[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879) › c5.1267 # A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.1267 A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.1267 - **Language:** English ### [c5.1267](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.1267) NIMI. Son of Ikshwāku, and founder of the dynasty of Mithilā. He was cursed by the sage Vasishtha to lose his corporeal form, and he retorted the imprecation upon the sage. Both abandoned the bodily condition. Vasishtha was born again as the issue of Mitra and Varuna, but “the corpse of Nimi was preserved from decay by being embalmed with fragrant oils and resins, and it remained as entire as if it were immortal.” The gods were willing to restore him to bodily life, but Nimi declined, declaring that the separation of soul and body was so distressing that he would never resume a corporeal shape and become liable to it again. “To this desire the gods assented, and Nimi was placed by them in the eyes of all living creatures, in consequence of which their eyelids are ever opening and shutting.”—\*Vishnu Purāna\*. A wink of the eye is called \*nimisha\*, and the legend was probably built upon the resemblance of the two words. - [Previous: c5.1266](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.1266) - [Next: c5.1268](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.1268) - [Up: c5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5) ## Cites (1) - [Viṣṇupurāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.visnu) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.1267](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.1267) · Pramāṇa