The Legend of Purūravas and Urvaśī: an Interpretation

Abstract

The Ṛg-Vedic hymn X. 95, describing the story of Purūravas and Urvaśī is of considerable interest and obscurity. It has attracted the attention of priests and scholars alike from the days of the Brāhmaṇas, with the result that different versions of the story have come down to us with unrestricted freedom. Geldner has recorded eight sources of the story: (i) the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa; (ii) the Kaṭhakam; (iii) Ṣaḍguru-śiṣya's commentary on the Sarvānukramaṇī; (iv) the Harivaṃśa Purāṇa; (v) the Viṣṇu Purāṇa; (vi) the Bṛhaddevatā; (vii) the Kathāsaritsāgara; and (viii) the Mahābhārata. To the above a few more works, such as the Vāyu Purāṇa, the Mātsya Purāṇa, and the Rāmāyaṇa may be added to make the list more comprehensive. However, Kālidāsa made the story more popular through one of his finest plays, Vikramorvaśīyaṃ.

Encounters of Indic-Abrahamic Religions with Matriliny in Premodern Southern India

“…"The first marriages were between groups, the first clans matriarchal, descent and inheritance were in the mother's line, the father being of no importance, often not even recognized as having any pro-creative function" (Kosambi 1975, 22). Through this matriarchal lens, scholars interpreted the vedas and epics with such arguments as some characters being symbols of matriarchal cults dying under the patriarchy of the Aryans or through intermarriages between the Aryan men and non-Aryan women (Thapar 2013, 134;Kosambi 1962, 42-81;Gaur 1974). The excess of female figurines or goddesses in the prehistoric Harappan Civilisation is also understood as an exemplification of the matriarchal system (Kosambi 1975;Thapar 2003).…”

3 Fragmentary Narratives from the Vedas

“…210 Another view is that Urvaśī is symbolic of matriarchal cults dying under the patriarchy of the Aryans. 212 The entry of the apsarā could mark a break in succession, or a marriage alliance which deviates from the norm. 212 The entry of the apsarā could mark a break in succession, or a marriage alliance which deviates from the norm.…”

Lambs, lightning, nakedness and fire: Polythetic networks and literary elaborations of the Purūravas–Urvaśī narrative

“…For many centuries before Western Indological interest, Sanskrit authors transcreated, embellished and recast the dialogue and its surrounding narrative to tell their own stories and to satisfy their own discursive projects. There is already a substantial literature on the various versions of the Purūravas-Urvaśī narrative, including surveys by Geldner (1889), Penzer (1926), Kosambi (1962) and Gaur (1974). These scholars describe the various transcreations, but in this chapter, I propose to explore the reasons for the variations and to demonstrate how they relate to the context in which the narrative is embedded.…”