Chapter 102 — Ila Restored

At the end of this part of the story, Bharata and Lakshmana asked Rama what happened during the year Ila remained with Budha.

Rama said that, in a month when Ila had returned to male form, Budha began to seek a lasting remedy. He summoned sages of knowledge and ritual: Samvarta, Chyavana of Bhrigu's line, Arishtanemi, Pramodana, Modakara, and Durvasa. Budha brought them to the hermitage and addressed them without haste.

“This is Ila, the mighty child of Kardama,” he said. “You know the king as he truly is. Let what is best for him be done.”

As the sages considered the matter, Kardama himself came to the hermitage, accompanied by other exalted figures. Pulastya and Kratu arrived; so did Vashatkara and Omkara. The gathering was glad to meet, but its purpose was grave: all had come as well-wishers of the king of Bahlika.

Kardama spoke for Ila.

“I see no remedy except through Shiva,” he told the assembled sages. “And there is no sacrifice greater than the ashvamedha, the horse sacrifice, which is dear to that great being. Let us undertake it for the king.”

The others approved. They would not attempt to explain away the mountain's condition or find a remedy apart from the power that governed it. The sacrifice was to be an act of devotion toward Rudra, another name of Shiva.

Marutta, a royal sage and disciple of Samvarta, undertook the rite. It was performed near Budha's hermitage, where Ila's divided year had unfolded. When the great sacrifice had been completed, Shiva was pleased, and he came before the gathered sages.

“I am satisfied by the horse sacrifice and by your devotion,” Shiva said. “What good shall I do for this king of Bahlika?”

The sages did not ask for a new realm, wealth, or victory. They made their request plainly: let Ila be male.

Shiva granted it.

The alternating condition ended. Ila received permanent male form, and Shiva disappeared. The restoration concluded the divine settlement. It did not erase the months that had preceded it: the change on the mountain, the divided memory, the life with Budha, and the birth of Pururavas all remain within the king's history.

When the horse sacrifice was over and Shiva had withdrawn, the sages returned to their own places. Ila then set the two royal lines in order. Shashabindu became king in Bahlika. Ila left that realm and founded a new city, Pratishthana, in the central land, ruling there with strength.

In time, Ila reached Brahma's world. Pururavas, the child born to Ila and Budha, succeeded at Pratishthana.

Rama finished the account before his brothers.

“Such is the power of the horse sacrifice,” he said. “One who had become a woman received male form again, and attained what was otherwise difficult to attain.”

The tale had reached its own boundaries: a king's destructive hunt, a mountain altered by divine play, alternating months and divided memory, the birth of a child, a rite, and two lines of rule. Only then did Rama turn from the old precedent toward the horse sacrifice Lakshmana had urged for Ayodhya.