Glossary of Hinduism Terms - I

I

• Ikshvaku (इक्ष्वाकु): The word Ikshvaku means "bitter gourd". Ikshvaku was the first king and founder of the Sun Dynasty in Vedic civilization in ancient India. He was the son of Manu (the first man on earth), sired by the Sun God, Surya. Rama, of the epic Ramayana is a descendant of the house of Ikshvaku. So are Bhagiratha, Dasaratha, Luv and Kusa.
• Ilvala (ईवल): Ilvala and Vatapi were asuras, the rulers of Badami, formerly known as Vatapi, was named after asura king Vatapi.
• Indra (इन्‍द्र): King of the Gods. The chief deity of the Rigveda, the god of weather and war as well as Lord of Svargaloka in Hinduism.
• Indrajīt (इन्‍द्र जीत): Son of Ravana, King of Lanka, also known as Meghanath, who conquered Indra, the Lord of Gods and received his name 'Indra-jit' (Victor of Indra), and who was killed by Rama's brother Lakshmana.
• Indraprastha (इन्‍द्रप्रस्‍थ): Indraprastha (City of Indra) was a major northern city in ancient India that was the capital of the kingdom led by the Pandavas in the Mahabharata epic, located upon the banks of the river Yamuna, believed to be the site of present Purana Qila, in the modern national capital of Delhi.
• Indrasena (इन्‍द्रसेन): A kinsman of the Pandavas, son of Nala and Damayanti.
• Indrasenā (इन्‍द्रसेना): Daughter of Nala and Damayanti.
• Indrakila (इन्‍द्रकिला): A mountain Arjuna passed on his way to the Himalayas to practise austerities to acquire powerful new weapons from Lord Mahadeva.
• Iravan (इरवन): Arjuna's son by a Naga princess Ulupi who fell in the battle on the eighth day, fought on the side of the Pandavas, killed by the Rakshasa Alumvusha.
• Ishvara (ईश्व‍र): A Hindu philosophical concept of God referring to the Supreme Being which is the lord and the ruler of everything. Hinduism uses the term Ishvara exclusively to refer to the Supreme God in a monotheistic sense.