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The Legend of Purūravas and Urvaśī: an Interpretation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

R. C. Gaur
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Extract

The Ṛg-Vedic hymn X. 95, describing the story of Purūravas and Urvaśī is of considerable interest and obscurity. It has attracted the attention of priests and scholars alike from the days of the Brāhmaṇas, with the result that different versions of the story have come down to us with unrestricted freedom. Geldner has recorded eight sources of the story: (i) the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa; (ii) the Kaṭhakam; (iii) Ṣaḍguru-śiṣya's commentary on the Sarvānukramaṇī; (iv) the Harivaṃśa Purāṇa; (v) the Viṣṇu Purāṇa; (vi) the Bṛhaddevatā; (vii) the Kathāsaritsāgara; and (viii) the Mahābhārata. To the above a few more works, such as the Vāyu Purāṇa, the Mātsya Purāṇa, and the Rāmāyaṇa may be added to make the list more comprehensive. However, Kālidāsa made the story more popular through one of his finest plays, Vikramorvaśīyaṃ.

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Articles
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 106 , Issue 2 , July 1974 , pp. 142 - 152
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1974

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References

1 I am grateful to Professor A. L. Basham for having gone through an earlier draft of this article and raising certain interesting questions.

2 Pischel, R. and Geldner, K. F., Vedische Studien, I, Stuttgart, 1889, 243–295Google Scholar. See Kosambi, D. D., Myth and reality, Bombay, 1962, 46.Google Scholar

3 Kosambi, op. cit., 53. See, however, the interesting recent interpretations of Wright, J. C., “Purūravas and Urvaśī”, BSOAS, XXX, 1967, 526–547CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Goldman, Robert, “Mortal man and immortal woman: an interpretation of three Ākhyāna hymns of the Ṛg Veda”, JOIB, XVIII, 4, 1969, 273–303.Google Scholar

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6 Pischel and Geldner, op. cit.

7 See Kosambi, op. cit.

8 Kosambi, op. cit., 42–81.

9 op. cit., p. 54.

10 Bṛhaddevatā, VII. 195.

11 Ṛg Veda, X. 95. Hereafter Ṛg Veda references will be indicated with the abbreviation RV.

12 RV, X. 95.16: Yad virūpācaraṃ martyeṣvavasaṃ rātriḥ śaradaś catasraḥ.

13 RV, X. 95.3.

14 RV, X. 95.12.

15 RV, X. 95.17.

16 RV, X. 95.2.

17 RV, X. 95.13.

18 RV, X. 95.18: bhavāsi mṛtyubandhuḥ.

19 Mahābhārata, I. 71 and 72; Rāmāyaṇa, Bālakāṇḍa, 63, 7, 14–5.

20 Mahābhārata, I. 67. 10–1.

21 Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, XII. 5.4.11.

22 RV, X. 159.1.

23 RV, VIII. 19.36.

24 RV, X. 85.46.

25 Mookerjee, R. K., Hindu civilization, Bombay, 1957, 38–85.Google Scholar

26 RV, VII. 33.11: Utāsi Maitrāvaruṇo Vasiṣṭhorvśyā Brahmanmanaso'dhi-jātaḥ.

27 ibid.

28 RV, VII. 33.10.

29 RV, VII. 104.15; 182.1.

30 RV, VII. 104 14. ibid.

31 RV. Mookerjee, op. cit., 49–50.

32 Kosambi, op. cit., 81.

33 RV, X. 27.2.

34 RV, IX. 113.3.

35 RV, IX. 140.6; I. 133.4.

36 RV, VII. 99.5.

37 RV, I. 133.4.

38 RV, II. 20.7 (kṛṣṇayoniḥ); I. 101 (kṛṣṇagarbhaḥ); I. 130.8 (tvacaṃ kṛṣṇām).

39 RV, V. 29.10 (Anāso).

40 RV, I. 133.4.

41 RV, VII. 33.1.

42 RV, VII. 59.11.

43 RV, VIII. 80.7.

44 RV, II. 8.9.

45 cf. J. H. Hutton, The census report for 1931, I, Part I.

46 Mookerjee, op. cit., 48; cf. Sir Herbert Risley, Census report, 1901.

47 cf. Cambridge History of India, I, 44.

48 cf. Mookerjee, op. cit., 60.

49 Piggot, Stuart, Prehistoric India, London, 1950, 119–131.Google Scholar

50 ibid., 130.

51 ibid., 126–7, 129.

