A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.674

c5.674

IKSHWĀKU. Son of the Manu Vaivaswat, who was son of Vivaswat, the sun. “He was born from the nostril of the Manu as he happened to sneeze.” Ikshwāku was founder of the Solar race of kings, and reigned in Ayodhyā at the beginning of the second Yuga or age. He had a hundred sons, of whom the eldest was Vikukshi. Another son, named Nimi, founded the Mithilā dynasty. According to Max Müller the name is mentioned once, and only once, in the Rig-veda. Respecting this he adds: “I take it, not as the name of a king, but as the name of a people, probably the people who inhabited Bhājeratha, the country washed by the northern Gangā or Bhāgīrathī.” Others place the Ikshwākus in the north-west.