ĪŚVARA, meaning "the lord," is the chief term used in Indian religion and philosophy to designate a supreme personal god. Goddess worshipers employ the feminine form, īśvarī. The noun comes from the Sanskrit root vīś, which means to own, rule, be master of, or be powerful. The meaning of the term developed over the history of South Asian literature.

In the earliest strata, the hymns of the Ṛgveda (c. 2000 BCE) prefer the epithets īśaṇa or īśa (from the same root) to designate the power of such deities as the universal sovereign Varuṇa, guardian of the cosmic order; Agni, the god of fire; Indra, lightning-hurling leader of the gods; and Puruṣa, the Cosmic Person, who was dismembered to create the universe. Though powerful, these early "lords" are not supreme personal deities. The term īśvara itself first occurs in...