Pūrūravas

Pūrūravas was the first king of the Candra-vaṃśa, the Lunar dynasty. He was the son of Budha and Ilā. The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa tells how he loved the apsarā (celestial dancer) Ūrvaśī, lost her, and then kindled the three Vedic fires. This began the threefold yajña (fire ritual) of Tretāyuga.

The Kūrma Mahā Purāṇa also names him as the forefather of the Candra-vaṃśa, with six sons born of Ūrvaśī. The Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa gives its own account too.

Lineage

Pūrūravas stands at the start of the Lunar dynasty. His grandfather Candra (Soma) was the son of Atri Maharṣi, born from the tears of Atri’s joy. Brahmā made Candra ruler over the Vedic ṛṣis (seers), the plants and the stars.

After a Rājasūya yajña, Candra became proud and took away Tārā, the wife of Bṛhaspati. This set off a great war. The devas, led by Indra, stood with Bṛhaspati. The asuras stood with Śukrācārya, who opposed Bṛhaspati. Brahmā stepped in and Tārā was returned. She then gave birth to the shining Budha, whose father was Candra. Brahmā named the child Budha because of his fine intelligence.

Budha became the father of Pūrūravas by Ilā. Earlier in the 9th Skanda, Ilā is described as changing between male and female form. So the Lunar dynasty begins with Pūrūravas. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 9th Skanda, Chapter 14)

Ūrvaśī comes to Pūrūravas

Nārada Devarṣi visited Indra’s court and described Pūrūravas: his form, his noble qualities, his generosity, his virtue, his wealth and his strength. The apsarā Ūrvaśī was already under a śāpa (a curse) from Mitra and Varuṇa to live in the human world. She heard the description and Manmatha’s arrows struck her heart. She came to Pūrūravas of her own accord.

When Pūrūravas saw Ūrvaśī, joy filled his whole body and his eyes opened wide. He spoke sweet words to her: “Welcome, beautiful one. Sit. What may I do for you? Let us enjoy life together, and let this union last many years without a break.”

Ūrvaśī replied that no woman who saw him could keep her eyes or heart anywhere else. She agreed to stay, but on conditions:

• He must always protect two rams that she would leave in his care.
• He must never appear naked before her, except in union.
• She would eat only ghee.

Pūrūravas was full of joy and accepted every condition. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 9th Skanda, Chapter 14)

Life together and separation

Ūrvaśī and Pūrūravas lived together for many months and years in the gardens of the devas, in Caitraratha, in Nandana and in all the others. The scent of her face made him dizzy with delight. Indra noticed that his finest apsarā was missing. He sent gandharvas by night to steal the two rams that Ūrvaśī had left in Pūrūravas’s care.

At midnight, in deep darkness, the gandharvas stole both rams. Ūrvaśī heard them cry out and spoke bitterly to Pūrūravas: “You call yourself a hero, yet you sleep at night like a woman. You coward! A thief carries off my own children and you do nothing.”

Stung by these words, Pūrūravas jumped up naked with his sword and ran after the thieves. The gandharvas had what they wanted, a reason to part the pair. They let the rams go and filled the sky with great lightning. In that flash Ūrvaśī saw Pūrūravas without clothes. The second condition was broken, and she vanished. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 9th Skanda, Chapter 14)

Wandering and reunion

Pūrūravas came back to the bed and found Ūrvaśī gone. His mind broke. Like a madman he wandered the earth, thinking only of her and searching everywhere. At last he found her on the bank of the Sarasvatī at Kurukṣetra, with five companions, all with bright, happy faces.

He spoke to her in the form of a Vedic sūkta (hymn). He begged her to stay and said that his body would fall there and wolves would eat it if she left him. Ūrvaśī answered him calmly and frankly. Women’s hearts, she said, are like the hearts of wolves, and do not stay fixed on one man. She told him he was able and should not be afraid. She told him she was already carrying his child, and she promised him one night together when a full year had passed.

After a year Pūrūravas went back to Kurukṣetra. Ūrvaśī had already given birth to a brave son. They spent the night together in great happiness. In the morning she saw him crushed again at the thought of parting. She said: “Please the gandharvas. They can give me back to you.” (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 9th Skanda, Chapter 14)

The three Vedic fires

Pūrūravas praised the gandharvas and they were pleased. They gave him a vessel of fire. They meant that by honouring this fire with homa (offering into fire) he would reach their world. But in his longing Pūrūravas mistook the fire vessel for Ūrvaśī herself and wandered into the forest with it. When he thought it over he saw that it was only fire, and he put the vessel down.

He went home and thought of Ūrvaśī alone. At that time Tretāyuga was beginning, and the knowledge of the three Vedas, Ṛk, Yajus and Sāman, rose in his heart. In Kṛtayuga there had been only one Veda, the praṇava (Oṃ), one form of Nārāyaṇa and one fire. Tretāyuga brought the separate Vedas and fires.

