United States or Peru ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Narada and this thy priest Dhaumya will now become thy instructors. In the matter of the next world, abandon not these excellent lessons thou hast obtained from the Rishis. O son of Pandu, thou surpassest in intelligence even Pururavas, the son of Ila; in strength, all other monarchs; and in virtue, even the Rishis.
Soon after, he finds and recognises Sakuntala, with whom he is at length happily re-united. In the Himalaya mountains, the nymphs of heaven, on returning from an assembly of the gods, are mourning over the loss of Urvasi, a fellow-nymph, who has been carried off by a demon. King Pururavas enters on his chariot, and on hearing the cause of their grief, hastens to the rescue of the nymph.
Toots, that 'the language is coarse and the meaning is obscure. We only gather that Urvasi, though she admits her sensual content in the society of Pururavas, is leaving him 'like the first of the dawns'; that she 'goes home again, hard to be caught, like the winds. She gives her lover some hope, however that the gods promise immortality even to him, 'the kinsman of Death' as he is.
These stories will be enough to show how the same idea repeats itself in different ways among various peoples who have come from the same stock: for the ancient Hindu legend of Urvasi and Pururavas, the Greek fable of Eros and Psyche, the Norse story of the Land East of the Sun and West of the Moon, the Teutonic story of the Soaring Lark, and the Celtic story of the Battle of the Birds, are all one and the same in their general character, their origin, and their meaning; and in all these respects they resemble the story which we know so well in English that of Beauty and the Beast.
It is the tale of Urvasi and Pururavas, which is to be found in one of the oldest of the Vedas, or Sanskrit sacred books, which contain the legends of the Aryan race before it broke up and went in great fragments southward into India, and westward into Persia and Europe. A translation of the story of Urvasi and Pururavas is given by Mr.
"Sanjaya said, 'Hear, O king, about the origin, in the past times, of Sini's grandson, and of how Bhurisravas also came to be descended. This will clear thy doubts. Atri had for son Soma. Soma's son was called Vudha. Vudha had one son, of the splendour of the great Indra, called Pururavas. Pururavas had a son called Ayus. Ayus had for his son Nahusha.
The root of all the stories of Pururavas and Urvasi were short proverbial expressions, of which ancient dialects are so fond. Thus 'Urvasi loves Pururavas, meant 'the sun rises'; 'Urvasi sees Pururavas naked, meant 'the dawn is gone'; 'Urvasi finds Pururavas again, meant 'the sun is setting. The same ideas pervade the mythological language of Greece.
From Dakshayani will spring Aditya, and from Aditya will spring Manu. From Manu will spring a daughter named Ila and a son to be named Sudyumna. Ila will have Vudha for her husband, and from Vudha will spring Pururavas. From Pururavas will spring Ayu. From Ayu will spring Nahusha, and Nahusha will beget a son named Yayati.
That was before our drift south on which we joined with the Sons of the Tree- Grove and taught them our totems and tales. Yes, and who was Kashyapa, who was Pururavas, but our lame master-smith, our iron-worker, carried by us in our drifts and re-named and worshipped by the south-dwellers and the east-dwellers, the Sons of the Pole and of the Fire Drill and Fire Socket.
But one night her kinsmen, the Gandharvas, or cloud-demons, vexed at her long absence from heaven, resolved to get her away from her mortal companion, They stole a pet lamb which had been tied at the foot of her couch, whereat she bitterly upbraided her husband. In rage and mortification, Pururavas sprang up without throwing on his tunic, and grasping his sword sought the robber.