इलस्य स्त्रीत्वप्राप्तिः उमावरश्च

Hearing what Lakṣmaṇa had said, Rāghava, radiant and skilled in speech, answered him with a smile: "It is just as you say, Lakṣmaṇa, best of men, the whole story of Vṛtra's slaying and the fruit of the horse-sacrifice. We hear, gentle one, that long ago the son of Kardama Prajāpati was the glorious and most righteous lord of the Bāhlīkas, Ila by name. That famous king brought the whole earth under his sway and ruled his kingdom as though its people were his own sons, tiger among men. The noble gods, the wealthy Daityas, the Nāgas, rākṣasas and gandharvas, and the great-souled yakṣas all worshipped him constantly out of fear, gentle joy of the Raghus, and the three worlds trembled when that great soul was angry. Such a king he was, and yet steadfast in dharma and in valour and noble in understanding, the famous lord of the Bāhlīkas." Rāma accepts Lakṣmaṇa's proposal, but to show another power of the horse-sacrifice he begins the story of Ila himself. His smile shows his pleasure: his brother's story had delighted him. Ila was not only mighty but righteous; the three worlds feared his anger, yet he cared for his people as for sons, and in him the virtues of a king were joined. At the end of this story too it is the horse-sacrifice that will save Ila, so the tale supports Lakṣmaṇa's proposal. "Lord of the Bāhlīkas" tells us his kingdom lay in the Bāhlīka country, and since Kardama was a Prajāpati, a seer of the first age of creation, Ila came of divine descent. Rāma is of Ikṣvāku's solar line, while Ila, as the old tales say, is the ancestor of the lunar line, for from Ilā and Budha Purūravas will be born; so after the stories of the solar line Rāma now tells the origin of the lunar line as well. That gods and Daityas alike honoured him is a sign of his universal rule. The three worlds feared his wrath, yet he held it in check by dharma. Vṛtra, in the earlier story, had also been righteous and mighty; the heroes of the two tales are alike, but their fates are very different.

"In the delightful month of Caitra that mighty king went hunting in a lovely forest with his servants, his army and his mounts. He killed beasts in the forest by the hundred thousand, and yet, for all his killing, the great king was not satisfied. As he went on slaying beasts of every kind by the ten thousand, he came to the region where Mahāsena was born. There the unassailable Hara, lord of the gods, was sporting with the daughter of the king of mountains, surrounded by all his attendants. By that mountain cascade the lord of Umā, whose banner bears the bull, had taken the form of a woman to please the goddess, and wherever in that woodland there were creatures called male, and trees with masculine names, they all became female; everything there came to bear a woman's name. Meanwhile King Ila, son of Kardama, came into that region killing beasts by the thousand. He saw everything turned female, snakes, beasts and birds alike, and himself too turned into a woman along with his followers, joy of the Raghus, and great was his grief to see himself so changed." Ila's inability to be satisfied with hunting hints at his fault, a greed for killing. Unknowing, he enters Śiva's pleasure-ground, where maleness itself is forbidden. The detail of the trees is a fine one: not only living creatures but even trees with masculine names became feminine. The birthplace of Mahāsena is where Śiva and Pārvatī take their pleasure, and there Śiva's will holds sway everywhere. Śiva himself takes a woman's form to please the goddess, so the law of the place binds all alike, even its master, and King Ila is not exempt from it, for divine power is greater than a king's might. His followers too became women, so he was not changed alone but with all his company; the list of snakes, beasts and birds shows how far the change reached. Ila's grief is twofold: the loss of his own form and the misfortune of his followers.

"Knowing that this was the doing of Umā's lord, he was seized with terror, and with his servants, army and mounts the king went for refuge to the great-souled god, the blue-throated one with matted locks. Then Maheśvara, the giver of boons, laughed with the goddess and said to Prajāpati's son himself: 'Rise, rise, royal seer, mighty son of Kardama; choose any boon you like, gentle one of good vows, except manhood.' Refused in this way by the great god, the king was stricken with grief, and, now a woman, he would take no other boon from the best of gods." Śiva is gracious, but his rule is not to be broken: he will not give back manhood. Ila is just as firm: he wants no other boon, for he has only one purpose. Śiva's laughter hints at play, for the whole event is his sport. Ila's terror comes not only from becoming a woman but from fear of having slighted the great god's doing. The epithets "blue-throated" and "with matted locks" call Śiva's form to mind. Ila knows that Śiva is the root of his trouble and so goes to him alone for refuge, which shows his good sense. Śiva's "Rise, rise" is affectionate and shows his compassion, and yet the rule stands.

"Then in deep sorrow the king bowed with his whole inner self to the goddess Umā, daughter of the king of mountains, and said: 'Mistress of boons, giver of boons, you are the lady of the worlds; goddess whose glance is never fruitless, look on me with a kindly eye.' Knowing what was in the royal seer's heart, the goddess, beloved of Rudra, gave a gracious answer there in Hara's presence: 'The god can grant half of a boon, and I can grant you the other half. So take half, and be woman and man for as long as you wish.' Hearing this most wonderful and unsurpassed boon, the king was overjoyed and said: 'If you are pleased with me, goddess, let me be a woman of matchless beauty on earth for one month, and then for a month be a man again.' Knowing his wish, the lovely-faced goddess answered graciously: 'It shall be just so. When you are a man, O king, you will not remember having been a woman, and when you are a woman for the next month you will not remember your manhood.' So King Ila, son of Kardama, was a man for one month, and for the next became Ilā, the most beautiful woman in the three worlds." Umā's boon is a clever one: it does not break Śiva's rule, yet it answers her devotee's prayer. The break in memory is part of the gift, since in one form there is no memory of the other, and so no grief. Umā's compassion completes Śiva's law: of the divine couple one keeps the rule and the other shows mercy, and so the cooperation of Śiva and his Śakti is suggested. Ila's request is sensible too; he does not ask for complete manhood but accepts half. Even in asking to be a woman of matchless beauty his kingly nature shows, wanting to be the best even as a woman. Umā's "the god can grant half" shows her respect for her husband; she does not overstep Śiva's authority. So the beautiful Ilā will meet Budha in the next sarga, from which the lunar line begins, and the change from month to month turns like the wheel of time.