A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.1426

c5.1426

PURŪ-RAVAS. In the Vedas, a mythical personage connected with the sun and the dawn, and existing in the middle region of the universe. According to the Rig-veda he was son of Iḷā, and a beneficent pious prince; but the Mahā-bhārata says, “We have heard that Iḷā was both his mother and his father. The parentage usually assigned to him is that he was son of Budha by Ilā, daughter of Manu, and grandson of the moon.” Through his mother he received the city of Pratisthāna. (See Ilā.) He is the hero of the story and of the drama of Vikrama and Urvasī, or the “Hero and the Nymph.” Purū-ravas is the Vikrama or hero, and Urvasī is an Apsaras who came down from Swarga through having incurred the imprecation of Mitra and Varuna. On earth Purū-ravas and she became enamoured of each other, and she agreed to live with him upon certain conditions. “I have two rams,” said the nymph, “which I love as children. They must be kept near my bedside, and never suffered to be carried away. You must also take care never to be seen by me undressed; and clarified butter alone must be my food.” The inhabitants of Swarga were anxious for the return of Urvasī, and knowing the compact made with Purū-ravas, the Gandharvas came by night and stole her rams. Purū-ravas was undressed, and so at first refrained from pursuing the robbers, but the cries of Urvasī impelled him to seize his sword and rush after them. The Gandharvas then brought a vivid flash of lightning to the chamber which displayed the person of Purū-ravas. So the charm was broken and Urvasī disappeared. Purū-ravas wandered about demented in search of her, and at length found her at Kuru-kshetra bathing with four other nymphs of heaven. She declared herself pregnant, and told him to come there again at the end of a year, when she would deliver to him a son and remain with him for one night. Purū-ravas, thus comforted, returned to his capital. At the end of the year he went to the trysting-place and received from Urvasī his eldest son, Āyus. The annual interviews were repeated until she had borne him five more sons. (Some authorities increase the number to eight, and there is considerable variety in their names.) She then told him that the Gandharvas had determined to grant him any boon he might desire. His desire was to pass his life with Urvasī. The Gandharvas then brought him a vessel with fire and said, “Take this fire, and, according to the precepts of the Vedas, divide it into three fires; then, fixing your mind upon the idea of living with Urvasī, offer oblations, and you shall assuredly obtain your wishes.” He did not immediately obey this command, but eventually he fulfilled it in an emblematic way, and “obtained a seat in the sphere of the Gandharvas, and was no more separated from his love.” As a son of Ilā, his metronymic is Aila. There is a hymn in the *Rig-veda* which contains an obscure conversation between Purūravas and Urvasī. The above story is first told in the *Satapatha Brāhmana*, and afterwards reappears in the *Purānas*. The *Bhāgavata Purāna* says, “From Purūravas came the triple Veda in the beginning of the Tretā (age).”