The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c24.35

v1.c24.35

In the Purāṇas, which were the common scriptures of the ruling Āryan peoples of Northern and Western India, the traditional genealogies of the royal houses have been collected and made to form a consistent whole. Not only are the ancient tribes of the Rigveda and the kingdoms immediately descended from them represented here, but the realms of Kosala (Ayodhyā), Videha, Vaiçālī, and Magadha, which were not Āryanised until a later date, have also been brought into the scheme and furnished with a still longer and more august pedigree. They belong to the Solar family and are derived directly from Manu through Ikshvāku. A family of princes bearing this name is known from Vedic literature; and it is quite possible that the Solar dynasties of Kosala and other kingdoms to the east of the Middle Country may have been descended from this family. If so, the Ikshvāku of the genealogical tree must be regarded as an eponymous ancestor; and as his superhuman origin had to be explained, a myth founded on a far-fetched etymology of his name was invented. Ikshvāku was so called because he was born from the sneeze (*kshava*) of Manu (*Vishṇu Pur.*, trans. Wilson, III, p. 259).