Pururavas (
Sanskrit: पुरूरवस्, ''Purūravas'') is a character in
Hindu literature, a king who served as the first of the
Lunar dynasty.
According to the
Veda
FIle:Atharva-Veda samhita page 471 illustration.png, upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the ''Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Co ...
s, he is a legendary entity associated with
Surya (the sun) and
Usha (the dawn), and is believed to reside in the middle region of the cosmos. The Rig Veda (X.95.18) states that he was a son of
Ilā and was a pious ruler. However, the ''Mahabharata'' states that Ila was both his mother and his father. According to the ''Vishnu Purana'', his father was
Budha
Budha ( sa, बुध) is a Sanskrit word that connotes the planet Mercury. Budha, in Hindu legends, is also a deity.
He is also known as Soumya (Sanskrit: सौम्य, lit. ''son of Moon''), Rauhineya and Tunga and is the Nakshatra lor ...
, and he was ancestor of the tribe of Pururavas, from whom descended the
Yadavas,
Kauravas
''Kaurava'' is a Sanskrit term which refers to descendants of Kuru, a legendary king of India who is the ancestor of many of the characters of the epic ''Mahabharata''. Usually, the term is used for the 100 sons of King Dhritarashtra and his wi ...
, and
Pandavas of Mahābhārata.
Legends
Birth and early life
Pururavas was born in
Treta Yuga, as the son of Budha and Ila. Budha was the son of
Chandra
Chandra ( sa, चन्द्र, Candra, shining' or 'moon), also known as Soma ( sa, सोम), is the Hindu god of the Moon, and is associated with the night, plants and vegetation. He is one of the Navagraha (nine planets of Hinduism) an ...
, the moon god, and thus Pururavas was the first Chandravamsha King. Since he was born on Mount Puru, he was called Pururavas.
Reign
According to the
Puranas
Purana (; sa, , '; literally meaning "ancient, old"Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (1995 Edition), Article on Puranas, , page 915) is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly about legends an ...
, Pururavas reigned from
Pratisthana (Prayaga). He performed a penance to
Brahma
Brahma ( sa, ब्रह्मा, Brahmā) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the trinity of supreme divinity that includes Vishnu, and Shiva.Jan Gonda (1969)The Hindu Trinity Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp. 21 ...
and as a reward, he was made the sovereign of the whole earth. Pururavas celebrated a hundred Ashwamedha Yajnas. The ''asuras'' were his followers, while the ''devas'' were his friends.
According to the
Mahabharata, Pururavas was the one to bring three kinds of fire on the earth (for sacrificial purpose) from the region of
Gandharvas
A gandharva () is a member of a class of celestial beings in Dharmic religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, whose males are divine performers such as musicians and singers, and the females are divine dancers. In Hinduism, they are ...
, where he met
Urvashi and fell in love with her.
In the Sambhava Parva, Pururavas is said to be intoxicated with his powers, and he quarreled with the Brahmanas.
Sanatkumara
The Kumaras are four sages (''rishis'') from the Puranic texts of Hinduism who roam the universe as children, generally named Sanaka kumara, Sanatana kumara, Sanandana kumara and Sanat kumara. They are described as the first mind-born creati ...
came from the region of
Brahma
Brahma ( sa, ब्रह्मा, Brahmā) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the trinity of supreme divinity that includes Vishnu, and Shiva.Jan Gonda (1969)The Hindu Trinity Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp. 21 ...
to counsel him. But Pururavas turned deaf ear to the counsel. Angered by this, the sages cursed Pururavas and he was destroyed.
Pururavas and Urvashi
Once, Pururavas, and
Urvashi, an
apsara
An apsaras or apsara ( sa, अप्सरा ' lso ' pi, अक्चरा, translit=accharā) is a type of female spirit of the clouds and waters in Hinduism and Buddhist culture. They figure prominently in the sculpture, dance, liter ...
, fell in love with each other. Pururavas asked her to become his wife, but she agreed on three or two conditions. The most retold conditions are that Pururavas would protect Urvashi's pet sheep and they would never see one another naked (apart from love making).
