3. Pururava and Urvashi – A Tragic Love Story

Indian Cinema has, for long, been portraying obsessed lovers. Some of them possess an extra-ordinary verbal communication style (K-K-K-K-Kiran). Others possess supposedly cool hairstyles. And some have a story where they leave the world for somebody and then that ‘somebody’ leaves them. When you go back in time, you see the same happening in Mahabharata too and the victims such tragedies are mostly the kings. Would you really be that interested if it were to happen to a commoner anyway?!

Pururava was a young and handsome king. When I say young and handsome, it means that practicing warrior-skills, hunting and partying were his major hobbies. Administration of kingdom, for such kings, was usually the second priority. There are a very few examples of kings who were young and handsome and capable at the same time. Unfortunately, Pururava was not. And before he could make his transition from young and handsome to capable, something happened!

Once when he was out hunting in a forest, he came across the apsara (river-nymph) Urvashi. The sight of the scantily dressed apsara, who was a favourite even among the Devas, was definitely the most enthralling sight of Pururava’s youth.

With the confidence characteristic of kings and attitude characteristic of self-proclaimed handsome men, Pururava went to Urvashi and asked her out.

***

Pururava: The Almighty must have exhausted all his creativity in carving a beauty like you. What would it take of me to make you mine? I want you to marry me and be my queen.

Urvashi: No ordinary man can ask me out in this fashion. Your confidence and your flashy attire indicate that you are from the royal bloodline. But are you worthy enough for the beautiful creation of the Almighty like you just said?

Pururava: There is no feat in this world impossible for me to perform as long as I possess my bow and arrows. You can be sure about me.

Urvashi: I would rather marry a lover than a warrior. I don’t seek the power of your weapons, I only seek the power of your words. You will have to promise me that you will take care of my pet goats. They are very dear to me. Also, promise me that except for me you will never appear naked in front of anybody. If you are willing to make these two promises, I will marry you.

Pururava: I am a Kshatriya, to protect the helpless is my Dharma. Will I not protect your goats? I promise I will. And I will protect your second promise too. My Kshatriya instincts are not limited to people alone!

***

These promises were perhaps Urvashi’s ways of ensuring that her husband remains loyal to her concerns and never brings in a second wife that decreases her importance. Pururava didn’t think much before making the promises either. The Kshatriya factor often deluded the decision making powers of the kings. Anyway, they both got married and lived happily for some time, increasing the prospective candidates for the royal inheritance and inspiring stories that would be carved out later in Indian temples meant for selective visitors.

Indra, the original boss of apsaras, could not bear this long separation from the apple of his eye, Urvashi. He wanted her back at any cost, so he ordered the gandharvas to bring Urvashi back. The gandharvas stole the pet goats of Urvashi one day when Pururava was busy making love to her. Urvashi, on realizing that her goats had been stolen, requested Pururava to rescue them. He hurried out without bothering to cover himself keen to keep the first promise he made to his wife while forgetting the second one. At that moment, Indra launched a thunder in the sky causing a public display of the king’s private properties.

In spite of his best efforts, Pururava could not keep both his promises. Urvashi decided to leave Pururava the way he was, not continuing her stay with the husband king since the promises that were the basis of their marriage were broken.

Pururava and Urvashi

The separation left Pururava devastated and he lost all sense. He isolated himself from his kingdom and became mad, not being able to rule the kingdom anymore. Had India had access to Italian Marble in those days, a Taj Mahal would have come into existence much before in Indian History than when it actually did. Pururava was replaced by one of his more capable sons.

The story of Pururava and Urvashi holds relevance for two major reasons in the Mahabharata:

1. Generations later, much like Pururava, Shantanu was also smitten by beautiful nymphs/ladies. First, it was Ganga to whom he made promises without giving any thought and then Satyavati, to whom he did not make any promises but somehow the situation was quite similar (wait for the related post).

2. When Arjuna visited Amravati during the exile, he was approached by Urvashi with amorous intents. He politely declined the tempting offer of the celestial beauty following the code of conduct of his civilization which ended in his being cursed by her.

Numerous incidents of previous generations keep on influencing the course of lives and decisions of characters throughout the Mahabharata.

Parshuram – Ram with an Axe

There are not many personalities we know who were named after their possessions. In fact, I don’t think I know even one in the present times. Have we ever addressed Little Master as Bat-Sachin Tendulkar? Or have we ever addressed Himesh as Crap Cap-Himesh Reshammiya?

