Lord Rama’s Ancestry and His descendants

Both the Valmiki Ramayanam and the Srimad Bhagavatam provide info about Lord Rama’s ancestry.
There are some conflicting details in these two texts about Rama's ancestors, as outlined below. The
Srimad Bhagavatam provides additional details about Lord Rama’s descendants that are not found in any
other source.

Srimad Bhagavatam Ancestry list:

The ninth canto deals with events in Vaivasvata Manvantara, the name of the manvantara that we live in.
King Parikshith asks Sage Shuka to tell him more about this manvantara and the story begins. It is here
that we find the story of Maharaja Ambarisha, a direct descendant in this line. In the 10th adhyaya,
Shukacharya tells the story of Rama. Here's he mentions the following lineage, in the very first verse.

Katvanga's son was Dheergabahu and his son was Raghu. The Pruthushrava (conquer of the world)
Raghu's son was Maharaja Aja and his son was Dasharatha. Bhagavan Himself was born in his family,
assuming the four forms of Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata, and Shatrughna, who were his amshanshas.

Notice that there is no mention here of Dilip, whose story is mentioned very prominently in Kalidasa's
Raghuvamsa.

Valmiki Ramayana Ancestry List:

Rama's ancestry is given in the 70th sarga of Balakanda. After Rama has won Sita's hand, by breaking
Lord Shiva's bow, King Janaka sends his messengers to Ayodhya to invite Dasharatha and his family to
the wedding. The sage Vashista, who is the kulaguru of Dasharatha then describes Rama's lineage, going
back to The Supreme Being (Avyakta). From the Avyakta was born Brahma and from Brahma was born
Marichi. From Marichi was born Kashyapa and from him was born Vivasvaan (hence Vaisvata
Manvantara). Manu's son was Ikshvaku. (Hence the name Ikshvaku vamsam for Rama's family.)

Vashista then continues to list the descendants of Ikshvaku. Maharaja Pruthu and Trishanku are
mentioned. After some additional generations, he mentions Sagara, whose grandson was Anshuman and
Dilip was Anshuman's son. According to Vashishta, Dilip's son was Bhagiratha, whose son was Kakutstha
(hence Rama is also called Kaakutstha). Raghu was Kakutstha's son. Vashista then mentions several
other descendants of Raghu, including Ambarisha.

Ambarisha's son was Nahusha (who was famously cursed by Agasthya) whose son was Yayati (not the
one from Mahabharata) whose son was Nabhaga whose son was Aja and from whom was born
Dasharatha. He concludes this list by only mentioning Rama and Lakshmana as Dasharatha's son and
asks Janaka to offer these two daughters in marriage to the sons of Dasharatha.

In the next sarga, King Janaka bows down to Vashista and recites his lineage. He starts with Maharaja
Nimi (hence, Sita is mentioned as Nimeenaam kula deepakam in a famous sthothram supposed to have
composed by Hanuman himself on the occasion of Rama's Pattibhishekam). Here he mentions that he is
the elder son of Rajarishi Hrusvaromna, who was the son of Swarnaromna, who was the son of
Maharomna. Janaka's younger brother was Kushadwaja. He concludes by stating that he would offer
Sita's hand to Rama and Urmila's hand to Lakshmana.

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In the next sarga, we find Viswamitra addressing them all. He mentions that both these families are so
illustrious as to be unthinkable, there is just no comparison. This is a match equal in Dharma and Roopa
and Sampada. But, he says, I would like to add something more. Here we have your brother Kushadwaja
and he is blessed with two beautiful daughters. Viswamitra then proposes that these two daughters
should in turn be offered to Bharata and Shatrughna. Both families will be further blessed by such a
union.

King Janaka then immediately agrees to the proposal (*) and says, “Our family would indeed be blessed
by this. Let the four princes accept the hand of the four princesses.”

The discrepancy in the two lists may, perhaps, be due to the fact Shukacharya was being brief (in many
places he does mention that he will describe things briefly, in answer to Parikshith's questions).

Lord Rama's descendants:

In the 10th adhyaya of the 9th Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam there is a detailed listing of the descendants
of Rama. There are some interesting tidbits here.

Keep in mind that Shukacarya is addressing Parikshith and this conversation took place at the beginning
of Kaliyuga, which lasts for 432,000 years. Krishna was born in Dwapara yuga and went back to Vaikunta
(??? or whatever Dhama one chooses to believe in) at the end of that yuga. Kaliyuga started only after He
left this earth. Dwaparayuga lasts for 864,000 years. Rama was born in the earlier yuga known as Treta
yuga which lasts for 1,296,000 years. With this in mind, let's listen to Shukacarya's narration of Rama's
descendants.

Starting with Kusha (let's take him as generation 1), Shukacharya gives the names of 58 generations. The
20th generation was Maru and Shukacarya mentions that through Yogasadhan he attained siddhi and is
still living in a village named Kalaapa. This is amazing considering the thousands of years that had
elapsed at the time of the conversation between Parikshith and Shukacarya.

After Maru, Shukacarya continues listing 8 more generations. The 28th generation was Bruhatbala. Now,
Shukacarya says, "Parikshith, your father Abhimanyu killed Bruhatbala in the war." This too is amazing
(**), since it means that the 28th descendant of Lord Rama choose to be on the side of Kauravas during
the Mahabharata war instead of joining the Pandavas and Krishna!

Shukacarya continues to list the remaining 30 generations. These are called the descendants of
Bruhatbala. It is important to note that Shukacarya is now talking about the future - those descendants
of Rama's family who are still to be born, in Kaliyuga that had just started. The lineage ends with Sumitra.
Shukacarya says that the Ikshvaku lineage will end after Sumitra becomes the king.

But, here's the most interesting tidbit of all. When he mentions Maru, the 20th generation from Rama,
Shukacarya also says that Maru will re-establish the Solar dynasty at the end of Kaliyuga.

We can conclude that we are now living in Kaliyuga, after Rama's lineage has ended abruptly with
Sumitra (the 58th generation). But, Maru is still in the village of Kalaapa and Rama's dynasty will re-
emerge when Kaliyuga ends and the next Satyayuga begins.

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare.

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(*) Note that it is Janaka who speaks on behalf of his younger brother. This is still the tradition in our
families to this day. The eldest son in the family also has the duty to perform the wedding of all the
children of all the other sons in the family.

(**) Why would a direct descendant of Rama side with the Kauravas instead of being on the side of
Krishna and the Pandavas? This is certainly something that we should all think about.

(??) According to Srila Prabhupada, Krishna's abode is the highest, with Rama's abode being below
Krishna's and Vaikunta is below both these two abodes. Krishna is The Supreme Being. (Hence also he
is not mentioned in Jayadeva's composition, Krishna is not avatara since He is The Supreme. Jayadeva
includes Buddha instead of Krishna as one of the avataras.)

1/7/2009 3:51:56 PM

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