CHAPTER FOURTEEN
King Purirava Enchanted by Urvasi

The summary of this Fourteenth Chapter is given as follows. This
chapter describes Soma and how he kidnapped the wife of Brhaspati and
begot in her womb a son named Budha. Budha begot Purirava, who
begot six sons, headed by Ayu, in the womb of Urvasi.

Lord Brahma was born from the lotus that sprouted from the navel of
Garbhodakasayi Visnu. Brahma had a son named Atri, and Atri’s son was
Soma, the king of all drugs and stars. Soma became the conqueror of the
entire universe, and, being inflated with pride, he kidnapped Tara, who
was the wife of Brhaspati, the spiritual master of the demigods. A great
fight ensued between the demigods and the asuras, but Brahma rescued
Brhaspati’s wife from the clutches of Soma and returned her to her hus-
band, thus stopping the fighting. In the womb of Tara, Soma begot a son
named Budha, who later begot in the womb of [la a son named Aila, or
Puriirava. Urvasi was captivated by Purirava’s beauty, and therefore
she lived with him for some time, but when she left his company he be-
came almost like a madman. While traveling all over the world, he met
Urvasi again at Kuruksetra, but she agreed to join with him for only one
night in a year.

One year later, Puriirava saw Urvasi at Kuruksetra and was glad to be
with her for one night, but when he thought of her leaving him again, he
was overwhelmed by grief. Urvasi then advised Purirava to worship the
Gandharvas. Being satisfied with Purdirava, the Gandharvas gave him a
woman known as Agnisthali. Purirava mistook Agnisthali for Urvasi,
but while he was wandering in the forest his misunderstanding was
cleared, and he immediately gave up her company. After returning home
and meditating upon Urvasi all night, he wanted to perform a Vedic
ritualistic ceremony to satisfy his desire. Thereafter he went to the same
place where he had left Agnisthali, and there he saw that from the womb
of a Sami tree had come an asvattha tree. Purdrava made two sticks from
this tree and thus produced a fire. By such a fire one can satisfy all lusty
desires. The fire was considered the son of Purirava. In Satya-yuga there
was only one social division, called harsa; there were no divisions of

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