The Heavenly Nymph and Her Mortal Husband

Author: Traditional

Time Period: 2499 BCE–1000 BCE; 999 BCE–1 BCE; 1 CE–500 CE

Country or Culture: India

Genre: Myth

PLOT SUMMARY

For more than twenty-five hundred years, the love story of Urvaśī (Urvashi) and Purūravas informed South Asian literature, and there have been slight plot variations in the different renditions. Most versions begin by explaining that Urvaśī, the most beautiful of the apsaras (heavenly nymphs), has grown bored of living in heaven. According to Hindu mythology, their role is to dance to the music played by their male counterparts, the gandharvas (celestial musicians), and thereby give dramatic flourish to the gods’ divine activities.

Urvaśī’s ambition to experience life among mortals is unusual for a denizen of the heavenly realm. In some versions of the tale, Urvaśī first comes to earth because she is cursed by the Vedic gods Mitra, deity of alliance and friendship, and Varuna, lord of justice and the underworld. According to this plotline, Urvaśī is expelled from heaven because she sexually inflames both of the gods and makes them jealous of one another.

Whether her trip to earth is voluntary or forced, Urvaśī comes to enjoy it and travels with her two beloved pet lambs (or goats in some accounts). One day, she happens to meet a king named Purūravas. He is handsome, honest, and noble. The celestial nymph and the mortal king fall deeply in love as soon as they lay eyes on one another.

Purūravas asks Urvaśī to marry him, and she agrees on three conditions. First, he must allow her to keep her pets, because she cherishes them as if they were her own children. Second, she must never see him naked. Third, she must eat only ghee (clarified butter), because she is a creature of heaven, not a mortal.

In her absence, the denizens of the heavenly realm begin to complain that their lives are not the same without Urvaśī among them. The apsaras and gandharvas grow discontent and decide to win her back to their heavenly home. Viśvāvasu (Vishvavasu), head of the gandharvas, knows of the contract between Urvaśī and Purūravas and hatches a plan to exploit it.

Viśvāvasu goes to earth and steals one of Urvaśī’s pets in the middle of the night. When she hears it crying out, Urvaśī wails and complains that she is living in a world without noble protectors. Seeking to please his beloved wife, Purūravas leaps up from his bed without dressing to get the animal back. Just as he does so, the gandharvas cause a bolt of lightning to illuminate the bedchamber, and Urvaśī sees her husband naked and disappears to heaven.

When Purūravas triumphantly returns to show his wife that both animals are safe, he cannot find her anywhere. He wanders around crazed, looking for her. Eventually Urvaśī takes pity on him and tells him to go to the spot where they first met at the end of the year. When he does, Purūravas finds his wife there, and they make love for the night. A son is born of this union. This pattern continues a total of five times, with the pair meeting once a year and a son being born from each tryst.

After many years, the celestial beings grow sympathetic to the couple’s desire to live together. They present Purūravas with a pan of fire. Following their instructions, he eventually makes the appropriate fire sacrifices and receives his boon. When the gods are pleased with his offerings, Purūravas is allowed to go to heaven and unite with his beloved Urvaśī.

SIGNIFICANCE

The story of the apsara Urvaśī and her mortal husband, the legendary King Purūravas, is one of the oldest tales in Hindu mythology. It makes its first appearance in the Rig Veda, composed around 1500 BCE, which is considered the most venerable text in the Hindu canon. The Rig Veda contains over a thousand hymns to various gods, meant to be recited in precisely prescribed manners to maintain the well-being of the universe. Although the story of these two lovers is a minor part of the great Vedic tome, it endured through the centuries as a perennial favorite while other aspects of Vedic mythology faded from memory.

The story makes another appearance in the late Vedic compendium Śatapatha Brāhmana (Shatapatha Brahmana). As was often the case with the early Hindu works, the Śatapatha Brāhmana was communicated orally for centuries prior to being written down, probably beginning to circulate around the eighth century BCE and recorded around the sixth century BCE. The Śatapatha Brāhmana marks the transition of Hinduism from the Vedic to the Upanishadic period. Its inclusion of the love story of Urvaśī and Purūravas is evidence that the appeal of the tale transcended that of the Vedic form of worship, which was beginning to fade away at the time the Śatapatha Brāhmana was committed to writing.

The story gained renewed popularity during the reign of the Gupta dynasty, which controlled much of the subcontinent during the fourth through sixth centuries CE and is often considered the high point of Indian civilization. The tale of Urvaśī and Purūravas is recounted in the classic Sanskrit epic the Mahābhārata. Traditionally ascribed to the legendary sage Vyāsa, the Mahābhārata is generally considered a synthesis of several stories passed along orally from as early as the eighth century BCE until its recording sometime around the fourth century CE. The inclusion of the myth of Urvaśī and Purūravas in this Gupta-era literary gem ensured its preservation for future generations.

The Mahābhārata is considered one of the greatest works of literature India ever produced. However, many scholars hold another piece, written around the same time as the Mahābhārata, to be the fullest expression of the myth. The prolific Gupta-era writer Kālidāsa is widely regarded as the master of the Sanskrit language. Although little is known about his life, it is assumed he lived sometime in the fourth century CE, as he is strongly associated with Gupta emperor Chandra Gupta II, who came to power around 375 CE. One of his most celebrated dramatic pieces, the Vikramōrvaśīyam (Vikramōrvashīyam) is a play about Urvaśī and Purūravas. A far longer and clearly creative rendition, it is nonetheless certainly based on the traditional myth.

The myth found its way into some of the holiest texts of the early medieval period as well. The Purānas, which evidence a return among Hindus to a more theistic or deity-centered form of worship than was current during the earlier Upanishadic period, were likely written sometime during the first five centuries of the Common Era. The Urvaśī and Purūravas story is included in the religiously significant Bhāghavata Purāna, the Matsya Purāna, and the Visnu Purāna (Vishnu Purāna).

The importance of the myth to later medieval Hindus is clear from its inclusion in the Kathāsaritsāgara (ca. 1063 BCE–81 CE). This tome is a compendium of the most popular stories from ancient India compiled by the sage Somadeva for Queen Sūryavatī of Kashmir. The Urvaśī and Purūravas myth’s appearance in this early medieval survey of South Asian literature shows that it retained its popular appeal for more than twenty-five hundred years after it first appeared in the Rig Veda.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Dimmit, Cornelia, and J. A. B. van Buitenen, eds. and trans. “Purūravas and Urvaśī.” Classical Hindu Mythology: A Reader in the Sanskrit Purānas. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 1978. 271–73. Print.

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Klostermaier, Klaus. A Survey of Hinduism. Albany: State U of New York P, 2007. Print.

Miller, Barbara. Theater of Memory: The Plays of Kalidasa. New York: Colombia UP, 1984. Print.

Mills, Margaret, Peter Claus, and Sarah Diamond. South Asian Folklore. New York: Routledge, 2003. Print.

Saletore, R. N. Encyclopedia of Indian Culture. New Delhi: Sterling, 1983. Print.

Sullivan, Bruce. Historical Dictionary of Hinduism. London: Scarecrow, 1997. Print.