Surya and Sanjna are the parents of Yama, the first mortal to die and become lord of the dead, his twin Yami, and Manu Vaivasvata, ancestor of humanity. When Sanjna fled Surya's radiance and took the form of a mare, Surya pursued her as a stallion, and their equine union produced the Ashvins, the twin divine physicians.
Manu Vaivasvata married Shraddha, and from their union came the founders of humanity's two great royal lines — Ikshvaku, who established the Solar Dynasty at Ayodhya, and Ila, whose Lunar Dynasty would produce the heroes of the Mahabharata.
Manu, the progenitor of mankind, founded the city of Ayodhya on the banks of the Sarayu, establishing the unconquerable capital from which his descendants of the Solar Dynasty would rule for generations.
A tiny fish begged Manu for protection, and he sheltered it as it grew to monstrous size. Revealing itself as Matsya, the fish avatar of Vishnu, it warned Manu of a world-destroying flood and commanded him to build a great boat, load it with the seeds of all life and the seven sages, and lash it to the fish's horn as the waters rose.
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