Kalidasa – Urvashi and Pururavas – {Ep.230} – Stories From India – Podcast

Today’s episode is a love story between an Apsara and a King – Urvashi and Pururavas. It also features magical transformations, celestial theater and a gem that keeps popping up all the time

Welcome to “Stories From India”. This is a podcast that will take you on a journey through the rich mythology, folklore and history of the Indian subcontinent. I am Narada Muni, the celestial storyteller and the original “time lord”. With my ability to travel through space and time, I can bring you fascinating stories from the past, the present, and the future. From the epic tales of the Mahabharata and Ramayana to the folktales of the Panchatantra to stories of Akbar-Birbal and Tenali Raman, I have a story for every occasion.

The purpose of the stories is neither to pass judgment nor to indoctrinate. My goal is only to share these stories with people who may not have heard them before and to make them more entertaining for those who have.

Today’s Story

First of all, a very happy Diwali to all of you listeners! Hope you have a fun and safe celebration with your loved ones. Let’s jump right in!

This episode is a love story between a King and an Apsara. In case you don’t know what an Apsara is, I’ll give you a quick explanation. Apsaras are celestial dancers. But it’s not just dancing, they do some singing and acting as well, as we shall see in today’s story. They are usually hanging around in Swarg, which is heaven. And their performances are usually for Indra, the chief of the Devs, and the ruler of Swarg.

Just like modern Bollywood celebrities, Apsaras travel to other places. Sometimes one of them may perform a dance in the Himalayas to disturb a Sage from his meditation. At other times they may just perform at palaces for some Kings and Queens who rise to Indra’s good books. During all these performances, they were accompanied by Celestial musicians called Gandharvas.

Urvashi was one such Apsara. She and a fellow Apsara, Chitralekha, were returning after performing at Kubera’s palace in the city of Alaka. That performance was quickly over. After all, dancers don’t stay for too long, they just swing by. Anyway, such performances were a regular affair in Alaka. Kubera had established this new city after being evicted unceremoniously from the Kingdom of Lanka. It was Ravana who did the evicting, but we’ve covered that story in Episode 81, which is linked on the site sfipodcast.com check it out.

Anyway, neither Kubera nor his patronage of the arts is relevant to today’s story.

So let’s skip forward straight to the part where Urvashi and Chitralekha were abducted by a gang of Asuras. Rather, their flying chariot was hijacked.

“Reach for the sky, pal,” the Asura said, pointing a spear at the Gandharva who was flying the chariot.

The Gandharva said he was already doing exactly that. Couldn’t they see he’d just taken off and the chariot was gaining altitude? Speaking of flying chariots, why had the Asuras docked alongside? Also, could the Asura please point the spear away. He might put out someone’s eye with that thing. The Gandharva said, by the way, his name was “Janasabha”, but he was “Jack” to friends.

The Asura rolled his eyes at this incredulity. “Hi Jack, I’m Dushtasura the terrible,” he said before going on to explain patiently that this wasn’t a friendly visit. He was here to abduct those two Apsaras in the back of the chariot. At spearpoint, he forced Urvashi and her companion to move to Dushtasura’s flying chariot.

To his credit, he did hand Jack an insurance claim form, a pen and a refrigerator magnet that said, “My passengers were kidnapped by Dushtasura!”

“We’re the only sky pirates who do that. Keep that in mind, when you’re giving us a review”. Dushtasura said and flew off. But not too far. Because just then his chariot was attacked by a volley of arrows. They were carefully aimed arrows – all trying to break down the chariot, but none of them came close to the passenger compartment. It was as if the archer knew that there were innocent Apsaras on board.

Under that barrage of arrows, Dushtasura was forced to land. He couldn’t control his chariot, and as Urvashi remarked to her fellow dancer, the chance of acci-dance was very high.

Dushtasura didn’t wait to meet the archer. He legged it, mumbling something about an appointment he just remembered. 

Urvashi and Chitralekha were a little shaken by the rough landing but they were fine. Their seat belts definitely helped. The archer reached them and helped them out of Dushtasura’s broken chariot. Urvashi and Chitralekha could immediately see he was incredibly handsome, and he had an air of royalty about him.

He introduced himself as Pururavas. He was the King of the land they were standing on. Chitralekha completed the rest of the introductions. And by that I don’t mean that she just introduced herself and Urvashi. She knew who Pururavas was. “You’re Indra’s BFF,” she said. “You helped him in the last war”

Pururavas said indeed he was. But he didn’t believe he had the pleasure of knowing who they were. 

Urvashi did not say a word. She was mesmerized. Chitralekha had noticed the look on her friend’s face. Obviously Urvashi had fallen hopelessly in love with this King, and judging by his looks, he was similarly smitten. The quick-thinking Chitralekha introduced Urvashi as the mega-superstar of Swarg. Surely, Pururavas must have seen mentions of Urvashi in the Swarg Gazette, she was a regular on the glamor and fashion pages. And as for Chitralekha herself, never mind about her – she was just an understudy to Urvashi.

