Solar Dynasty (Surya Vamsha)

Aditi, wife of sage Kashyapa, gave birth to twelve Adityas. One of them was Vivasvan, the Sun god- Surya. Surya’s son was Vivasvatha Manu. Manu had many sons and one of them was Ikshvaku. He was the founder of Ikshvaku dynasty; sometimes referred to as Surya Vamsha.

 In the line of Ikshvaku was born Naabhaka. He became one of the greatest seers of his time. Naabhaka’s son was Ambarisha and he possessed immense wealth. Yet he was aware that all the things of this world like riches are transient. He lived in this world of men without any bondage. He was a great devotee of Lord Narayana. His encounter with the sage Durvasa while practicing Dvadashi Vrata is well known.

 King Puranjaya was one of the descendants of Ikshvaku. He was a great warrior and was called by another name Kakutstha. King Mandhatri was one of the descendants of this lineage and was regarded as a great monarch.

Trishanku

Satyavrata was a later king in the Solar dynasty. His son was Trishanku. Trishanku wanted to reach heavens with a human body. He approached his Guru Vashishta and resented his strange wish and cursed him to become a Chandala. Vishvamitra, the generous hearted agreed to perform a Yagna to send him to heaven. And he did perform the Yagna and the king was raised to the heavens. The devatas led by their king Indra resented it and threw him down. Vishvamitra got furious with the devatas and stopped Trishanku in mid air. Further he went on create a new heaven solely for the purpose of Trishanku. As he was about to create a new Brahma, the devatas pacified him. Trishanku lived in the special heaven.

 King Bhagiratha

Trishanku’s son was Harischandra. Another great king born in the Solar dynasty was King Sagara. He had two wives; Sumati and Kesini. Sumati had sixty thousand sons and Kesini had one son named Asamanja. Asamanja son was Amshuman and he was greatly devoted to his grandfather. Emperor Sagara wanted to perform Ashvamedha Yaga. Lord Indra stole the horse and left it in a cave where Sage Kapila was in Samadhi. Sixty thousand sons of the emperor went in search of the horse. When they found the horse in front of the sage, they mistook him to be the thief. Hearing the noise the sage opened his eyes and the sixty thousand princes were reduced to a heap of ash.

Amshuman went in search of the sixty thousand princes and the missing horse. He finally reached Maharshi Kapila and fell at his feet. The sage told him to take the horse back to the emperor Sagara. He also told Amshuman that if water from Ganga could be used to wash the ashes of the princes, then they could ascend to the Pritriloka. The only problem was Ganga at that time was in the heavens. How do you bring it to the earth? Both Amshuman and his son Dilipa performed Tapas. Both of them died before achieving any success. Bhagiratha, son of Dilipa, was determined to bring Ganga to the Earth. He performed tapas for a long time and Goddess Ganga was pleased with him. However, she asked that when she comes down from the heaven to the earth what will be there to take up the force of her fall. Bhagiratha began to perform tapas once again to please Lord Mahadeva. At last he got the Lord to agree to receive Ganga on His matted locks. The rest is history. The sixty thousand valiant sons of Sagara reached the loka meant for the Pitris.

Raghu was a king from the Solar lineage. His son was Aja. And Aja’s son was King Dasharatha. Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata and Shatrughna were the four sons of King Dasharatha. The famous Purana Ramayana written by Sage Valmiki tells deeds performed by the four brothers.