Solar dynasty

According to the Puranic literature, the Solar dynasty or the Ikshvaku dynasty was founded by the legendary king Ikshvaku.[2] The dynasty is also known as Sūryavaṁśa ("Solar dynasty" or "Descendants of the Sun") and along with Lunar dynasty comprises one of the main lineages of the Kshatriya Varna. Rama belonged to the Ikshavaku dynasty.[5] According to the Jain texts, twenty-two out of the twenty-four Jain Tirthankara belonged to this dynasty.[4] Rishabha was the first tirthankar of Jainism. Both refers to the same person. According to Buddhist texts and tradition, Gautama Buddha descended from this dynasty.Many later kings of the Indian subcontinent claimed to be of Suryavanshi background.

Suryavansh Dynasty

8000-7000 BCE
Kingdom of Kosala
CapitalAyodhya
Common languagesSanskrit
Religion
Buddhism[1], Hinduism[2][3] and Jainism[4][5]
GovernmentMonarchy
Monarch 
History 
• Established
8000-7000 BCE
Today part ofIndia
The Ramayana was adopted by several Asian cultures. This Thai artwork shows the battle of Rama and Ravana.

The important personalities belonging to this royal house are Mandhatri , Muchukunda , Ambarisha , Bharata Chakravartin, Bahubali, Harishchandra, Dilīpa, Sagara,[3] Raghu, Rama and Pasenadi. Although, both the Hindu Puranas and the Buddhist texts include Shuddodhana, Gautama Buddha and Rahula in their accounts of the Ikshvaku dynasty, but according to the Buddhist texts, Mahasammata, an ancestor of Ikshvaku was the founder of this dynasty,[1] who was elected by the people as the first king of the present era. According to the Puranas, supreme preceptor of the Ikshvaku dynasty was sage Vashishta.

Origins

Suryavansha or Solar Dynasty is the one of the two major Dravidian dynasties that founds reference in the ancient hindu text, the other being Chandravansha or the Lunar Dynasty. According to Harivamsa, Ikshvaku is considered the primogenitor of the dynasty of Surya and was granted the kingdom of Aryavarta by his father Vaivasvata Manu. Manu settled down in the Dravid region after he survived the great flood. A. K. Mozumdar states that Manu is the one who built a city on the Sarayu and called it Ayodhya meaning the 'invincible city'. This city served as the capital of many kings from the solar dynasty and is also the birthplace of Rama an avatar of Vishnu.[6]

Some hindu texts suggest Rishi Marichi, one of the seven sages and first human creations of Brahma as the progenitor of the dynasty. Marichi's eldest son Kashyapa is said to have settled down in Kashmir (Kashyapa-Meru or Kashyameru). He also contributed to the verses of Holy Vedas. Later, Vivasvan son of Kashyapa and Aditi rose as a prominent hindu god Surya and married Saranyu the daughter of Vishwakarma, the architect of devas. He had many children but Manu was given the responsibility of building the civilization and as a result it formed a dynasty that was named 'Suryavansh' or the solar dynasty. Manu is also the progenitor of the Lunar Dynasty because he married his daughter Ila to Budha, the son of Chandra or the moon god and the couple gave birth to the magnanimous king Pururavas who became the first king of the Chandravansh or the Lunar dynasty.[7]

In Bhagavatha Purana

Ikshvaku and his ancestor Manu are also mentioned in the Bhagavata Purana (Canto 9, Chapter 1),

yo 'sau satyavrato nāma
rājarṣir draviḍeśvaraḥ
jñānaṁ yo 'tīta-kalpānte
lebhe puruṣa-sevayā

sa vai vivasvataḥ putro
manur āsīd iti śrutam
tvattas tasya sutāḥ proktā
ikṣvāku-pramukhā nṛpāḥ

he who was known as Satyavrata
the saintly king of dravida desa
one who received spiritual knowledge at the end of period of last Manu
by rendering service to the Supreme

became known as Vaivasvata Manu, the son of Vivasvan
in the period of next manu
I have already heard from you that his sons
were many kings, headed by Iksvaku

In Buddhism

The Buddhist text, Buddhavamsa and Mahavamsa (II, 1-24) traces the origin of the Shakyas to king Okkaka (Pali equivalent to Sanskrit Ikshvaku) and gives their genealogy from Mahasammata, an ancestor of Okkaka. This list comprises the names of a number of prominent kings of the Ikshvaku dynasty, namely, Mandhata and Sagara.[8] The genealogy according to the Mahavamsa is as follows:[9][10]

  1. Okkāka[11]
  2. Okkāmukha
  3. Sivisamjaya
  4. Sihassara
  5. Jayasena
  6. Sihahanu
  7. Suddhodana
  8. Gautama Buddha
  9. Rāhula

In Jainism

The Ikshvaku dynasty has a significant place in Jainism, as twenty-two Tirthankaras were born in this dynasty.[12]

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See also

References

Citations
  1. Malalasekera, G. P. (2007) [1937]. Dictionary of Pāli Proper Names: A-Dh. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 461–2. ISBN 978-81-208-3021-9.
  2. Geography of Rigvedic India, M.L. Bhargava, Lucknow 1964, pp. 15-18, 46-49, 92-98, 100-/1, 136
  3. Ikshaku tribe The Mahabharata translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli (1883 -1896), Book 3: Vana Parva: Tirtha-yatra Parva: Section CVI, p. 228 'There was born in the family of the Ikshaku, a ruler of the earth named Sagara, endued with beauty, and strength...".
  4. Zimmer 1952, p. 220
  5. Zimmer 1952, p. 218
  6. A.K.Mazumdar 2008, p. 161.
  7. A.K.Mazumdar 2008, p. 159.
  8. Law, B.C. (1973). Tribes in Ancient India, Bhandarkar Oriental Series No.4, Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, p.246
  9. Misra, V.S. (2007). Ancient Indian Dynasties, Mumbai: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, ISBN 81-7276-413-8, p.286
  10. Geiger, Wilhelm (tr.) (1912). "Mahavamsa, Chapter II". Ceylon Government Information Dept., Colombo (in lakdvia.org website). Retrieved 26 October 2009.
  11. "Okkāka". Palikanon. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  12. Jain 1991, p. 2.
  13. Jain 1991, p. 5.
  14. Shah 2004, p. 15.
  15. Shah, Chandraprakash, Shri Shantinatha, 16th Tirthankara
  16. Jain 1991, p. 161.

Sources
Preceded by
Kulakara (in Jainism)		 Ikshvaku Dynasty Succeeded by
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