Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v2.c13.68

v2.c13.68

change come about as in the MBh., but tells of another cause why Çiva laid this spell: Once he was visited by pious Ṛiṣis, who found his wife naked in his arms. She was very much ashamed, and therefore the god thus spoke for her sake: “Whoso comes into the forest shall become a woman.” In the two sections of the Purāṇa Manu through a mistake of the sacrificing priest gets a daughter, Ilā, instead of a son; through special favour she becomes a man, named Sudyumna, and he then becomes a woman through the power of the god, etc. Cp. Harivamça, x, 615 ff.; Crooke, Pop. Rel., ii, 7.