, where, bearing the śakti of Bhagavān Vishṇu, he killed the gandharvas; Vāsuki granted that those who remember this account will have no fear of serpents.

From Purukutsa the line runs:

1. Purukutsa
2. Trasaddasyu
3. Anaraṇya
4. Haryaśva
5. Aruṇa
6. Tribandhana
7. Satyavrata, famed as Triśaṅku
8. Hariścandra
9. Rohita

By Vasishṭha’s śāpa Triśaṅku lost his kshatriya state; by Viśvāmitra‘s tapobala he reached svarga in his own body, and when the devas pushed him down head-first, Viśvāmitra held him fixed in the antariksha, where he is seen even today. Because of Hariścandra, Viśvāmitra and Vasishṭha took the forms of birds by śāpas on each other and fought for many years. Hariścandra won his son Rohita from Varuṇa by vowing to offer him in yajña; Rohita fled to the forest, and after six years bought Śunaśśepa, the middle son of Ajīgarta, as the yajña-paśu. Hariścandra performed the Purushamedha with Viśvāmitra as hotā, Jamadagni as adhvaryu, Vasishṭha as brahmā and Ayāsya as udgātā, was freed of his illness, and received a golden chariot from Indra. Hariścandra and his wife kept to truth with courage, and Viśvāmitra Maharshi, pleased, gave him ātmajñāna.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 7

From Rohita the line runs: Rohita, Harita, Campa, who built Campāpurī, Sudeva, Vijaya, Bharuka, Vṛka and Bāhuka. Bāhuka lost his kingdom to enemies and died in the forest; Aurva Maharshi stopped his pregnant wife from dying with him. Her co-wives put poison in her food, and the child born with the poison was named Sagara, “with gara, poison”.

Sagara became a cakravartī, and his sons dug the ocean. During his aśvamedhas the sixty thousand sons of his wife Sumati, searching for the horse, offended Kapila Maharshi; that offence itself killed them, and the fire in their own bodies burned them to ash in a moment. The text says plainly that Kapila, the treasury of sattva, has no anger. By his wife Keśinī, Sagara had Asamañjasa, a yogī in his former birth, whom Sagara banished for his conduct; Asamañjasa’s son was Aṃśumān. Aṃśumān praised Kapila, brought back the horse, and was told that only the waters of the Gaṅgā could uplift his elders. Sagara gave the kingdom to Aṃśumān and, following the teaching of Aurva, attained moksha.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 8

Aṃśumān and his son Dilīpa performed tapas to bring the Gaṅgā and died without bringing her. Dilīpa’s son Bhagīratha performed very great tapas, and the Gaṅgā came down to the earth and, touching the ashes of the sons of Sagara, sent them to svarga. From Bhagīratha the line runs:

1. Bhagīratha
2. Śruta
3. Nābha, another Nābha than the one told before
4. Sindhudvīpa
5. Ayutāyu
6. Ṛtuparṇa, the friend of Nala, who taught Nala the science of dice and learned from him the science of horses
7. Sarvakāma
8. Sudāsa
9. Mitrasaha, also called Saudāsa, Kalmāshāṅghri and Kalmāshapāda, whose wife was Madayantī
10. Aśmaka
11. Mūlaka, called Nārīkavaca
12. Daśaratha, son of Mūlaka
13. Aiḍaviḍa
14. Viśvasaha Mahārāja
15. Khaṭvāṅga, the cakravartī

By Vasishṭha’s śāpa Mitrasaha became a rākshasa for twelve years; afterwards he had no offspring, and at his prayer Vasishṭha begot a son in Madayantī, who was born after seven years when she struck her belly, and so was named Aśmaka. When Paraśurāma was destroying the kshatriya lines, the women protected Aśmaka’s son, and so he was called Nārīkavaca, “who had women as his armour”; and because he became the root of the kshatriya line when the kshatriyas were destroyed, the name Mūlaka was fitting.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 9

Śrī Rāma and his brothers

Khaṭvāṅga‘s son was Dīrghabāhu; Dīrghabāhu’s son was Raghu, of great fame; Raghu’s son was Aja Mahārāja, and Aja’s son was Daśaratha. Bhagavān Śrī Hari, the Parabrahma itself, at the prayer of the devas, became the son of Daśaratha in a full form together with his aṃśas, as Rāma, Bharata, Lakshmaṇa and Śatrughna. Śuka tells Parīkshit that the maharshis who know the truth have described the account of Śrī Rāma, the husband of Sītā, at length, and that Parīkshit too has heard it many times.