Pururavas, took them back to the waiting Gandharva’s chariot. Jack had just finished filling in the complicated insurance form that Dushtasura had handed him in. Seeing the Apsaras returning safe and sound, he sighed and tore it up. He took the Apsaras back to Swarg, and urged them not to tell everyone about his inability to prevent the abduction. He’d be out of a job, Jack said. They wouldn’t trust him on the next trip – he had to accompany Urvashi to Kochi for the Kuchipudi, and to Cuttack where she was going to dance the Kathak.

Urvashi did not even notice. She was lost in her thoughts. Chitralekha knew she would have to play matchmaker here. If she waited for either Urvashi or Pururavas to make the first move, she might have to wait for the next Pralaya, or apocalypse if you prefer, before they even asked each for their Instagram handle.

From that moment of realization, Chitralekha helped Urvashi by cleverly ensuring that on every tour they went on, they always passed by Pururavas’s palace. The Gandharva flying them had become accustomed to stopping in Pururvas’s garden, knowing that Urvashi and Chitralekha wanted to stretch their legs.

Spoiler alert, no one was stretching their legs. In fact, they stood crouched amongst the bushes, observing Pururavas. Major stalker vibes here. 

Pururavas for his part, was no better. He could not stop thinking about Urvashi. That might be forgivable if he wasn’t already married. To compound the crime, he even addressed the Queen,  Aushanari. Just the other day, when his wife was talking to him on matters of state policy, he addressed her as Urvashi. 

Aushanari’s instinct had been to ask if this was a new term of endearment Pururavas had just made up. But then she checked herself. She had suddenly made the connection with the famous celebrity from all the glamor and fashion magazines. “Not again!” she thought to herself. The queen knew better than to give the game away. Instead later that day, she ordered her maids to secretly tail the King. The maids had a similar “Not again!” reaction as well. Sadly this was not the first time Pururavas was being unfaithful to the Queen.

Pururavas was in the garden, pining away for Urvashi. The King’s minister tried to bring up administrative matters. There were important decisions that the King had to make. But Pururavas didn’t care. “Matters of state could wait,” he said. “What ails me is a matter of the heart.”

The minister quietly signaled a waiting attendant to fetch the royal cardiologist. Pururavas was far too immersed in his thoughts to pay more attention. The only thing that seemed to excite him was a leaf falling from above. That might seem boring. It was a garden after all. But there was a particular reason for this. Over the last several days he had been receiving love letters on leaves. They were never signed, and despite a complete absence of evidence, Pururavas was utterly convinced that they had to have come from Urvashi. 

He was not wrong. Out there in the bushes, Urvashi crouched observing as her latest love-letter-on-a-leaf gently floated down from the sky and into the King’s lap.

Chitralekha was right next to Urvashi. Now she hastily elbowed her friend and pointed out the big smile on Pururavas’s face as he read the latest leaf. “Look, he loves you. Go show yourself now, or I’m going to make you”

Threatened like that, Urvashi did emerge. She made some silly excuse about having lost her leaf diary. And Pururavas stammered out a question about whether the leaf he was holding was Urvashi’s. She confirmed it and said she had written it a moment of passion about her secret love. Pururavas asked nonchalantly who Urvashi’s secret love was. Was it someone he knew by any chance?

Of course Pururavas knew Urvashi had been referring to him, but he wanted to hear it from her lips.

Urvashi replied, shyly, that no one apart from Pururavas knew her love more intimately.

Just as they were standing there staring each other in the eyes, there was an ahem sound.

Do you need a Vicks ki goli for your khich-khich? The King asked Urvashi. The Apsara said she wasn’t the one who cleared her throat.

Aushanari said “I was the one who cleared my throat. I thank you for your concern, but I don’t need a cough drop just now. I wouldn’t want to tear you away from other important matters.”

The queen walked away but the damage was done. Pururavas was left in an awkward position to explain to Urvashi who Aushanari was. Luckily for him, Urvashi was perfectly cool with it. Hey, this was Ancient India. It would have shocked her if Pururavas wasn’t married.

But that wasn’t the end of the King’s troubles. The icy tone in the Queen’s voice had made it clear she didn’t have quite the same modern outlook on this topic as Urvashi.

Pururavas said he had to go talk the Queen out of doing anything rash. And Urvashi said she had to act in a play in Swarg, and she was probably late for that. So she’d better go. Though she didn’t want to.

Pururavas said he felt the same, but she mustn’t keep Indra waiting, must she? And good luck  to her with the play. “Break a Leg” he added.

