Shloka 1
Matsya Purana — Account of the Manvantaras: Manus
*सूत उवाच एवं श्रुत्वा मनुः प्राह पुनरेव जनार्दनम् पूर्वेषां चरितं ब्रूहि मनूनां मधुसूदन //
*sūta uvāca evaṃ śrutvā manuḥ prāha punareva janārdanam pūrveṣāṃ caritaṃ brūhi manūnāṃ madhusūdana //
Sūta said: Having heard thus, Manu again addressed Janārdana: “O Madhusūdana, please recount to me the deeds and life-stories of the earlier Manus.”
FAQs
This verse does not describe pralaya directly; it signals a transition into Manvantara history—Manu requesting accounts of earlier Manus, which typically frame cosmic cycles between creations and dissolutions.
By asking for the conduct (carita) of previous Manus—archetypal lawgivers—Manu seeks precedents for dharma, governance, and social order, which the Purana uses to ground royal and household duties in exemplary tradition.
No explicit Vastu Shastra or ritual procedure appears in this verse; it functions as a narrative prompt that may later lead to prescriptive sections, but here it is purely an inquiry into earlier Manu traditions.