Ida (goddess)

Ida (goddess)

Ila is an androgyne in Hindu mythology, known for his/her sex changes. As a man, he is known as Ila (Sanskrit: इल) or Sudyumna and as a woman, is called Ilā (Sanskrit: इला). Ilā is considered the chief progenitor of the Lunar Dynasty (Chandravamsha or Somavamsha) of Indian kings - also known as the Ailas ("descendants of Ilā").

While many versions of the tale exist, Ila is usually described as a daughter or son of Vaivasvata Manu and thus the sibling of Ikshvaku, the founder of the Solar Dynasty (Arkavamsha or Suryavansha). In versions in which Ila is born a girl, she is changed to a boy by divine grace soon after her birth. After mistakenly entering a sacred grove as an adult, Ila is either cursed to change his/her gender every month or cursed to become a woman. As a woman, Ilā married Budha, the god of the planet Mercury and the son of the moon-god Chandra (Soma), and bore him a son called Pururavas, the father of the Lunar Dynasty. After the birth of Pururavas, Ilā is transformed into a man again and fathered three sons.

In Vedic literature, Ilā is praised as Idā (Sanskrit: इडा), the goddess of speech, and described as mother of Pururavas. The tale of Ila's transformations is told in the Puranic literature as well as the Hindu epics Ramayana and Mahabharata.