Urvashi

Urvashi (Sanskrit उर्वशी Urvasi f ) is the most beautiful of Apsaras, nymphs in Hindu mythology. It is already mentioned in the Rigveda.

Myth

The gods wanted to disturb the sages Narayana in his asceticism, they tried to disturb him with seductive apsaras. However, this could emerge from a flower Urvashi that surpassed all other Apsaras in beauty by far. Thus the gods recognized the superiority of Narayana.

The beauty of Urvashi was so beguiling, that the sight alone was enough that way, and the gods themselves involuntarily became fathers by a drop of sperm fell on the ground. Thus, the seeds of the gods Mitra and Varuna poured into a pot when they saw Urvashi. From this then the two Sage Agastya and Vasishtha were born. In angry, cursed the two gods Urvashi that she had to live on the earth, where they get the wife of King Pururavas was the son of Ida and Budha. However, in the marriage she made ​​it a condition that Pururavas her should never show naked. However, at night broke as a robber in the Royal Palace, she pursued without Pururavas to dress. Since a flash lit up the night and saw Urvashi Pururavas completely naked and so she returned to heaven. The son of the two is Ayus.

The hero Arjuna refused to give in to love requests from Urvashi, because he was a descendant of Ayus and thus his first mother. Therefore, they cursed him that he should wander about as a woman. The curse has been weakened, and so it happened that Arjuna the last year of exile - dressed as a woman - spent.

Representation

Apsaras are represented more frequently in classical Indian temple sculpture, but no explicit representation Urvashis is known. In Indian painting, she appeared - albeit sporadically - only since the 19th century.

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