Harishchandra is a legendary king of the Solar dynasty, who appears in several legends in texts such as the Aitareya Brahmana, Mahabharata, the Markandeya Purana, and the Devi Bhagavata Purana. The most famous of these stories is the one mentioned in the Markandeya Purana. According to this legend, Harishchandra gave away his kingdom, sold his family, and agreed to be a slave – all to fulfill a promise he had made to the sage Vishvamitra.

The Ikshvaku dynasty, also known as the Solar dynasty or Sūryavaṃśa was a clan or dynasty which, as per Hindu literature, ruled the Kosala Kingdom with their capital at Ayodhya and later at Shravasti. They prayed to their clan deity Surya, after whom the dynasty formed its namesake. Along with the Lunar dynasty, the Solar dynasty comprises one of the main lineages of the Kshatriya varna in Hinduism.