Ningikuga

Template:Short description Ningikuga was a Mesopotamian goddess. Her name can be explained as nin-gi-kug-a(k), "lady of the pure reed".Template:Sfn

A tradition according to which Ningikuga was a wife of Enki is known.Template:Sfn In the Old Babylonian An = Anum forerunner she occurs in his circle after Damgalnuna, while in An = Anum itself she is outright equated with her.Template:Sfn In the latter list she appears in line 178 of tablet II, before Ninti.Template:Sfn

In two sources, an Old Babylonian balbale composition and in a love song, Ningikuga is the name of Ningal's mother.Template:Sfn By extension, she functioned as the grandmother of Inanna.Template:Sfn While Thorkild Jacobsen assumed that the mother of Ningal and the spouse of Enki were the same goddess,Template:Sfn Antoine Cavigneaux and Manfred Krebernik keep the two uses of the name separate.Template:Sfn Jacobsen also argued that based on the meaning of Ningikuga's name it can be assumed that both she and her daughter were associated with reeds and marshes.Template:Sfn

Line 28 of tablet III of An = Anum explains Ningikuga as a name of Ningal.Template:Sfn A single hymn to Inanna also uses the name Ningikuga to refer to a manifestation of this goddess, and describes her as "the mistress of all, the pure one, who purifies the earth".Template:Sfn