Manu (Hinduism)
first human being in Hindu tradition
Manu (Sanskrit: मनु) is a term found with various meanings in Hinduism. In early texts, it refers to the archetypal man, or the first man (progenitor of humanity). The Sanskrit term for 'human', मनुष्य (IAST: manuṣya) or मानव (IAST: mānava) means 'of Manu' or 'children of Manu'.
In later texts, Manu is the title or name of fourteen rulers of earth, or alternatively as the head of dynasties that begin with each cyclic kalpa (aeon) when the universe is born anew. The title of the text Manusmriti uses this term as a prefix, but refers to the first Manu – Svayambhuva, the spiritual son of Brahma. In the Hindu cosmology, each kalpa consists of fourteen Manvantaras, and each Manvantara is headed by a different Manu.
The current universe is asserted to be ruled by the seventh Manu, named Vaivasvata. Vaivasvata was the king of Dravida before the great flood. He was warned of the flood by the Matsya (fish) avatar of Vishnu, and built a boat that carried the Vedas, Manu's family and the seven sages to safety, helped by Matsya. The tale is repeated with variations in other texts, including the Mahabharata and a few other Puranas.
The public source identifies “Manu (Hinduism)” as first human being in Hindu tradition. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Manu, Hinduism and first.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q178744. VIAF identifies the subject as 298796113. The Library of Congress control number is n81022816. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Manu (Hinduism)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.