Urvaśi
By Swami Harshananda
Urvaśi literally means ‘damsel born out of the thigh’.
When the sages Nara and Nārāyaṇa were performing austerities at the Badarikāśrama, Indra sent a few of his apsarās[1] to disturb them. Seeing them, the sage Nārāyaṇa slapped his own uru or thigh, from which emerged a damsel who was more beautiful than all of them put together. Since she came out of the uru, she was called Urvaśi.
Later, as a result of a curse by Surya,[2] she had to live in bhuloka[3] as the wife of the king Pururavas. Once she fell in love with Arjuna who politely refused her advances. She then cursed him to become a eunuch. This curse was utilized by Arjuna at the time of living incognito in Virāṭa’s palace. He lived there under the pseudonym Bṛhannalā.
References[edit]
- The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore