Reign of Pururava & conflicts with Brahmins

This was now the era of Treta Yuga when Pururava became the first king of the Aila dynasty and Chandravansh (Chandra dynasty). Despite being a human, Pururavas was surrounded by non-human beings and heavenly creatures. While Pururava was a brave warrior and a close friend of Lord Indra (King of Gods). 

But frantic with his might, he started a dispute with the Brahmins. He believed that all beings in the world are equal and the rules should be the same for everyone. Therefore, he imposed taxes on Brahmins. But his thinking changed to greed. Seeing the loss of his conscience, Sanatkumar came from Brahmaloka (Abode of Lord Brahma) to convince him. But Pururava did not listen to him. So the frustrated Sanatkumar cursed him that, even though he is a great king, but he will be destroyed just like an ordinary human as he acts like one.


Meeting of Urvashi and Pururava

Meanwhile, Urvashi, who was an apsara (celestial nymph) of heaven, leaving her son Rishisringa with the sage Vibhandaka, returning to heaven from Kubera's palace with Chitralekha, Rambha, Maneka, and many others. But in the midway, a demon named Keshin kidnaped Urvashi and Chitralekha and flys away to the northeast direction in the sky. Seeing this happening, other Apsaras in the group shouted for help. Incidentally, at that time, King Pururava was passing by. He heard the ladies screaming. The king chased and killed the demon and saved both. Urvashi and Pururava fell in love at first sight and found their feelings drawn towards each other. But at that time Urvashi had to go back to heaven as per the ordered by Indra.


The letter of Urvashi

After returning to his kingdom, Pururava tried to concentrate on his work, but he was unable to take Urvashi's thoughts away from his mind. He wondered if it was a matter of unrequited love. King was roaming in his garden (Ananda Udyan), yearning for Urvashi's wish. At that time Urvashi was also drawn there. But she decided to remain invisible and heard of the king's plight and desire. Pururava was singing a song for Urvashi. In the lyrics, he expressed that Urvashi either does not know of his plight or is ignoring her.

Hearing this with a heavy heart Urvashi decided to write a letter to the king as she was not yet ready to face her feelings because of some circumstances. Invisible Urvashi wrote her feelings on a birch leaf as,

 "Oh my lord, I am fortunate that you have liked me, but you barely know me. If I'm really were as you think of me, then why do the cool breeze of Nandan Kanan (Nandan forest) seems hot to me as I sleep in my bed with a sheet of Parijat (Heavenly flower) under me?” 

She gave this letter to her friend Chitralekha. She carried the letter to the king with a gust of wind. In this way, they had barely declared love for each other, and at the same moment, Indra summoned Urvashi. So She had to return to heaven to participate in a play in the court of Indra. Unfortunately, that leaf carried off by the wind to the princess of Kashi and Queen Aushinari, the wife of Pururava. The queen became furious and left the king.


The curse of sage Bharat and boon of Indra

Meanwhile in heaven, in the court of Indra, Urvashi was in the middle of the dance performance. She was playing Goddess Lakshmi. But even then, she was preoccupied with Pururava's thoughts. During the play, there came a time when Urvashi had to take her lover's name. While she should have said ‘Purushottama’ (one of the names of Lord Vishnu), Urvashi said "Pururava" as the name of her lover. Hearing this the enraged sage Bharata, who was directing the play, cursed her and said, "You are not suitable for heaven. You would lose her divinity as you failed to perform the play flawlessly, by immersing in the thoughts of a mortal. You shall fall from heaven and will have to live on earth.

Hearing this suddenly Urvashi became sober as if she woke up from her dream. She requested the sage to revert his curse. But sage remained firm on his words. However, Indra was sympathetic. He intervened on this and said that Urvashi would get Pururava as per her heart's desire. But he knew heaven is not complete without Urvashi as she was the most beautiful nymph of heaven and everyone loved her. So Indra requested the sage to modify his curse. Hence the sage said that Urvashi would remain with Pururava until the king sees the face of their son. 

As if by the power of these words, the angry queen Aushinari apologized to Pururava for her rude behavior and declared that she would not come in the way of lovers.


Plot of Indra

Indra knew that shortly after, everyone in heaven would start feeling Urvashi's absence. So in the guise of advising Urvashi, he said, "Because you are a celestial nymph. You have to follow the laws of heaven. It would be inappropriate for you to stay away from heaven for long. You need to try to return to heaven as soon as possible. As sage Bharata said until the king sees your son, you will not be able to come back to heaven. So try to accomplish this as soon as possible. I know you love Pururava deeply but you are bound by the rules of heaven. Have a good time with him, give him a son, and return to heaven."

Yes, it was true indeed. Urvashi was deeply in love with Pururava. After listening to Indra she realized that his words showed less concern for Urvashi and more of his desire. So she told Indra that the work cannot be accomplished unless Pururava wants it. So it may take time.

Hearing this, Indra said in a hurry," Agreed. To make this work successful,  I am giving a boon to you. You can put a condition(s) on Pururava. If that condition is broken, you would come to heaven at the very moment."

Because of a grammatical mistake, Indra's words were heard to Urvashi as if he had given a boon to Urvashi to put conditions as much as she wanted.

Urvashi was smart. She understood Indra's hidden desire. She knew that Indra would not let her stay away from heaven for too long. But she wanted to be with Pururava. So she thought of putting 3 conditions in place of one so that it would be impossible to break them all and she could live on earth forever with Pururava. 

Urvashi immediately said, "Alright my lord. I will put 3 conditions in front of Pururava." And just saying that she immediately took off and went to earth.

To be continued...