Pururavas agreed the conditions and they lived happily.
Indra started missing Urvashi and he created circumstances where the conditions were broken. First he sent some
gandharvas
A gandharva () is a member of a class of celestial beings in Dharmic religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, whose males are divine performers such as musicians and singers, and the females are divine dancers. In Hinduism, they are ...
to kidnap the sheep, when the couple was making love. When Urvashi heard her pets' cries, she scolded Pururavas for not keeping his promise. Hearing her harsh words, Pururavas forgot that he was naked and ran after the sheep. Just then, Indra flashed lightning, and Urvashi saw her husband naked. After the events, Urvashi returned to heaven, and left Pururavas heartbroken. Urvashi descended upon the earth and bore Pururavas many children, but they were not completely reunited.
Descendants
He had six (or seven or eight according to different accounts) sons. The names of these sons are: Ayu (or Ayus), Amavasu, Vishvayu, Shrutayu, Shatayu (or Satayu), and Dridhayu.
Nahusha, the son of Ayu, is a well-known name in the ''Rigveda''.
Narrative of Urvashi and Purūravas
The earlier version of the narrative of Urvashi and Pururavas is found in the ''Rigveda'' (X.95.1–18) and the ''
Śatapaṭha Brāhmaṇa'' (XI.5.1). The later versions are found in the
Mahābhārata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuru ...
, the
Harivaṃsa, the
Viṣṇu Purāṇa, the
Matsya Purāṇa,
[Dandekar, R.N. (1962). ''Indian Mythology'' in S. Radhakrishnan ed. ''The Cultural Heritage of India'', Calcutta: The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, , pp.229–30, 230ff] and the
Bhāgavata Purāṇa
The ''Bhagavata Purana'' ( sa, भागवतपुराण; ), also known as the ''Srimad Bhagavatam'', ''Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana'' or simply ''Bhagavata'', is one of Hinduism's eighteen great Puranas (''Mahapuranas''). Composed in S ...
.
Vedic literature
The Ṛg-veda, X.129 contains a conversational fragment, written in a highly wrought poetic style. The hymn suggests that Uṣas (also known as Urvaśi) is a ''
Gandharvi'' or ''
Apsara
An apsaras or apsara ( sa, अप्सरा ' lso ' pi, अक्चरा, translit=accharā) is a type of female spirit of the clouds and waters in Hinduism and Buddhist culture. They figure prominently in the sculpture, dance, liter ...
'' (a heavenly nymph). Having been united with a human king, Purūravas, and after living together for four autumns, suddenly left him on his unintentional violation of the stipulated conditions of the union. Later Purūravas made futile entreaties to her to return to him.
[
The narrative displays multiple levels of symbolism by playing on the multiplicity of meanings in the Vedic Saṃskṛta terms. While it is a love poem, expressing the conflict of interest between a lover and his beloved, who spurns his love, it also expresses the immortal relationship between the Sun (Purūravas) and the Dawn (Uṣas). In addition to these two levels of meaning, it also offers mantric prescriptions for a ritual activity bent on taking rebirth as a Gandharva or Apsaras.
]
Later Literature
The love story of king Pururavas and celestial nymph Urvashi is found in the Sanskrit drama, '' Vikramōrvaśīyam'', written by the celebrated poet Kalidasa. The story is more dramatized like the addition of Pururavas another wife and with variations from the original story.
In popular culture
Gudipati Venkata Chalam has authored the drama ''Purūravä'', which has gained critical acclaim with the Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India
*Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language
** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode
...
audience. This drama has been modernized in ''Purūravä'', an animated version of the drama released in Amazon Prime in US and UK.
Notes
References
*''A Dictionary of Hindu Mythology & Religion'' by John Dowson
John Dowson M.R.A.S.(1820–1881) was a British indologist. A noted scholar of Hinduism, he taught in India for much of his life. His book ''Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology'' remains one of the most comprehensive and authoritative works ...
Further reading
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External links
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{{HinduMythology
Characters in Hindu mythology
Lunar dynasty
Characters in the Mahabharata
Rigvedic deities