Pūrūravas went back to the forest where he had left the vessel. In its place he found an aśvattha tree growing from the root of a śamī tree. He cut wood from it and made two araṇī sticks for kindling fire. Then, meditating with Vedic mantras, he set them in place. The lower araṇī stood for Ūrvaśī, the upper one for himself, and the churning stick for their son. He churned fire from them and divided it into three sacred forms: Āhavanīya, Gārhapatya and Anvāhāryapacana. He took this fire as his own son.

With these three fires Pūrūravas honoured Śrī Hari, the yajñeśvara (master of yajña). Śrī Hari is the form of all the devas and cannot be known by perception or inference alone. From Ūrvaśī Pūrūravas had sons: Āyus, Śrutāyus, Satyāyus, Raya, Vijaya and Jaya. In the end he reached the world of the gandharvas. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 9th Skanda, Chapter 14)

The Aila Gīta

In the 11th Skanda of the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa speaks of Pūrūravas’s experience to Uddhava as a teaching on vairāgya (detachment). This is the Aila Gīta, the song of Aila (son of Ilā). It is what Pūrūravas sang after Ūrvaśī left. In it he tells of his life and states his freedom.

He said that for decades he had been completely under her spell, and had lost count of seasons and years. He compared himself to an ox pulling a cart, driven by women. He said that after years of constant enjoyment his desire was still not satisfied. Like fire fed with ghee, it only grew. He did not blame himself in despair. He saw clearly that the cause of his bondage was not Ūrvaśī but his own uncontrolled mind. He said: “Ūrvaśī did nothing to me. The rope that I took for a snake did not harm me. My own unconquered mind alone is the maker of my suffering.” (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 11th Skanda, Chapter 26)

Pūrūravas in the Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa

The Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa (Hari Vaṃśa Parva, Chapters 10 and 26) tells of Pūrūravas within the line of Vaivasvata Manu.

Birth

Vaivasvata Manu performed a yajña to gain sons. During it a daughter named Ilā was born, bearing divine clothes, ornaments and weapons. She is called a part (aṃśa) of Mitra and Varuṇa. On her way back to Manu after visiting Mitra and Varuṇa, Budha, son of Candra, met Ilā, and they were united. Pūrūravas was born to Budha and Ilā. After his birth Ilā gave up her female form and lived as the famous king Sudyumna. Sudyumna later gave the throne of Pratiṣṭhāna to Pūrūravas. (Hari Vaṃśa Parva, Chapter 10)

How long the union lasted

The Hari Vaṃśa says that Pūrūravas and Ūrvaśī lived together for fifty-three years. They lived in many holy and beautiful places, among them Kubera’s garden Caitraratha, Alakāpurī and various divine retreats. (Hari Vaṃśa Parva, Chapter 26)

The condition and the separation

In the Hari Vaṃśa, Ūrvaśī came to Pūrūravas under a curse from Brahmā. Her only stated condition was that he must not appear naked before her. The gandharva Viśvāvasu wanted to take Ūrvaśī back to svarga (heaven). He stole one of the two rams kept near her. Pūrūravas rushed out naked to chase the thief. Ūrvaśī saw him without clothes and vanished at once. (Hari Vaṃśa Parva, Chapter 26)

The fire vessel and the three fires

Pūrūravas found Ūrvaśī again at Kurukṣetra, learned that she was carrying his son, and spent one night with her. Then the gandharvas gave him a vessel filled with fire (agni-pātra). They told him to perform yajña through this fire and he would reach the world of the gandharvas. Pūrūravas left the fire vessel in the forest and went home with his newborn son. When he went back for the fire, he found in its place an aśvattha tree growing from the root of a śamī tree. He made araṇī sticks from this wood. Following the rules of the śāstras, he kindled fire and divided it into three sacred forms, the three Vedic fires, and performed yajña with them. Through these three fires he reached the world of the gandharvas. The Hari Vaṃśa says: “Pūrūravas was the one who divided the single fire into three.” (Hari Vaṃśa Parva, Chapter 26)

Capital and sons

The Hari Vaṃśa says Pūrūravas ruled from Pratiṣṭhāna, which the text names as Prayāga, on the bank of the Gaṅgā in northern Bhārata. His seven sons born of Ūrvaśī are Āyu, Amāvasu, Viśvāyu, Śrutāyu, Dṛḍhāyu, Śatāyu and Vanāyu. (Hari Vaṃśa Parva, Chapters 26–27)

Sources

• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 9th Skanda, Chapter 14
• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 11th Skanda, Chapter 26
• Kūrma Mahā Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha, Chapters 20, 22
• Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Hari Vaṃśa Parva, Chapters 10, 26–27