Ila (Hinduism)
Ila/Ilā | |
---|---|
Devanagari | इल/इला |
Sanskrit transliteration | Ila/Ilā |
Affiliation | Devi |
Abode | Budhaloka |
Mantra | Om Illaya Namah |
Personal information | |
Parents |
|
Siblings | Ikshvaku and 9 others |
Consort | Budha (as a woman) |
Children | Pururavas (son as a woman) Utkala, Gaya and Vinatashva (sons as a man) |
Ila (
While many versions of the tale exist, Ila is usually described as a daughter or son of
In the
The tale of Ila's transformations is told in the Puranas as well as the Indian epic poems, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.
Birth
According to the
In the Ramayana, Ila is born as a son of Kardama, the Prajapati born of the god Brahma's shadow. Ila's tale is told in the Uttara Kanda chapter of the Ramayana, while describing the greatness of the Ashvamedha – the horse sacrifice.[5][12]
Curse and marriage to Budha
In the Ramayana, the Linga Purana and the Mahabharata, Ila grows to become the king of Bahlika. While hunting in a forest, Ila accidentally trespassed Sharavana ("Forest of Reeds"), the sacred grove of the goddess Parvati, the consort of the god Shiva. Upon entering Sharavana, all-male beings except for Shiva, including trees and animals, are transformed into females.[Notes 1] One legend tells that a female yakshini disguised herself as a deer and purposefully led Ila to the grove in order to save her husband from the king.[11] The Linga Purana and the Mahabharata emphasize the sex change of Ila to be a deliberate act of Shiva to start the Lunar dynasty.[1] The Bhagavata Purana et al. texts tell that Ila's entire entourage, as well as his horse, also changed their genders.[4]
According to the
Ilā married Budha and spent an entire month with him and consummated the marriage. However, Ilā woke one morning as Sudyumna and remembered nothing about the past month. Budha told Ila that his retinue had been killed in a rain of stones and convinced Ila to stay with him for a year. During each month she spent as a woman, Ilā had a good time with Budha. During each month as a man, Ila turned to pious ways and performed austerities under the guidance of Budha. In the ninth month, Ilā gave birth to Pururavas, who grew to become the first king of the Lunar dynasty. Then, as per the advice of Budha and Ila's father Kardama, Ila pleased Shiva and Shiva restored Ila's masculinity permanently.[5][14]
Another legend from the Vishnu Purana credits Vishnu of restoring Ilā's manhood as Sudyumma.[2][15] The Bhagavata Purana et al. texts tell that after Pururavas's birth, the nine brothers of Ila – by horse-sacrifice – or the sage Vasistha – the family priest of Ila – pleased Shiva to compel him to give the boon of alternate month manhood to Ila, turning him into a Kimpurusha.[3][4][9] The Linga Purana and the Mahabharata record the birth of Pururavas, but do not narrate the end of Ila's alternating gender condition. In fact, the Mahabharata describes Ilā to be the mother as well as the father of Pururavas.[16] According to another account found in the Vayu Purana and the Brahmanda Purana, Ilā was born female, married Budha, then was transformed into a male called Sudyumna. Sudyumna was then cursed by Parvati and transformed once again into a female, but became a man once again through Shiva's boon.[10]
In almost all versions of the tale, Ila wants to live as a man, but in the
Later life and descendants
The descendants of Ilā through
In the
The Bhagavata Purana, the Devi-Bhagavata Purana and the Linga Purana declare that Ila ascended to heaven with both male and female anatomy.[19] Ila is considered the chief progenitor of the Lunar Dynasty through Pururavas and of the Solar Dynasty through his brother Iksavaku and sons Utkala, Gaya, and Vinatashva.[9][23] The marriage of Ilā, a descendant of the Sun, and Budha, the son of the Moon, is the first union of the solar and lunar races recorded in the scriptures.[11]
In Vedic literature
In
Rig Veda 3.123.4 mentions that "land of Ila" was situated nearby banks of Sarasvati river.[26] Rigveda 3.29.3 describes Agni as the son of Ila.[27]In the Shatapatha Brahmana, Manu performed a fire-sacrifice in order to have children. Idā emerged from the sacrifice. She was claimed by Mitra-Varuna, but she lived with Manu and together they initiated the race of Manu.[24][28] In this text, Idā is the goddess of the sacrificial meal. She is described as the Mānavi (daughter of Manu) and Ghṛtapadī (with the ghee-dripping foot) and she is represented by a cow, also known as Idā during a sacrifice.[29][30] Pururavas is mentioned as the son of Ilā in the text.[31]
Notes
- Skanda, the son of Shiva, was born. The Devi-Bhagavata Purana narrates that once the sages intruded on the love-making of Shiva and Parvati so Shiva cursed the forest that all-male beings entering it would be transformed into females.
