Illustration: Samhita Sonti According to the Shrimad Bhagavata Purana, Ila, the goddess of speech, is the mother and the father of the Chandravanshis or the Lunar Dynasty, one of the principal houses of the Kshatriya caste. So how does one be mother AND father? This was because Ila was able to transition between genders, a trait that she was bestowed with because of her father’s desire for a son. The sun god Surya was married to Sanjana, with whom he had a son called Vaivasvata Manu, the progenitor of all mankind. However, it wasn’t an easy road for Vaivasvata, who was also known as Satyavrata. He was married to Shraddha, and for years, they remained childless. In a bid to make sure his lineage continued, he prayed to the twin Gods Mitra and Varuna, performing a yajna for a child with the help of the sage Vas...