Manu

River, country and capital begin to form the first clear geography of the royal world unfolding around Rama's lineage.

Within Kosala stands Ayodhya, a city renowned in the world, built by Manu, lord of men.

Ayodhya stretches twelve Yojanas in length and three in brink, its ancient proportions conveying the scale of the great city.

Its great roads are carefully laid out.

He is powerful, a vanquisher of enemies, rich in friends and master of his senses.

In wealth and other stores, he is like Indra and Vaishravan.

like radiant Manu protecting the world, King Dasharatha dwelling there protects his realm.

yatha manur mahateja lokasya parirakshita tatha dasharatho raja vasan jagad palayat In simple terms, this means as the radiant Manu protected the people, so King Dasharatha protected and governed his realm.

Greek mythology had Deucalion.

Indian traditions include Manu, warned of a great flood by a fish.

Many other cultures preserve stories in which waters cover the land, people escape, and a new beginning follows.

Sometimes these are connected to real regional disasters.

That's how it is said.

And again Manu.

So somebody will become the new Manu.

Like King Satyavrath becomes the Manu in the next cycle.

So they are not just waiting.

They are waiting to carry on.

Large chunks will survive, save and will go on to the new age.

So age of pralayas is over.

The Hindu texts preserve their own version in the Matsya Purana and the Satapatha Brahmana.

A man named Manu is washing his hands in a river when a tiny fish appears and begs him for protection.

Manu takes the fish home and cares for it as it grows.

Eventually, the fish becomes enormous and reveals itself as Matsya, an avatar of the god Vishnu.

Matsya warns Manu that a great flood is coming that will destroy all life on Earth.

He tells Manu to build a boat and stock it with seeds of every plant and breeding pairs of every animal.

When the flood comes, Matsya appears as a giant horned fish.

Manu ties his boat to Matsya's horn, and the fish tows them through the raging waters until they reach the highest mountain peak.

Whatever natures be to mortal men distributed, those natures spring from me: intellect, skill, enlightenment, endurance, self-control, truthfulness, equability, and grief or joy of soul, and birth and death, and fearfulness, and fearlessness, and shame and honor, and sweet harmlessness, and peace which is the same, whatever befalls, and mirth and tears, and piety, and thrift, and wish to give, and will to help, all cometh of my gift.

The seven chief saints, the elders four, the lordly Manus set, sharing my work, to rule the worlds, these too did I beget.

And Rishis, Pitris, Manus, all by one thought of my mind, thence did arise to fill this world, the races of mankind.

Wherefore who comprehends my reign of mystic majesty, that Truth of truths, is thenceforth linked in faultless faith to me.

Yea, knowing me, the source of all, by me all creatures wrought, the wise in spirit cleave to me, into my Being brought.

So long as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, twice as long does it rise in the south and set in the north, and so long does he follow the sovereign supremacy of the Rudras.

eight khanda on the third of these nectars the adityas live with varuna at their head true the devas do not eat or drink but they enjoy by seeing the nectar they enter into that dark color and they rise from that color he who thus knows this nectar becomes one of the adityas with varuna at their head he sees the nectar and rejoices and he having entered that color rises again from that color so long as the sun rises in the south and sets in the north twice as long does it rise in the west and set in the east and so long does he follow the sovereign supremacy of the nine khanda on the fourth of these nectars the maruts live with soma at their head true the devas do not eat or drink but they enjoy by seeing the nectar they enter into that very dark color and they rise from that color he who thus knows this nectar becomes one of the maruts with soma at the head he sees the nectar and rejoices and he having entered that color rises again from that color so long as the sun rises in the west and sets in the east twice as long does it rise in the north and set in the south and so long does he follow the sovereign supremacy of the maurits tenth khanda on the fifth of these nectars the sadhyas live with brahman at their head true the devas do not eat or drink but they enjoy by seeing the nectar they enter into that color and they rise from that color he who thus knows this nectar becomes one of the sadhyas with brahman at their head he sees the nectar and rejoices and he having entered that color rises again from that color so long as the sun rises in the north and sets in the south twice as long does it rise above and set below and so long does he follow the sovereign power of the sadyas eleventh khanda when from thence he has risen upwards he neither rises nor sets he is alone standing in the centre and on this there is this verse yonder he neither rises nor sets at any time if this is not true ye gods may i lose brahman and indeed to him who thus knows this brahma upanishad the secret doctrine of the veda the sun does not rise and does not set for him there is day once and for all This doctrine, beginning with third, first, first Brahman, Hiranyagarbha, told to Prajapati, Virag, Prajapati to Manu, Manu to his offspring, Ikshavaku, etc.

And the father told that doctrine of Brahman to Uddalaka Aruni.

A father may therefore tell that doctrine of Brahman to his eldest son or to a worthy people.

But did you know the Mesopotamians had the Epic of Gilgamesh with an almost identical flood story written down one thousand years before the Bible? The ancient Greeks had Deucalion's flood.

Hindu texts describe Manu and a great deluge.

Chinese mythology records the Gun-Yu myth of catastrophic flooding.

Indigenous Australians have Dreamtime stories of the sea rising and drowning the coastal lands.

But then they found similar stories in cultures that had never had contact with the Middle East.

In Hindu tradition, there's the story of Matsya.

The god Vishnu takes the form of a giant fish and warns a king named Manu that a great deluge is coming.

Manu builds a huge boat, loads it with seeds and animals, and ties it to Matsya's horn.

So, [speaking Sanskrit] So Veda is speaking about Dharma, which is about Bhagavan, mad-atmaka.

But the same Veda, as it came down from Brahma to Manu and Manu to the sages, so it became known in different, different ways according to the samskaras of the people.

So this is how the variety comes, as Sri Visvanatha Chakravarti Thakur gave the example of water of Ganga River and the trees on the bank of the river of various varieties.

They drink the same water through their roots and give different varieties of fruits.

Got it.

So Veda, and then from, on the basis of Veda, there is Smriti.

Manu made Manu Smriti.

So he studied the Veda, then he gave Smriti.