Friday 4 December 2015

Raghuvamsha Sarga 1 | Shloka 11

And so, today we begin the story!

वैवस्वतो मनुर्नाम माननीयो मनीषिणाम् | 
आसीन्महीक्षितामाद्यः प्रणवश्छन्दसामिव ||

vaivasvato manurnāma mānanīyo manīṣiṇām |
āsīnmahīkṣitāmādyaḥ praṇavaśchandasāmiva ||

There lived Manu [ आसीत् वैवस्वतो नाम मनुः] who was the son of the sun and who was respected by the wise [मनीषिणाम् माननीयः]. He was the first of kings [महीक्षिताम् आद्यः] similar to the sound 'aum' which comes at the start of all mantras / vedas.  

ಸೂರ್ಯನ ಮಗನಾದ ಮನು ಜ್ಞಾನಿಗಳ ಮನ್ನಣೆಗೆ ಪಾತ್ರನಾಗಿದ್ದನು. ಹೇಗೆ ಮಂತ್ರಗಳ ಪ್ರಾರಂಭದಲ್ಲಿ ಓಂಕಾರವು ಬರುತ್ತದೋ ಹಾಗೆಯೇ ಭೂಮಿಯನ್ನಾಳಿದ ರಾಜರಲ್ಲಿ ಮನುವು ಮೊದಲಿಗನು.

जैसे ओंकार सभी वेदों में प्रथम मन्त्र है, विद्वान् श्रोत्रियों द्वारा पूजित प्रथम छन्दस् है वैसे ही विद्वान् मनीषियों द्वारा पूजित वैवस्वत नाम के मनु सर्वप्रथम राजा हुए।

Some thoughts:

- Again this verse has a very beautiful metaphor in it. All mantras start from 'aum'. Similarly, the lineage of kings (and man) started from this Manu. The etymology of the word man is attributed to manu. 

- He is the reason why the dynasty is called the solar dynasty or 'soorya vamsha' 

- Manu is a 'post' and not a name. The current manu is 'vaivsvata' manu. The time interval from one manu to another is known as manvantara. This period corresponds to 306,720,000 years! Vaivasvata-manu who is under consideration now is the 7th manu since creation! The manu smriti is attributed to the first manu - Svayambhuva. It is interesting to note the huge time-scales that were prevalent right from the time of vedas!

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