The cycles of the Manus

There are 14 Manus in a day of Brahma, in a sequence that repeats in each of his days. At the end of each manvantara, a great process of extinction occurs.

In the 3rd canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, the 13th chapter starts with Vidura inquiring about the activities of Svāyambhuva Manu, the first Manu, and his wife, Śatarūpā.

The appearance of Svāyambhuva Manu is an important event in the creation of the universe because it marks the start of the first manvantara.

There are 14 Manus in a day of Brahma, in a sequence that repeats in each of his days. At the end of each manvantara, a great process of extinction occurs, with the previous Manu and all demigods leaving their posts. After a long period of managing the universe (a Manvantara lasts for 306.72 million years), these demigods receive the opportunity of being promoted to Maharloka, from where they continue gradually progressing.

After one team of demigods leaves, the next Manu takes charge of the management of the cosmos, together with a new team of demigods. There is a period of 1.728 million years between two Manvantaras, called Sandhya (juncture), when things are gradually restored after the previous devastation. From there, the population of the universe is restored, and the different living entities can again continue with their activities. Apart from managing the universe, the Manu are responsible for disseminating and maintaining religious principles.

Understanding the cycles of the Manus is the key to understanding the chronology of the Srimad Bhagavatam. At first, the Srimad Bhagavatam may appear to be a book with different pastimes that,t despite the deep spiritual significance, don't have a connection with each other. However, when we can properly understand the chronology of the Srimad Bhagavatam, we can see that, apart from all transcendental knowledge, the Srimad Bhagavatam gives a historical account of the history of the universe, with precise dates for many universal events that are gradually being confirmed by modern studies. This is by itself proof of the divinity of the Srimad Bhagavatam and a proof of what the Vedas say about the origin of humanity and the process of creation of the world. If thousands of years ago all human beings were aborigines living in caves and hunting animals, as believed in modern paleontology, how could it be that the authors of the Srimad Bhagavatam had dates for the creation of the universe and other cosmic events that are more precise than modern studies, as well as details about the structure of the universe that are still ahead of what is known in modern science?

By attentively following the narration of the different Manus in the current day of Brahma, we can connect the different pastimes to the reign of the particular Manus and in this way understand their chronology. Using a little more complicated calculations, we can even connect these cosmic events described in the Srimad Bhagavatam to planetary events that are studied in modern science.

In Teachings of Lord Caitanya, chapter 8, Srila Prabhupada describes:

"After describing the Līlā and guṇa-avatāras, Lord Caitanya explains the manvantara-avatāras to Sanātana Gosvāmī. He first states that there is no possibility of counting the manvantara-avatāras. In one kalpa, or one day of Brahmā, fourteen Manus are manifest. One day of Brahmā is calculated at 4 billion 320 million years, and Brahmā lives for one hundred years on this scale. Thus, if fourteen Manus appear in one day of Brahmā, there are 420 Manus during one month of Brahmā, and during one year of Brahmā, there are 5,040 Manus. Since Brahmā lives for one hundred of his years, it is calculated that there are 504,000 Manus manifest during the lifetime of one Brahmā. Since there are innumerable universes, no one can imagine the totality of the manvantara incarnations. Because all the universes are produced simultaneously by the exhalation of the Mahā-Viṣṇu, no one can begin to calculate how many Manus are manifest at one time. Each Manu, however, is called by a different name.

The first Manu is called Svāyambhuva, and he is the son of Brahmā;

The second Manu, Svārociṣa, is the son of the predominating deity of fire;

The third Manu is Uttama, and he is the son of King Priyavrata;

The fourth Manu, Tāmasa, is the brother of Uttama;

The fifth Manu, called Raivata, and

The sixth Manu, Cākṣuṣa, is both brother of Tāmasa, but Cākṣuṣa is the son of Cākṣu;

The seventh Manu is called Vaivasvata, and he is the son of the sun-god.

The eighth Manu is called Sāvarṇi, and he is also a son of the sun-god, born of a wife named Chāyā;

The ninth Manu, Dakṣasāvarṇi, is the son of Varuna;

The tenth Manu, Brahmasāvarṇi, is the son of Upaśloka;

Four other Manus are known as Rudrasāvarṇi, Dharmasāvarṇi, Devasāvarṇi, and Indrasāvarṇi."

There are 14 Manus in a day of Brahma, 420 Manus in one month of Brahmā, 5,040 Manus in a year of Brahmā, and a total of 504,000 during the 100 years that constitute his life. Just like the names of demigods, the names of Manus are titles. On each day of Brahma, different personalities take these posts. In other words, on each day of Brahma, there is a Svāyambhuva Manu who appears as the son of Brahma and performs more or less the same activities, but each time a different soul plays the role. The same applies to demigods like Indra, great personalities like Daksa, and so on. These are all posts that are assumed by different souls on each day of Brahma.

