Purúravas for his bride increased every day of its duration; and, the affection of Urvaśí augmenting equally in fervour, she never called to recollection* residence amongst the immortals. Not so with the attendant spirits at the court of Indra; and nymphs, genii, and quiristers found heaven itself but dull, whilst Urvasí was away. Knowing the agreement that Urvasí had made with the king, Viśwávasu§ was appointed, by the Gandharvas, to effect its violation; and he, coming, by night, to the chamber where they slept, carried off one of the rams. Urvaśí was awakened by its cries, and exclaimed: "Ah me! Who has stolen one of my children? Had I a husband, this would not have happened! To whom shall I apply for aid?" The Raja overheard her lamentation, but, recollecting that he was undressed, and that Urvasí might see him in that state, did not move from the couch. Then the Gandharvas came and stole the other ram; and Urvaśí, hearing it bleat, cried out, that a woman had no protector, who was the bride of a prince so dastardly as to submit to this outrage. This incensed Purúravas

Hari Vamsa have fifty-nine. One period is as likely as the other.

• न स्पृहां चकार ।

† Apsaras, siddha, and gandharva.

+ विना चोर्वश्या सुरलोकोऽप्सरसां सिद्धगन्धर्वाणां च नातिरमणीयोऽभवत् । The Translator has not cared to reproduce the story of Purúravas and Urvasi with very close literality.

highly; and, trusting that the nymph would not see his person, as it was dark, he rose, and took his sword, and pursued the robbers, calling upon them to stop and receive their punishment. At that moment the Gandharvas caused a flash of brilliant lightning to play upon the chamber; and Urvaśí beheld the king undressed: the compact was violated; and the nymph immediately disappeared. The Gandharvas, abandoning the rams, departed to the region of the gods.

Having recovered the animals, the king returned, delighted, to his couch: but there he beheld no Urvaśí; and, not finding her anywhere, he wandered, naked, over the world, like one insane. At length, coming to Kurukshetra,* he saw Urvaśí sporting, with four other nymphs of heaven, in a lake beautified with lotoses; and he ran to her, and called her his wife, and wildly implored her to return. "Mighty monarch," said the nymph, "refrain from this extravagance. I am now pregnant. Depart at present, and come hither, again, at the end of a year, when I will deliver to you a son, and remain with you for one night." Purúravas, thus comforted, returned to his capital. Urvaśí said to her companions: "This prince is a most excellent mortal. I lived with him long and affectionately united." "It was well done of you," they replied. "He is, indeed, of comely appearance, and one with whom we could live happily for ever."

When the year had expired, Urvaśí and the monarch met at Kurukshetra, and she consigned to him his

* See Vol. II., p. 133, note 1.

† Antarvatni.

This specification of place is supplied by the Translator.

*

first-born, Ayus; and these annual interviews were repeated, until she had borne to him five sons. She then said to Purúravas: "Through regard for me, all the Gandharvas have expressed their joint purpose to bestow upon my lord their benediction. Let him, therefore, demand a boon." The Raja replied: "My enemies are all destroyed; my faculties are all entire: I have friends and kindred, armies and treasures. There is nothing which I may not obtain, except living in the same region with my Urvaśí. My only desire, therefore, is, to pass my life with her." When he had thus spoken, the Gandharvas brought to Purúravas a vessel with fire, and said to him: "Take this fire, and, according to the precepts of the Vedas,† divide it into three fires; then, fixing your mind upon the idea of living with Urvaśí, offer oblations; and you shall, assuredly, obtain your wishes." The Raja took the brasier, and departed, and came to a forest. Then he began to reflect, that he had committed a great folly, in bringing away the vessel of fire, instead of his bride; and, leaving the vessel in the wood, he went (disconsolate,) to his palace. In the middle of the night he awoke, and considered that the Gandharvas had given him the brasier to enable him to obtain the felicity of living with Urvaśí, and that it was absurd in him to have left it by the way. Resolving, therefore, to recover it, he rose, and went to the place where he had deposited the vessel; but it was gone. In its stead, he

• All my MSS. agree in reading बन्धुमानमितबलकोशः । † Amnáya; and so below.

saw a young Aswattha tree growing out of a Samíplant; and he reasoned with himself, and said: "I left, in this spot, a vessel of fire, and now behold a young Aśwattha tree growing out of a Samí-plant. Verily, I will take these types of fire to my capital, and there, having engendered fire by their attrition, I will worship it."

1

Having thus determined, he took the plants to his city, and prepared their wood for attrition, with pieces of as many inches* long as there are syllables in the Gáyatrí. He recited that holy verse, and rubbed together sticks of as many inches as he recited syllables in the Gáyatrí. Having thence elicited fire, he made it threefold,† according to the injunctions of the Vedas, and offered oblations with it; proposing, as the end of the ceremony, reunion with Urvasí. In this way, celebrating many sacrifices, agreeably to the form in which offerings are presented with fire, Purúravas obtained a seat in the sphere of the Gandharvas, and

It does not appear why this passage is repeated. The length of the sticks, conformably to the number of syllables in the usual form of the Gayatrí, would be twenty-four inches. The Bhágavata attaches to the operation a piece of mysticism of a Tántrika origin. Purúravas, whilst performing the attrition, mentally identifies himself and Urvasí with the two sticks, and repeats the Mantra उर्वश्यस्यायुरसि पुरूरवाः । ।

Angula, 'finger-breadths.'

Professor Wilson thinks that there may be an allusion to this in the Rigveda, I., XXXI., 4. See his Translation, Vol. I., p. 80, note b. These words are not from the text of the Bhagavata, but from Śridhara's comment on IX., XIV., 45, in that work.

was no more separated from his beloved.*. Thus, fire, that was, at first, but one, was made threefold,† in the present Manwantara, by the son of Ilá.1‡

The division of one fire into three is ascribed to Purúravas by the Mahábhárata and the rest. The commentator on the former specifies them as the Gárhapatya, Dakshina, and Áhavaniya,§ which Sir William Jones-Manu, II., 231,-renders nuptial, ceremonial, and sacrificial fires; or, rather, 1. household, that which is perpetually maintained by a householder; 2. a fire for sacrifices, placed to the south of the rest; and 3. a consecrated fire for oblations; forming the Tretágni, or triad of sacred fires, in opposition to the Laukika, or merely temporal ones. To Purúravas, it would appear, the triple arrangement was owing; but there are some other curious traditions regarding him, which indicate his being the author of some important innovations in the Hindu ritual. The Bhagavata|| says, that, before his time, there was but one Veda, one caste, one fire, and one god, Nárayana; and that, in the beginning of the Tretá age, Purúravas made them, all, 'three':

पुरूरवस एवासीत्त्रयी चेतामुखे नृप ।

That is, according to the commentator, the ritual was then instituted: कर्ममार्गः प्रकटो बभूव । The Matsya Puráñia hasan account of this prince's going to the orbit of the sun and moon, at every conjunction, when oblations to progenitors are to be offered; as if obsequial rites had originated with Purúravas. The Mahábhárata ¶ states some still more remarkable particulars. "The glorious Purúravas, endowed, although a mortal, with the properties of a deity, governing the thirteen islands of the ocean,

* For the legend of Purúravas and Urvasi, see the Satapatha-bráhmaña, XI., V., I., 1

+ Tretá.

Aila.

§ See Vol. III., p. 175, note §.

|| IX., XIV., 49.

Adi-parvan, sl. 3145-3147.