But ages ago, there lived a sage who had achieved this nearly impossible feat. His original name was Ram, but for all PR activities, he was addressed as Parshuram. ‘Parasu’ means axe and so Parshuram meant ‘Ram with an Axe’.

This Ram, who was the sixth avatar of Vishnu and should not be confused with the seventh avatar (who too was Ram but without a prefix), was the son of a Brahmin man Jamadagini and a Kshatriya woman Renuka. The axe that made him popular was given to him by his mentor Shiva, and it was said that this axe had no close rival among weapons in the entire universe.

Thor’s hammer did not exist at that time.

The axe was given to Parshuram to get the Earth rid of unrighteous souls. It did not matter what relation that unrighteous soul had with Parshuram or anybody else. Parshuram in many ways is the avatar that always acted without thinking (maybe, because all the thinking was done by Vishnu before taking that avatar.)

Parshuram’s life had a few incidents of much significance to humanity, at large. The two most important ones are listed below:

1. 

Jamadagini had a nearly perfect family a loving wife and five sons, Parshuram being the youngest. Once while Renuka was collecting woods in the forests, she came across a handsome Gandharva who was indulged with Apsaras doing what Emran Hashmi does best on screen. This sudden encounter induced a momentary feeling of passion for the Gandharva in Renuka’s heart, which, according to the culture of that era was almost equal to infidelity. An ashamed Renuka went back to her home trying to forget what she had seen. However, the tense expressions on her otherwise serene face were a clear indication that something was wrong. Jamadagini, who through his austerities had mastered the art of reading minds, figured out in an instance what had happened.

A furious Jamadagini ordered his sons to behead their mother without telling them the reason. The sons, naturally, were horrified at the very thought and shirked. Except for our man – Ram with the Axe. He moved ahead and beheaded his mother without a slightest flinch in his heart.

Jamadagini was angry at his first four sons for disobeying him and thus discarded them. He was, however, deeply moved by his youngest son’s unquestionable dedication towards his father. He offered Parshuram a boon.

Parshuram: Bring my mother back to life. I know you possess the same power of resurrection that Ekta Kapoor possesses.

Jamadagini could not take his word back. He resurrected her to life and forgave her too, for she had been punished for her mistake. So much happened for this much. It was once again a ‘Hum Sath Sath Hain’ family, but with four sons gone.

2.

Years later, when the ‘Hum Sath Sath Hain’ family was living life as it always did, a life-changing event happened.

The king Kartavirya of that province discovered that Jamadagini had a cow called Kamadhenu. This extra-ordinary cow fulfilled every wish of man and Kartavirya had an extreme desire to possess it at any cost. One day, while Parshuram was out in the forest, Kartavirya accompanied by his soldiers came to Jamadagini’s abode and insisted on taking away Kamadhenu. When Jamadagini and Renuka resisted, he brutally murdered them and left with Kamadhenu.

On returning, Parshuram discovered what had happened and was filled with potent range equal to that of Thakur when he figured out that Gabbar had slaughtered his family. He took his axe and reached Kartavirya’s palace and warned him to return Kamadhenu without delay, or the consequences would be fatal. Naturally, Kartavirya resisted and sent his force to stop Parshuram, whose talent with the axe was unmatched in the three worlds. Parshuram rushed as a havoc in the kingdom killing each and every soldier who tried to stop him, without the aid of Jai or Veeru. Then he slaughtered the demonic king as well.

After this, Parshuram went on a killing spree whirling his axe around and killing unrighteous Kshatriyas in great numbers. He was outraged by the fact that Kshatriyas who were supposed to be guardians of the society had resorted to overpower the weak out of their lust for power and property. He killed them in such great numbers that Earth was almost replete of them. He did it not once, twice but twenty-one times.

All this while, the axe was his constant companion. This axe given by Shiva had soaked the blood of millions of Kshatriyas and still yearned for more. After 21 innings when Parshuram finally decided to retire he went to the river Samanata-panchaka and dipped his axe in it. The river was filled with blood and nothing else but blood. After this grand task of getting Earth rid of unrighteousness he finally retired to indulge himself into meditation and increase his prospects of future-mentoring.

It was near this land of Samanta-panchaka where the Kurukshetra war was fought and three almost invincible students of Parshuram: Bheeshma, Drona and Karna participated in it. The land bathed in blood again, though centuries later.

A few centuries later, even Thakur finally avenged his family, though with the help of Jai and Veeru.