References
Citations
- ^ a b c For Linga Purana and Mahabharata, O'Flaherty p. 303
- ^ ISBN 978-1-57607-106-9.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4375-3059-9.
- ^ a b c O'Flaherty pp. 303-4
- ^ a b c d e Pattanaik p.46
- ^ a b Conner & Sparks (1998), p. 183, "Ila/Sudyumna"
- ISBN 978-0-19-536922-9.
- ISBN 978-0-521-69534-3.
- ^ ]
- ^ a b c d e Pargiter, F.E. (1972). Ancient Indian Historical Tradition. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 253–4.
- ^ a b c Shulman p.59
- ^ Swami Venkatesananda (1988). The concise Rāmāyaṇa of Vālmīki. SUNY Press. pp. 397–9.
- ^ Vanita, Kidwai p.18
- ^ a b c For Ramayana, Meyer pp. 374-5 or Shulman pp. 58-9
- ^ O'Flaherty p. 320
- ^ Meyer p. 374
- ^ Shulman pp. 61-2
- ^ Thapar 2013, p. 308.
- ^ a b Pattanaik p.47
- ^ Pargiter, F.E. (1972). Ancient Indian Historical Tradition, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, p.255.
- ISBN 978-81-7022-374-0.
- ^ O'Flaherty p.305
- ^ Singh, Narendra, ed. (2001). Encyclopaedia of Jainism. Anmol Publications PVT. LTD. p. 1724.
- ^ ISBN 978-81-206-1786-5.
- ISBN 81-7276-413-8, p.57
- For hymns, see Ṛgveda I.13.9, I.142.9, I.188.8, II.3.8, III.4.8, VII.2.8, X.70.8 and X.110.8
- For mother of Pururavas, Ṛgveda X.95,18
- ^ "The hymns of the Rigveda". Benares, E.J. Lazarus and Co. 1920.
- ^ "The hymns of the Rigveda". Benares, E.J. Lazarus and Co. 1920.
- ^ Eggeling, Julius (tr.) (1882). "Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa I.8.1". Satapatha Brahmana Part 1 (SBE12). at sacred-texts.com. Retrieved 2009-11-12.
- ^ Upadhyaya, G.P. (1967) Śatapatha Brāhmaṇam (Sanskrit text with Hindi translation), Vol.I, New Delhi: The Research Institute of Ancient Scientific Studies, pp.158-67- Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa I.8.1
- ISBN 0-226-32300-5.
- ISBN 81-7276-413-8, p.59 – Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa XI.5.1
Sources
- Doniger, Wendy (2002). "Transformation of Subjectivity and Memory in the Mahabharata and the Ramayana". In Shulman, David Dean (ed.). Self and self-transformation in the history of religions. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-514450-3.
- O'Flaherty, Wendy Doniger (182) [1980]. Women, androgynes, and other mythical beasts. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-61850-0.
- Meyer, Johann Jakob (1989) [1971]. Sexual life in ancient India. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 978-81-208-0638-2.
- Pattanaik, Devdutt (2001). The man who was a woman and other queer tales of Hindu lore. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-56023-181-3.
- ISBN 978-0-674-72651-2
- Vanita, Ruth; Kidwai, Saleem (2001). Same-sex love in India: readings from literature and history. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-312-29324-6.
External links
- Media related to Ila (Hinduism) at Wikimedia Commons