Sītā Devī gave birth to twin sons, Kuśa and Lava. The sons of Lakshmaṇa were Aṅgada and Citraketu; the sons of Bharata, Taksha and Pushkala; the sons of Śatrughna, Subāhu and Śrutasena. In his digvijaya Bharata slew gandharvas by the crore and offered their wealth to Śrī Rāma, and Śatrughna slew Lavaṇa, the son of Madhu, and built the city of Mathurā in Madhuvana.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapters 10–11

The kings after Śrī Rāma

Śuka gives the kings of the Raghu-vaṃśa after Śrī Rāma, each the son of the one before:

1. Kuśa
2. Atithi
3. Nishadha
4. Nabha
5. Puṇḍarīka
6. Kshemadhanvā
7. Devānīka
8. Anīha
9. Pāriyātra
10. Balasthala
11. Vajranābha, born with an aṃśa of Sūrya
12. Khagaṇa
13. Vidhṛti
14. Hiraṇyanābha, the disciple of Jaimini and a yogācārya, from whom Yājñavalkya Maharshi of the Kosala land learned adhyātma-yoga, the yoga that cuts the knot of ajñāna in the heart
15. Pushya
16. Dhruvasandhi
17. Sudarśana
18. Agnivarṇa
19. Śīghra
20. Maru
21. Prasuśruta
22. Sandhi
23. Amarshaṇa
24. Mahasvanta
25. Viśvasāhva
26. Prasenajit
27. Takshaka
28. Bṛhadvala

Maru conquered death by yoga and lives even now in the village called Kalāpa; at the end of the Kali yuga he will set going again the Sūrya-vaṃśa, which will have disappeared. Bṛhadvala, Śuka tells Parīkshit, was slain in the Mahābhārata war by Parīkshit’s own father, Abhimanyu. “All these are the kings of the Ikshvāku vaṃśa who have passed. Now hear of the kings who are to come.”

The kings to come, each the son of the one before: Bṛhadraṇa, Urukriya, Vatsavṛddha, Prativyoma, Bhānu, Divāka the commander of the army, Sahadeva the hero, Bṛhadaśva, Bhānumān, Pratīkāśva, Supratīka, Marudeva, Sunakshatra, Pushkara, Antariksha, Sutapas, Amitrajit, Bṛhadrāja, Barshi, Kṛtañjaya, Raṇañjaya, Sañjaya, Śākya, Śuddhoda, Lāṅgala, a second Prasenajit, Kshudraka, Raṇaka, Suratha and Sumitra. Sumitra will be the last mahārāja of this line of the Ikshvāku kings, for in the Kali yuga the vaṃśa will end with him.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 12

The line of Nimi

Nimi, the son of Ikshvāku, began a satra-yāga and chose Vasishṭha as ṛtvik; Vasishṭha asked him to wait while he completed Indra‘s yajña. Knowing life to be unsteady, Nimi began with other ṛtvijas, and Vasishṭha on his return pronounced a śāpa that Nimi should die; Nimi, great in ātmajñāna, answered with the same śāpa and gave up his body. Vasishṭha was born again as the son of Mitra and Varuṇa through Urvaśī. When the devatās offered to restore his body, Nimi refused the bond of a body, and the devatās granted that he would dwell in the eyes of embodied beings, shown in the opening and closing of the eyelids. The maharshis churned his body and a son was born, called Janaka for his unusual birth, Vaideha as the son of the bodiless Nimi, and Mithila for his birth by churning; he built the city of Mithilā.

From Janaka the line of Mithilā runs, each the son of the one before: Janaka, Udāvasu, Nandivardhana, Suketu, Devarāta, Bṛhadratha, Mahāvīrya, Sudhṛti, Dhṛshṭaketu, Haryaśva, Maru, Pratīpaka, Kṛtiratha, Devamīḍha, Viśruta, Mahādhṛti, Kṛtirāta, Mahāroma, Svarṇaroma, Hrasvaroma and Sīradhvaja. As Sīradhvaja ploughed the earth for a yajña, Sītā Devī was born from the furrow, and so he was called Sīradhvaja, “whose banner is the plough”. After him came Kuśadhvaja and Dharmadhvaja Mahārāja, whose two sons were Kṛtadhvaja and Mitadhvaja. Kṛtadhvaja’s son was Keśidhvaja, firm in ātmajñāna; Mitadhvaja’s son was Khāṇḍikya, who knew the Vedic rites and fled for fear of Keśidhvaja.

From Khāṇḍikya the line runs: Bhānumān, Śatadyumna, Śuci, Sanadvāja, Ūrdhvaketu, Aja, Purujit, Arishṭanemi, Śrutāyu, Supārśvaka, Citraratha, Kshemadhi the lord of Mithilā, Samaratha, Satyaratha, Upaguru, Upagupa (born with an aṃśa of Agni), Vasvananta, Yuyudha, Subhāshaṇa, Śruta, Jaya, Vijaya, Ṛta, Śunaka, Vītahavya, Dhṛti, Bahulāśva, Kṛti and Mahāvaśī. By the grace of Yājñavalkya and the other lords of yoga, all these kings of Mithilā were firm in ātmajñāna, and though they lived as gṛhasthas they were beyond attachment and aversion.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 13

The phala of hearing the vaṃśa

Closing the account, Śuka says to Parīkshit: “I have told of the Sūrya-vaṃśa. This telling of the vaṃśa is a cause of purity of mind.” Then he turns to the Candra-vaṃśa. Later, Śuka tells Parīkshit that he has told in brief the kings of the solar and lunar lines, past, present and future; and in the summary of the whole Purāṇa, the Ninth Skandha is remembered for the accounts of Ilā Devī and of the Sūrya-vaṃśa, and of the kings Śaśāda, Nṛga and Kavi.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 14; Skandha 12, Chapters 2, 12

Sources

• Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 5, 271, 273
• Garuḍa Purāṇa, Ācāra Khaṇḍa, Chapter 138
• Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍas 1 and 4
• Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 34
• Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapters 1–14; Skandha 12, Chapters 2, 12