According toJain literature, the firstTirthankara of Jainism,Rishabhanatha himself, was King Ikshvaku. Twenty-one furtherTirthankaras were born in this dynasty.[3][4]
According to Buddhist literature,Gautama Buddha descended from the this dynasty.
Suryavamsha, or the Solar Dynasty, is one of the two major legendaryKshatriya dynasties found in Hindu Puranic and epic literature, the other being Chandravamsha or theLunar dynasty. According toHarivamsa,Ikshvaku is considered the primogenitor of the dynasty of, and was granted the kingdom of Aryavarta by his fatherVaivasvata Manu. Manu settled down in theAryavarta region after he survived the great flood.A. K. Mozumdar states that Manu is the one who built a city on theSarayu (being the river that his mother Sanjana was the goddess of) and called itAyodhya meaning the 'invincible city'. This city served as the capital of many kings from the solar dynasty and is also believed to be the birthplace ofRama.[7]
Some Hindu texts suggest RishiMarichi, one of the seven sages and first human creations ofBrahma as the progenitor of the dynasty. Marichi's eldest sonKashyapa is said to have settled down in Kashmir (Kashyapa-Meru or Kashyameru). He also contributed to the verses of the Vedas. Later,Vivasvan, son of Kashyapa and Aditi, famously known as the Hindu godSurya marriedSaranyu who was the daughter ofVishvakarman, 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 'Suryavamsha' or the solar dynasty. Manu is also the progenitor of the Lunar Dynasty because he married his daughterIla toBudha, the son ofChandra or the moon god and the couple gave birth to the magnanimous KingPururavas who became the first king of the Chandravamsha, or the Lunar dynasty.[8]
After the death of the powerful kingPrasenjit and disappearance of his successorViḍūḍabha after defeating theShakyas, the kingdom ofKosala declined. King Sumitra, who regarded himself to be the last Suryavamsha ruler, was defeated by the powerful emperorMahapadma Nanda ofMagadha in 362 BCE. However, he wasn't killed, and fled toRohtas, located in present-dayBihar.[9]
The Buddhist text,Buddhavaṃsa andMahāvaṃsa (II, 1–24) traces the origin of theShakyas 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.[11] The genealogy according to the Mahavamsa is as follows:[12][13]
Medieval era Indian art depicting King Ikshvaku (Rishabhanatha) imparting the skill of pottery to his people.
Rishabhanatha, the firstTirthankara, is identified with King Ikshvaku and the founder of the Ikshvaku dynasty. The earliest recorded reference to the Ikshvaku dynasty can be found in theSwayambhustotra, a Sanskrit epic poem composed by AcharyaSamantabhadra, a Jain poet originally fromTamil Nadu. The Swayambhustotra praises the 24 Tirthankaras, including Rishabhanatha, and mentions the lineage of the Ikshvaku dynasty:
Rishabhanatha or Ikshvaku, the first of the kings of the Ikshvaku dynasty, was the seeker of liberation, won over His senses to get established in the pure Self, independent, endured afflictions, and steadfast in His resolve. He relinquished the expanse of the faithful lady earth, clothed, as it were, up to the ocean, and embraced the noble asceticism.[15] TheIkshvaku dynasty has a significant place inJainism, as twenty-two Tirthankaras were born in this dynasty.[16]
Origin
Rishabhanatha (son of KingNabhi), the founder ofJainism in the presentAvasarpani era (descending half time cycle as per Jain cosmology andManvantara in hindu cosmology) is said to have founded the Ikshvaku dynasty. The name for the Ikshvaku dynasty comes from the wordikhsu (sugarcane), another name of Rishabhanatha,[17] because he taught people how to extractikshu-rasa (sugarcane-juice).[18]
Janhu (eldest son of Sagara), the one who flooded village of Nagas with waters ofGanga leading to turning of sixty thousand sons of Sagara into ashes by Jawalanprabha (emperor of Nagas)
^Ikshaku tribeThe Mahabharata translated byKisari Mohan Ganguli (1883 -1896), Book 3: Vana Parva: Tirtha-yatra Parva: Section CVI,p. 228 'There was born in the family of theIkshaku, a ruler of the earth namedSagara, endued with beauty, and strength...".
^"ŚB 9.1.2-3".vedabase.io. Retrieved4 February 2021.
^Law, B.C. (1973).Tribes in Ancient India, Bhandarkar Oriental Series No.4, Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, p.246
^Misra, V.S. (2007).Ancient Indian Dynasties, Mumbai: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan,ISBN81-7276-413-8, p.286
^Geiger, Wilhelm (tr.) (1912)."Mahavamsa, Chapter II". Ceylon Government Information Dept., Colombo (in lakdvia.org website). Retrieved26 October 2009.
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