The âgavataPurâtime had come when a fresh departure was necessary in the methods pursued by the Lilâ Avatâras for the spiritual regeneration of the Universe. They had now to appear amongst men, as ordinary beings, to give direct teachings to their votaries, to infuse as much Satva as possible into humanity and to retard by all means the further extinction of the human race.
For a time the Râkshasas reigned supreme, but not over the new continent, permeated as it was by the sacred waters of the Ganges. Their stronghold was Lankâ, the remnant of the Atlantean continent. Following the descent of Gangâ therefore, Vishnu incarnated himself as Râma, one of the greatest of his manifestations. The Râkshasas of Lankâ were killed. Vibhishana only survived, but he was allied to Râma and so became immortal in spirituality. The Râkshasa survives in us but its energy of dissolution does not militate against the evolution of man. It was Râma who first gave the idea of Íshvara 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 Trilokî 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 Râma, there is little of interest in the line of Ikshvâku. 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 Ikshvâku race.
We have considered the line of Ikshvâku's descendants through Purukutsa. There is another line of his descendants through Nimisha. Then we come to the Lunar Dynasty.
The Lunar races first appeared while the descendants of Ikshvâku 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 terrestrial course, is only sixth in the line of descent from Pururavas.