Manu in Rigveda

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Manu (Rigvedic sage and progenitor)

Manu is portrayed in the Rigveda as the archetypal human ancestor and the prathama yajamāna (first sacrificer). He is closely linked with Agni and Soma, and remembered as a model whom later worshippers emulate.[1][2][3]

Identity and parentage

Already in the Rigvedic milieu, Manu appears as the son of Vivasvat (the Sun), being once explicitly called “Manu Vivasvat” and, in later Vedic texts, bearing the regular patronymic Vaivasvata. He stands as counterpart (doublet) to Yama, who is likewise a son of Vivasvat and the first mortal to die: Manu is remembered as the first man living on earth, while Yama becomes king of the dead. In Brāhmaṇa prose Manu Vaivasvata is “ruler of men,” Yama Vaivasvata “ruler of the Manes (pitṛs).” Yāska explains Manu as the son of Vivasvat (Āditya) and Savarṇā—the substitute of Saraṇyū—and even counts him among the divine beings of the celestial realm. (Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa; Nirukta; Atharvaveda)

Manu as the first sacrificer

Rigvedic poets repeatedly look back to Manu’s sacrificial precedent. Worshippers are said to “offer Soma as Manus did,” and Soma itself is invoked to flow “as it once flowed for Manu.”[1][2] Manu is further credited with “establishing Agni as a light for all peoples,” underscoring his paradigmatic role in instituting fire-worship for humankind.[3]

Named alongside ancient priests

Manu is listed among the most venerable sacrificers and seers of Vedic memory—appearing with Aṅgiras and Yayāti;[4] with Bhṛgu and Aṅgiras;[5] with Atharvan and Dadhyañc;[6] and with Dadhyañc, Aṅgiras, Atri, and Kaṇva.[7]

Agni “given” to Manu

Several verses remember how Agni was “given” to Manu or how Manu was “instituted” as a sacrificer: by “the gods,”[8] by Mātariśvan,[9] by “Mātariśvan and the gods,”[10] and by Kāvya Uśanā.[11] (Some of these passages likely use manu in the appellative sense “man,” yet the tradition preserves them in Manu’s orbit.)

Manu, Soma, and Indra

Indra is said to have “drunk the Soma of the Manus, three lakes,” to steel himself for the Vṛtra-slaying;[12] and Soma is also brought “to Manu by the bird,” a mythic courier.[13] In the Valakhilya hymns, Indra drinks Soma “beside Manu Vivasvat” and “beside Manu Sāṃvaraṇi,” preserving further associations between Manu and the heroic draught.[14][15]

The flood and Ida

Later Vedic prose relates the famous deluge: Manu is warned and saved by a fish, survives in a ship while a flood sweeps away other creatures, and then becomes the progenitor of humankind through his daughter Idā, born from his sacrificial offerings. The flood motif is already implied in the Atharvaveda, appears in Iranian tradition (Avesta), and may be of deep Indo-European antiquity; the hypothesis of a Semitic borrowing is judged unnecessary by some scholars (Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa; Atharvaveda; comparative notes).

Scope of Manu’s ancestry

In a few passages Manu is contrasted with the Dasyus, suggesting he could be remembered as ancestor primarily of the Āryas. (Scholarly note preserved with the section)

References

  1. RV 4.37.3 — “They offer Soma as Manus did.”
  2. RV 9.96.12 — “Soma, flow as you once flowed for Manu.”
  3. RV 1.36.19 — “Manu established Agni as a light for all peoples.”
  4. RV 1.31.7 — Manu named with Aṅgiras and Yayāti.
  5. RV 8.43.13 — Manu named with Bhṛgu and Aṅgiras.
  6. RV 1.80.16 — Manu named with Atharvan and Dadhyañc.
  7. RV 1.139.9 — Manu named with Dadhyañc, Aṅgiras, Atri, and Kaṇva.
  8. RV 1.136.10 — “The gods gave Agni to Manu / instituted him a sacrificer.”
  9. RV 1.128.2 — “Mātariśvan gave Agni to Manu.”
  10. RV 10.46.9 — “Mātariśvan and the gods [gave Agni / instituted sacrifice] for Manu.”
  11. RV 8.23.17 — “Kāvya Uśanā gave Agni / instituted sacrifice for Manu.”
  12. RV 5.29.7 — Indra drank “the Soma of the Manus, three lakes,” before the Vṛtra-fight.
  13. RV 4.26.4 — “Soma was brought to Manu by the bird.”
  14. RV 8.52.1 — Indra drank Soma “beside Manu Vivasvat.”
  15. RV 8.51.1 — Indra drank Soma “beside Manu Sāṃvaraṇi.”

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