Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c7.920

c7.920

44) *How Indra turned Bhaṃgāśva into a woman*. There was a King named Bhaṃgāśva. Once he performed a sacrifice called “Indradviṣṭa” which was believed to have the power of blessing him with children. Indra being not invited was displeased with him and was waiting for an opportunity to wreak vengeance on him. One hundred sons were born to Bhaṃgāśva. Once he went to the forest after entrusting the affairs of the kingdom to his sons. Indra cunningly misguided him and made him lose his way in the forest. Wandering alone with his horse in the forest, he reached the bank of a river. Weary and thirsty, he stepped down into the river. To his amazement, he was instantly transformed into a woman! The bewildered “woman” somehow reached Bhaṃgāśva’s palace. All the members of his family were deeply grieved over his change of sex. To avoid embarrassment to himself and others, Bhaṃgāśva returned as a woman to the forest and there lived as the wife of a sage and became the mother of a hundred sons. After some years “she” went back to the palace with the sons and leaving them there returned again to the forest.