Ida (goddess) - Birth

Birth

According to the Linga Purana and the Mahabharata, Ilā was born as the eldest daughter of Vaivasvata Manu, the progenitor of mankind, and his wife Shraddha. However, the parents desired a son and so prayed and performed austerities to propitiate the deities Mitra and Varuna, who changed Ilā's gender. The boy was named Sudyumma. The Bhagavata Purana, the Devi-Bhagavata Purana, the Kurma Purana, the Harivamsa, the Markandeya Purana and the Padma Purana (referred to as "Bhagavata Purana et al. texts" further) narrate a variant: Ila's parents could not have any children for a long time and approached the sage Agastya for a solution. The sage performed a yagna (sacrifice) dedicated to Mitra and Varuna to attain a son for the couple. Due to either an error in the ritual, or a failure to offer the appropriate sacrifice, Mitra and Varuna instead sent a daughter to the couple. In one version, the couple supplicated the deities, who transformed Ilā's gender. In another version, this transformation happens after the erroneous hymns are rectified and the son is called Ila. According to a variant, Shraddha wished for a daughter; the sage Vasistha heeded her wish while performing the sacrifice and thus, a daughter was born. However, Manu desired a son so Vashistha appealed to the god Vishnu to change the gender of the daughter. Ilā was renamed Sudhyumna. The accounts describe Ila as either the eldest or the youngest child of Manu. As the child of Manu, Ila had nine brothers, the most notable was Ikshvaku, the founder of the Solar Dynasty (Arkavamsha or Suryavansha). As the son of Manu, Ila is the grandson of Surya, the Sun-god. According to another account found in the Vayu Purana and the Brahmanda Purana, Ilā was born female and remained a female.

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.