During the reign of each Manu, the Lord descends as an avatar. During the reign of Svāyambhuva Manu, the Lord appeared as Yajña, during the reign of Tāmasa Manu, the Lord appeared as Hari (Who saved the elephant Gajendra), during the current Manu, He appeared as Vāmana, and so on.

This is corroborated in the Caitanya Caritamrta (20:246):

"The avataras of Manu, or manvantara-avataras, are listed as follows in Srimad-Bhagavatam (8.1.5,13): (1) Yajna, (2) Vibhu, (3) Satyasena, (4) Hari, (5) Vaikuntha, (6) Ajita, (7) Vamana, (8) Sarvabhauma, (9) Rsabha, (10) Visvaksena, (11) Dharmasetu, (12) Sudhama, (13) Yogesvara and (14) Brhadbhanu. Altogether these are fourteen in number, and of these, both Yajna and Vamana are also counted among the lila-avataras. All these Manu incarnations are sometimes called vaibhava-avataras."

We thus have a list of the names of the 14 Manus and the corresponding incarnations of the Lord that appear in each:

1- Svāyambhuva Manu (Yajña)

2- Svārociṣa Manu (Vibhu)

3- Uttama Manu (Satyasena)

4- Tāmasa Manu (Hari)

5- Raivata Manu (Vaikuṇṭha)

6- Cākṣuṣa Manu (Ajita)

7- Vaivasvata Manu (Vāmana) - We are here!

8- Sāvarṇi Manu (Sārvabhauma)

9- Dakṣasāvarṇi Manu (Ṛṣabha)

10- Brahma-sāvarṇi Manu (Viṣvaksena)

11- Dharma-sāvarṇi Manu (Dharmasetu)

12- Rudra-sāvarṇi Manu (Sudhāmā)

13- Deva-sāvarṇi Manu (Yogeśvara)

14- Indra-sāvarṇi Manu (Bṛhadbhānu)

Just as the Lord sometimes becomes Brahma when there is no qualified living entity to assume the post, the Lord sometimes takes the post of Manu, Indra, or other important demigods when there is no qualified living entity to do the job, as Prabhupada mentions in SB 1.3.12:

"When there is a scarcity of such pious living beings, the Lord incarnates Himself as Brahmā, Prajāpati, Indra, etc., and takes up the charge. During the period of Svāyambhuva Manu (the present period is of Vaivasvata Manu) there was no suitable living being who could occupy the post of Indra, the King of the Indraloka (heaven) planet. The Lord Himself at that time became Indra. Assisted by His own sons like Yāma and other demigods, Lord Yajña ruled the administration of the universal affairs."

The Manus are called the fathers of mankind because (assisted by the other Prajapatis) they manage the whole planetary system of Bhu-Mandala, and are responsible for disseminating religious principles. In the Bhagavad-Gita (4.1), for example, Krsna narrates how the transcendental science was narrated by the Sun god to his son, Śrāddhadeva (or Satyavrata), who became the current Manu (Vaivasvata). He, in turn, transmitted it to Ikṣvāku, one of his sons, who became the ruler of the Earth. Vivasvan spoke the Bhagavad-Gita to Manu at the beginning of his rule (about 120,400,000 years ago), and according to Prabhupada (Bg 4.1), Manu transmitted it to Ikṣvāku about two million years ago.

The reigns of the different Manus are called Manvantaras. The first Manvantara coincides with the advent of Svāyambhuva Manu, who is followed by Svārociṣa Manu, and so on. At the end of each Manvantara, there is a partial devastation, in which all the demigods, as well as the great sages, are replaced by a new team at the beginning of the reign of the next Manu. Similarly, the Manus is responsible for reestablishing religious principles at the end of each Kali-yuga.

As Srila Prabhupada explains (SB 8.14-intro): "Manu’s duty is to reestablish the system of religion. Manu’s sons execute Manu’s orders, and thus the entire universe is maintained by Manu and his descendants. The Indras are various rulers of the heavenly planets. Assisted by the demigods, they rule the three worlds. The Supreme Personality of Godhead also appears as incarnations in different yugas. He appears as Sanaka, Sanātana, Yājñavalkya, Dattātreya and others, and thus He gives instructions in spiritual knowledge, prescribed duties, principles of mystic yoga, and so on. As Marīci and others, He creates progeny; as the king, He punishes the miscreants; and in the form of time, He annihilates the creation."

Each Manvantara lasts for 71 Divya-yugas (a complete cycle of four ages), in a total of 306.72 million years.

There are 1000 Divya-Yugas in a day of Brahma; therefore, if we make the calculation, it appears not to add up at first, since 71 Divya-Yugas multiplied by 14 manus are just 994 cycles instead of 1000.

This is explained by the existence of a few gaps between the reigns of the different Manus, including this long cycle of creation at the beginning of the day of Brahma, before the advent of the first Manu, as well as other gaps in the chronology, such as the Sandhyas between the Manvantaras. Just like a change of government, the transitions between Manus are not instantaneous, nor effortless. When we add all these periods, the total comes to 1000 cycles.

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