Urvashi was surprised. “What do you mean break a leg?”

“Just an expression, you know. For good luck. Maybe it’s not mainstream yet”

Urvashi said she hoped it would never become mainstream. Who would wish another person to injure themselves? Made no sense.

“Anyway, if you break a leg it means you end up in a cast. Get it? A cast as in the noun for the group of actors in a film, play or any other production”

Urvashi said coldly that she wasn’t auditioning, so it was meaningless to hope to be cast in a play. With that she departed.

She made it back in time at Swarg. But barely. She made it just before her little platform was lifted onto the stage by the fly system. You might say it was a stage she went through.

The assembled audience in Indra’s court was a little surprised by her disheveled appearance. She wasn’t in costume. And any notions of this being intentional were quickly dispelled. Urvashi missed her cues. Theater is obviously not the place where it pays to read between the lines. But Urvashi wasn’t even doing that. Her mind was fully on Pururavas. She was dreaming of him, and was totally out of sync with everything else.

When Act 1 concluded. The emcee/narrator announced Act 2 – Two years later.

One Dev misinterpreted this announcement. “I don’t think I could take another minute of that. 2 years is too short of a break to recover from Act I. They should consider never finishing this play.” He had said the quiet part out loud.

Sage Bharata, who was the director of this play, heard this comment, and had the miserable duty of continuing. Because the show must go on, no matter how terrible it was. Reacting any other way would create a scene here.

Somehow the audience got through it. There was even a small flutter of excitement. There was a point in Act 2, when one of the actors asked Urvashi’s character whom her heart belonged to. The correct answer was Purushottam, which is another name for Vishnu. But Urvashi’s response was “Pururavas”.

The next day, Indra summoned Urvashi. As the big boss of Swarg, he had to make some tough decisions here. First he started by handing her some critics reviews of the play from last night.

One critic said “The play was frightful. But admittedly I saw it at a disadvantage because when I was watching it, the curtain was up.”

A second one said that Sage Bharata’s choice of putting too many people in the role of the clouds in the background was a good idea. With the overcast backdrop, Urvashi’s performance was less painful to endure than if she were the only one on stage.

Another critic said that it was all just an act. Urvashi’s errors were staged. The critic claimed this was just another publicity stunt from the director. Sage Bharat was far too much into drama, the critic alleged.

The only props that Urvashi received were those handed to her by the backstage crew. Naturally, because they were just doing their jobs.

Indra said he’d had a talk with Bharat already. He’d sent the Sage back to school for a year where he could direct elementary school plays. Hopefully it would be child’s play for him.

And now, coming to Urvashi. Like any good manager should, Indra was eager to hear her side of the story. Urvashi confessed to everything. She’d been distracted lately and thought nothing other than being with Pururavas.

Indra mulled over her answer for a good couple of minutes. He had reached a decision. Urvashi would be banished to Earth. She could go live with Pururavas if she wanted. 

Urvashi asked what the catch was.

Well, if she hadn’t Indra would probably not have put one in. But prompted by her question, he did insert one catch. 

The moment Pururavas sees your child, you will be forced to return to Swarg.

Urvashi reminded him that she didn’t have a child.

Indra said, yes he knew that. Well, no sense in her hanging around any longer. The longer she stayed the more people might be reminded of her disastrous performance. Bharata had already left and it might be a good idea for her to leave as well.

Urvashi went straight to Pururavas of course. By then Aushanari had come around to accepting the idea that her husband’s love would have to be shared.

She wasn’t perfectly happy but she sighed and accepted her fate. She even wished them a happy honeymoon when they were departing and realized afterwards that she had meant it. Pururavas and Urvashi went to the Gandhamadana gardens. Things were fine with the new couple, until one day, Pururavas saw another girl who was also holidaying there. The King seemed totally smitten. This was deeply insulting to the Apsara. 

Urvashi understood the cultural inappropriateness of monogamy in their day and age, but this was pushing it too far. While Pururavas seemed occupied with thoughts of this new girl, Urvashi wandered off. She walked into a mysterious garden that looked different than anything she had seen before. This was Kartikeya’s garden. And unknown to Urvashi there was a curse. Any woman who tried to enter would be turned into a creeper. That’s what happened to Urvashi.

When Pururavas realized Urvashi was missing, that shook him out of his trance. He searched for Urvashi everywhere. For days and weeks. But there was no sign of her anywhere. Including Kartikeya’s garden. It might be a stretch to say that Pururavas regretted upsetting her, but he did miss Urvashi and was desperate to get her back. On one of these searches, the King found a curious looking red gem. He looked at it as it shone brilliantly in the sunlight. He decided to wash it and take a better look at it. But in doing so, as he turned around, the gem accidentally touched the creeper that was Urvashi. Instantly, Urvashi changed back.

