Page:The Religion of the Veda.djvu/63

union. Not, however, through his own fault, but on account of a trick played him by the Gandharvas, a kind of heavenly "sports," the natural mates of the heavenly nymphs, the Apsarases. He must not be seen in a state of nudity by his wife. But on a certain occasion the Gandharvas cause lightning to play: she sees him and vanishes. Then Purūravas roams wailing through the land of the Kurus, until he comes to a lotus pond in which nymphs in the form of swans disport themselves. One of them is Urvaçī. They engage in a poetic dialogue which is preserved without the rest of the story as one of the hymns of the Rig-Veda (10. 95). This finally relieves the intolerable situation. The Brāhmana story tells:

"Then she was sorry for him in her heart. And she spake: 'A year from to-day thou shalt come; then thou mayest tarry with me one night. Till then thy son whom I am bearing shall have been born.' And that night a year he returned. Behold there was a golden palace. Then they said to him, 'Enter here.' Then they sent Urvaçī to him. And she spake: 'To-morrow the Gandharvas will grant thee a wish; choose one.' He said, 'Choose thou for me.' She advises him to say, 'I desire to become one of you.' The next morning the Gandharvas grant him a wish. And he says, 'I wish to become one of you.'

Then the Gandharvas teach him a particular fire-offering, by means of which a mortal may become a Gandharva; thus he becomes a fitting mate for