A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.1911

c5.1911

URVASĪ. A celestial nymph, mentioned first in the Rigveda. The sight of her beauty is said to have caused the generation, in a peculiar way, of the sages Agastya and Vasishtha by Mitra and Varuna. A verse says, “And thou, O Vasishtha, art a son of Mitra and Varuna.” She roused the anger of these two deities and incurred their curse, through which she came to live upon the earth, and became the wife or mistress of Purū-ravas. The story of her amour with Purū-ravas is first told in the Satapatha Brāhmana. The loves of Purū-ravas, the Vikrama or hero, and of Urvasī, the nymph, are the subject of Kālidāsa’s drama called Vikramorvasī. See Purū-ravas.