52 RV, IX. 113.1: Śaryaṇavati somamindraḥ pibatu Vṛtrahā; also RV, I. 84.14; RV, VIII. 6.39, 7.29, 64.11; RV, IX. 65.22; KV, X. 35.2.

53 RV, X. 34. 1 : Somasyéva Maujavatasya.

54 RV, IX. 113.2: āpavasva diśāṁpata Ārjīkāt somamiḍhvaḥ. See also RV, VIII. 7.29, 64.11; X. 75.5.

55 RV, IX. 113.3: tam Gandharvāḥ pratyagrbhṇantam Some rasamādadhur. See also RV, I. 126.

56 Hindu civilization, 85.

57 See Keith, A. B. and Macdonell, A. A., A Vedic index, I, London, 1912, 62.Google Scholar

58 RV, X. 75.5.

59 RV, IX. 46.1 : Parvatāvṛdhaḥ.

60 Gandharvānsomarakṣakān svānabhrājādinaḥ.

61 Uttarakāṇḍa, 100.10–1.

62 VI. 14.

63 Nos. 377, 487.

64 Aṅguttara nikāya, 1. 213; 4. 252; Dīgha nikāya, III. 26.116.

65 Uttarādhyayaṇa sūtra, XVIII.

66 Ramāyāṇa: Bālakānda, 101.11.

67 cf. SirMarshall, John et al. , Taxila, 3 Vols., Cambridge, 1951.Google Scholar

68 cf. SirWheeler, Mortimer, Chārsada, Oxford, 1960.Google Scholar

69 cf. Dani, A. H., “Timargarh and Gandhara grave culture”, Ancient Pakistan, III, Peshawar, 1968.Google Scholar

70 Agastyasya nadbhyaḥ Saptī Yunikṣi rohitā Paṇīn Nyakramīrabhi Viśvānrājan narādhasaḥ. Nadbhyaḥ = Sister's or daughter's children.

71 See also Atharvaveda, XVIII. 3.23.

72 RV, X. 85.45.

73 Uttarakāṇḍa, 100, 10; 101.2.

74 ibid. 101.5.

75 ibid. 101. 10–1.

76 ibid. 65.10; Yuṣmākam purvakerājā Sudās.

77 Dhammapada Attakathā, 1.359.

78 RV, II. 15.4.

79 cf. Piggott, op. cit., 130; Gordon, D. H., The prehistoric background of Indian culture, Bombay, 1958, 79.Google Scholar

80 RV, X. 95.8.

81 Akarmā dasyurbhi no amanturanyavrato amānuṣaḥ.

82 Anyovrataḥ Śrutismṛti vyakta karma amānuṣaḥ.

83 RV, VIII. 70.11: anyavratamamānuṣamayajvānamadevayum.

84 RV, II. 11.10: Vajroamānuṣam yan mānuṣo nijūrvāt.

85 mānuṣaḥ manuṣyānāṃ hitakārī.

86 RV, X, 98.8.

87 RV, II. 33.13.

88 SirWheeler, Mortimer, The civilization of the Indus valley and beyond, London, 1966, 44.Google Scholar

89 cf. Kosambi, op. cit., 68.

90 RV, X. 95.10: Vidyunnayāpatantī davidyod bharantī me apyā kāmyāni.

91 RV, VII. 33.10: Vidyuto jyotiḥ pari sañjihānaṃ mitṛāvaruṇā yada paśyatām tvā.

92 Bālakāṇḍa, 63.5.

93 See n. 90.

94 RV, X. 95.9: tā ātayo na tanvaḥ śumbhata.

95 The word apsarás means “moving in water”. Thus the apsaráses are connected with the rainclouds, rivers, ponds, etc.

96 RV, X. 95.9.

97 A Sanskrit–English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford, 1899, 82.Google Scholar

99 Piggott, op. cit., 130.

98 RV, X. 95.17.

100 RV, X. 95.18.

101 RV, X. 95.9.

103 RV, X. 95.18. Also RV, VIII. 18.22: Ye chid hi mṛytubandhavaḥ ādityaḥ manavaḥ smasi.

103 RV, X. 95.16.

104 RV, X. 95.4.

105 RV, X. 85.

106 Mookerjee, op. cit., 90.

1O7 RV, X. 40.11.

108 RV, I. 109.2.

109 RV, X. 28.1.

110 événnu kaṃ sindhumébhistatāré vénnu kam Bhédamébhirjaghāna. événnukaṃ dāśarājñe Sudāsam prāvadindro brahmaṇā Vo Vasiṣṭhaḥ.