Dandaka

Dandaka (Sanskrit: दंडक, IAST: Daṃḍaka) is the name of a forest mentioned in the ancient Indian texts, such as Ramayana. It is also known as Dandakaranya, aranya being the Sanskrit word for "forest". It was the location of the Danda Kingdom, a stronghold of the Rakshasa tribes.

This forest is the scene of many of Rama and Sita's adventures, and is described as "a wilderness over which separate hermitage are scattered, while wild beasts and Rakshasas everywhere abound."

Ramayana describes Dandaka-aranya as a vast forest. Some passages represent it as beginning immediately south of the Yamuna. The present-day identification of the Dandaka forest is debated. According to Bimala Chum Law, it covered almost all of Central India, from Bundelkhand to Krishna River. According to John Dowson, it lay between the Godavari and Narmada.

The story of the Dandaka region is found in the Uttara Kanda of the epic Ramayana. The tale is narrated by Sage Agastya to Rama, who is now the Chakravartin Emperor of the World, after finishing his exile.

During the first age, the Satya Yuga, Ikshwaku, the eldest son of Manu and the grandson of the Sun God, Surya, established the city of Ayodhya. Thus, Ikshwaku became the first Suryavanshi King ever. Ikshwaku had no wife, so with the aid of his priest, Vashishtha, he conducted a sacrificial ritual. As a result of this sacrifice, Ikshwaku acquired a hundred biological sons, who rose from the fire, fully grown and without any aid of a woman.

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