Manu

Manu is remembered in the poem as the first of kings and as the princely founder who planned and built Ayodhyá. Though he does not enter the narrated action, his name gives the city an ancient origin and supplies a standard against which later kingship is measured.

Identity and Background

The poem places Manu in the distant past, describing Ayodhyá as a royal town built and planned by his hand. This founding association makes him more than a name in a royal genealogy: he is linked to the creation of the political center in which the poem’s royal story unfolds.

Kingship and Legacy

Manu is identified as the first of kings and serves as a precedent for worthy rule. A later king is described as reigning like him and maintaining his state worthily; elsewhere, the land once swayed by Manu is recalled as having obeyed its king from sea to sea. Together, these references associate Manu with just governance and far-reaching sovereignty, presenting his reign as a measure of royal legitimacy.

Narrative Role

Manu’s significance is commemorative rather than active: the poem supplies no further account of his deeds or personal life. Instead, it invokes him at moments of royal description and city history, making the past a source of authority for the present. His pairing with Ayodhyá’s founding and with the ideal of righteous rule gives the kingdom both an ancient civic origin and a model for its kings.