Manu means first man, who came to existence, when this universe was born anew. It is also a short form of human. ‘Manav’ Manu is also a title of a ruler of earth, or of a head of dynasty. Vaivasvata Manu was born in the family of Marichi, the son of Brahma. Once there was a deluge and most of the creatures on earth died. In that period Vaivaswat Manu was saved by Lord Vishnu. Vaivaswat Manu and the people of his clan again wrote the saga of creation and development on earth. Suryavanshi Kshatriyas has started from his nine sons. Manu also had a daughter – Ila. She was married to Budha, who was the son of Moon. Pururavas was born from him, who was called Ail, who became the first ruler of the Chandravanshis. His capital was Pratishthan, where today Jhansi near Prayag is situated. Vaivaswat Manu had many great kings in his family, including Ikshvaku, Prithu, Trishanku, Mandhata, Prasenjit, Bharata, Sagara, Bhagirath, Raghu, Sudarshan, Agnivarna, Maru, Nahusha, Yayati, Dasaratha and Dasaratha’s sons Bharata, Rama and Rama. sons Luv and Kush. The Ayodhya clan started from the Ikshvaku clan. King Harishchandra: Harishchandra belonged to solar dynasty and was a legendary king of Ayodhya and was a very truthful and pious king. Once, sage Vishwamitra, asked him for his entire kingdom in charity. After handing over the entire kingdom to Vishwamitra, following his true religion he fulfilled his promises, and left the palace and went to the forest with his wife and child. In forest also, he followed sanatna dharma inspite of adverse circumstances. To test the dharma of King Harishchandra, Vishwamitra did not stop following him, even after taking over his kingdom in charity and further started demanding Dakshina from him. On this, Harishchandra decided to sell himself along with his wife and children and went to Kashi, where he sold his wife and children to a Brahmin and sold himself to a Chandal to complete the dakshina of the sage. Harishchandra started tax collection work in the crematorium. Meanwhile, son Rohit dies of snakebite. The wife reaches the crematorium, where she does not have even a penny left with her to pay the tax. Harishchandra demands tax while following his religion. Even in this odd situation, the king’s religious path did not waver. Vishwamitra makes his last move and assigns Harishchandra to kill Harishchandra’s wife by accusing her of being a witch. As soon as Harishchandra attacks him with a blindfold on, Satyadev himself appears and saves him, while Vishwamitra also returns the entire kingdom after being pleased with Harishchandra’s truthfulness. The public was happy and peaceful in all respects under Harishchandra’s rule. Like the king and the subjects. King Sudas: King Hasti in the time of Emperor Bharata who made Hastinapur his capital. King Hasti’s son Ajmeed has been called the king of Panchal. When King Samvaran, a descendant of King Ajmeed, was the king of Hastinapur, Panchal was ruled by his contemporary King Sudas. King Sudas had a war with Samvaran, which some scholars know from the ‘Dasrajya war’ described in Rigveda. Panchal state expanded during the time of King Sudas. After King Sudas, Kuru, the son of Samvaran, increased his power and brought the Panchal state under his control, only then this state was jointly called ‘Kuru-Panchal’, but Panchal became independent again after some time. The kingdom near the Saraswati river was called Kurukshetra after the name of King Kuru. It is believed that Andhak, the son of Bhim Satvat Yadav was also the king during the time of Panchal king Sudas. This Andhak is known to have been the lord of the kingdom contemporary to Shurasena. It was also defeated by Sudas in the Dashrajya war. after this war. India’s fortunes changed. There was a split in the society. Lord Rama: When Lord Rama took over the rule of Ayodhya after his return from the forest, he ruled India for many years and kept India united. Ram created a united India by tying the entire Indian castes together with all the forest dwellers, tribal and monkey castes. His kingdom was spread far and wide. In Rama’s time there were great rulers named Ravana, Bali, Sumali, Janaka, Maya, Ahiravana and Kartavirya Arjuna, but all were exterminated. All had joined Rama’s kingdom. Kartavirya Arjuna or Sahasrarjuna was an ancient king of Yaduvansh. He was very brave and majestic. He also fought with famous warriors like Ravana, the king of Lanka. Kartavirya Arjuna’s kingdom extended from the Narmada River to the Himalayas, which also included the region of the Yamuna coast. The descendants of Kartavirya Arjuna were later called ‘Haihay Vanshi’ whose capital was ‘Mahishmati’ (Maheshwar). Parshuram fought 21 times with these Haihayas. All the kings of Ram’s time had their own territory, but Ram established a powerful empire by tying the whole of India in one thread and freed the people from the cruel rulers.
