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much Satva as possible into humanity and to retard by all means the
further extinction of the human race.
For a time the Rakshasas reigned supreme, but not over the
new continent, permeated as it was by the sacred waters of the
Ganges. Their stronghold was Lanka, the remnant of the Atlantean
continent. Following the descent of Ganga therefore, Vishnu incar-
nated himself as Rama, one of the greatest of his manifestations.
The Rakshasas of Lanka were killed. Vibhishana only survived, but
he was allied to Rama and so became immortal in spirituality. The
Rakshasa survives in us but its energy of dissolution does not militate
against the evolution of man. It was Rama who first gave the idea
of Isvara to the degraded human races of the present Manvantara.
They knew, for the first time, that there was one greater than all the
Devas the Gods of the Vedas and that there were planes higher
than even Svarga. The path of devotion was proclaimed. And it
became possible for men to cross the limits of death and of Triloki
by this quality. The downfall was stopped no doubt; but the ascent
was only permanently secured by Lord Sri Krishna as we shall see
later on.
After Rama, there is little of interest in the line of Ikshvaku.
The decline commenced and the line became extinct with Sumitra,
but it is said one king Maru of this line became an adept in Yoga
and retired to Kalapa, where he bides his time to revive the solar
dynasty towards the end of the Kaliyuga. We may take him to be
the originator of another race which will be the re-incarnation of the
Ikshvaku race.
We have considered the line of Ikshvaku's descendants through
Purukutsa. There is another line of his descendants through Ni-
misha. Then we come to the Lunar Dynasty.
The Lunar races first appeared while the descendants of
Ikshvaku were still flourishing, though on the eve of their decline.
They had immense possibilities of spiritual evolution, and the great
Aryan race seems to be connected with them. The appearance of
these races is almost simultaneous with the first flow of the Ganges.
For we find Jahnu, who swallowed up the Ganges in her first terres-
trial course, is only sixth in the line of descent from Pururavas.
The Lunar dynasty originated in the union of Tara, the
female principle of Brihaspati (Jupiter), and the Moon. The issue
was Budha (Mercury), the direct progenitor of the Lunar dynasty.
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