icchä (‘desire’, ‘wish’)

This usually has a negative connotation

as longing for some finite object and

therefore a hindrance to the ultimate

end, which requires desirelessness.

Ïõä, also Ïlä

Subject of a number of different stories

concerning sex-change either from male

to female, or female to male.

ignorance

See AVIDYÄ.

Ïk•väku (1)

Son of MANU(2) Vaivasvata, descended

from the sun, founder of the solar race,

who reigned in Ayodhyä in the TRETA

YUGA. He had a hundred sons.

Ïk•väku (2)

Founder of the dynasty of the Purus.

Ïk•väku (3)

Dynasty that ruled in both North India

(Koÿala), and South India (Madupüra)

as well as in Ÿrï Laöka.

Illakumi

Tamil name of goddess LAKÆMÏ,also

known as Tiru (ŸRÏ).

image

(mürti, lit. ‘embodiment [of God]’)

Usually a three-dimensional representa-

tion of a specific deity according to an

established canon. Worship requires an

image of some kind, conceived as the

presence of the deity. Image making is

governed by a set of rules that deter-

mines the material, the way the deity is

to be represented, the paraphernalia

given to it. A human-made image

becomes a vessel for the presence of

God through the act of consecration

(prati•flhäpana, abhi•eka); either perma-

nently or for the duration of the time of

worship. Non-human-made images are

those that have been found, usually

revealed in a dream which do not need

a special act of consecration. If an image

suffers major damage, it can no longer

serve as an object of worship. Hindu

temples are primarily homes for the

images of gods, whose worship consists

in caring for the needs of the deity by

bathing, feeding, clothing and fanning

it. Most Hindu homes keep images of

gods and regular worship is performed

before them.

immortality

The search for immortality is a major

theme in Hindu mythology. When the

gods and the demons churned the ocean

at the beginning of time, one of the most

prized items that emerged was a pot

I

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