Solar dynasty
Solar dynasty or the Ikshvaku dynasty was founded by the legendary king Ikshvaku. The dynasty is also known as ("Solar dynasty" or "Descendants of the Sun") and along with Lunar dynasty comprises one of the main lineages of the Kshatriya Varna. Rama belonged to the Ikshavaku dynasty and Krishna belonged to the Lunar Dynasty. The first "Tirthankar" of Jainism, Rishabhdeva himself was King Ikshvaku. Further, 21 Tirthankars of Jainism were born in this dynasty. According to Buddhist texts and tradition, Gautama Buddha descended from this dynasty. Many later kings of the Indian subcontinent claimed to be of Suryavamshi  descent. The important personalities belonging to this royal house are Mandhatri, Muchukunda, Ambarisha, Bharata Chakravartin, Bahubali, Harishchandra, Dilīpa, Sagara, Raghu, Rama and Pasenadi. Both the Hindu Puranas and the Buddhist texts include Shuddodhana, Gautama Buddha, and Rahula in their accounts of the Ikshvaku dynasty but, according to the Buddhist texts, Mahasammata, an ancestor of Ikshvaku who was elected by the people as the first king of the present era, was the founder of this dynasty. Origins. Suryavamsha or Solar Dynasty is the one of the two major legendary Kshatriya dynasties found in Hindu Puranic and epic literature, the other being  Chandravamsha or the Lunar Dynasty. According to "Harivamsa", Ikshvaku is considered the primogenitor of the dynasty of, and was granted the kingdom of Aryavarta by his father Vaivasvata Manu. Manu settled down in the Aryavarta region after he survived the great flood. A. K. Mozumdar states that Manu is the one who built a city on the Sarayu and called it Ayodhya meaning the 'invincible city'. This city served as the capital of many kings from the solar dynasty and is also the birthplace of Rama an avatar of Vishnu. Some Hindu texts suggest Rishi Marichi, one of the seven  sages and first human creations of Brahma as the progenitor of the dynasty. Marichi's eldest son Kashyapa is said to have settled down in Kashmir (Kashyapa-Meru or Kashyameru). He also contributed to the verses of the Vedas. Later, Vivasvan son of Kashyapa and Aditi, famously known as the Hindu god Surya married Saranyu who was the daughter of Vishvakarman, the architect of devas. He had many children but Manu was given the responsibility of building the civilization and as a result it formed a dynasty that was named 'Suryavamsh' or the solar dynasty. Manu is also the progenitor  of the Lunar Dynasty because he married his daughter Ila to Budha, the son of Chandra or the moon god and the couple gave birth to the magnanimous King Pururavas who became the first king of the Chandravamsh or the Lunar dynasty. Deposition. After the death of the powerful king Prasenjit and disappearance of his successor Virudhaka after defeating the Shakyas, the kingdom of Kosala declined. King Sumitra was the last Suryavamshi ruler, who was defeated by the powerful emperor Mahapadma Nanda of Magadha in 362 BCE. However, he wasn't killed, and fled to Rohtas, located in present-day  Bihar. In Bhagavata Purana. Ikshvaku and his ancestor Manu are also mentioned in the Bhagavata Purana (Canto 9, Chapter 1), In Buddhism. The Buddhist text, Buddhavamsa and Mahavamsa (II, 1–24) traces the origin of the Shakyas to king Okkaka (Pali equivalent to Sanskrit Ikshvaku) and gives their genealogy from Mahasammata, an ancestor of Okkaka. This list comprises the names of a number of prominent kings of the Ikshvaku dynasty, namely, Mandhata and Sagara. The genealogy according to the Mahavamsa is as follows: In Jainism. The Ikshvaku dynasty has a significant place in Jainism, as twenty-two Tirthankaras were born in  this dynasty.