You see, it was the only cure. That specific gem was the only way to turn Urvashi back. Odd then, that it should have been left within inches of where Urvashi transformed into the creeper. But that part is never explained in the story.

“Oh my limbs!” she exclaimed. I guess being transformed into a creeper stretches you out into a shape that is not very comfortable. But Pururavas carried her back and she rested and recovered quickly. Apsara physiology is slightly more advanced than that of ordinary humans. So her healing was also very quick. Pururavas had been careful to bring back the marvelous gem with him. Later he had the royal jeweler set it in a necklace for Urvashi.

Years passed. Aushanari had completely overcome any lingering jealousy she might have had. They truly lived in harmony.

But all good things must come to an end. And so it was that one day, a bird flew into the Queen’s chamber and carried off the necklace.

Pururavas rushed to the scene. He tried to fire arrows at the bird but his aim wasn’t what it used to be, luckily for the bird. That was just temporary luck though. Because Pururavas saw that an arrow did bring down the bird. But it wasn’t his own arrow. He asked a guard to fetch the necklace and the arrow. When it was brought to him, he ignored the necklace and focused entirely on the arrow. The barcode was legible, but the text below that was the puzzling bit. It was registered to Ayus, son of Urvashi and Pururavas. You might wonder how they fit all of that onto the surface of a very thin and pointy arrow, but hey Indian weapon-making skills were quite advanced, as you’ve probably realized from hearing other episodes on this show.

The boy was immediately found and summoned. One look at him, and Pururavas was convinced. This was his boy. But where had he come from? And why did the King not even know he existed?

Urvashi arrived too, she had one look at the situation and realized what was going to happen here. She told her maid to execute secret order 66. A special order she had prepared all her maids with at the very beginning. The moment of departure was at hand. The maids started bringing in her already packed suitcases, as they waited for Urvashi’s inevitable summons from Swarg.

Meanwhile Urvashi explained that yes, Ayus was his son. Urvashi had had him on that trip – remember a few years ago, she said she needed a Yoga retreat by herself. Well, secretly she was giving birth to Ayus. The Prince had since been raised at a nearby Ashram. It was necessary to keep Ayus’s existence a secret because the moment Pururavas saw his son, Urvashi would have to go back to Swarg forever.

Let’s assume that Pururavas was saddened by this and longed for Urvashi to stay. Though knowing his behavior from earlier in the story, it was entirely possible he had a couple of other Queen candidates on his mind.

That’s when I showed up. Yes, me. Narada Muni. Bet you didn’t realize I had a cameo in this story. I was a messenger, so I was delivering a message. From Indra.

The message was that Urvashi didn’t have to return. She could stay back here with Pururavas and raise Ayus like a normal mother. The only catch was that Pururavas had to be available anytime Indra called on him for help in battle. 

Pururavas said that he was already doing that.

I agreed. But the difference, as I pointed out, was that in the past he was doing Indra a favor, from now on it would be an obligation.

It was something Pururavas said he could live with, but it was hard to read his expression. It wasn’t entirely clear if this family was indeed headed for domestic bliss.

That’s all for now

Some notes on the show

The version I’ve covered here is that of the ancient Indian poet Kalidasa. Many parts of the story are, shall we say, embellishments. The original story was a lot more concise, before Kalidasa exercised his poetic license to the fullest. 

In the original story, Urvashi does not get to stay back. And I don’t make an appearance. And there’s no son involved in Urvashi’s conditions to return to Swarg. One of the original conditions was that Pururavas needed to look after Urvashi’s pet sheep!

And perhaps importantly I don’t appear at all in the original version. Kalidasa’s version of me was not easy to digest. Not about my profession. I am a messenger to the Devs and I have delivered messages like that in the past. And also not to say that I wouldn’t make a great actor in a play. After all, I’ve been told my delivery is great.

That’s all for now. 

Next Time

Many of you have been asking to continue the story of the Ramayana. So that’s what we’ll do in the next episode. We’ll pick up the story with the war between the Vanars and the Lankans in full swing.

Feedback

Thank you all for the comments on Social Media and on Spotify’s Q&A! I can’t directly reply to the questions there, but I’ll address them here on this show.

Thank you for your words of encouragement Rez, Prasanna, Darsh, Hiranmayee, and Devilskin.

Vishruth – I appreciate your feedback and thank you for being a long time listener

Aniver – if you could clarify your request, I’d love to consider it for a future episode

If you have any other comments or suggestions or if there are particular stories you’d like to hear, please do let me know by leaving a comment or a review on the site sfipodcast.com, or reply to the questions on Spotify Q&A. You can also find me on Instagram and Facebook, and on X.

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A big thank you to each of you for your continued support and your feedback.

The music is from Purple Planet.

Thanks for listening and I’ll see you next time!