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Urvashi, a MythSource painting
Indian

Urvashi

01Identity

Urvashi in Indian tradition

Urvashi appears in two episodes that move between the divine court and the human world. A quarrel involving Mitra and Varuna sends her to earth, where she becomes the queen and consort of Pururavas before returning to Devaloka. In heaven she approaches Arjuna, but he addresses her as the mother of his Kuru line and refuses her. Urvashi answers the refusal with a curse that makes him a eunuch for a year. These episodes connect desire, kinship and exile, while keeping her mortal separation and her encounter with Arjuna as distinct events.

SourceLarousse Encyclopedia of Mythology (ed. Félix Guirand, 1959): 344 - Indian Mythology· Mahabharata: From Dharma".· The Puffin Mahabharata: The Story of the Mahabharata

Top questions

The quick answers

  • Who is Urvashi?

    Urvashi appears in two episodes that move between the divine court and the human world.
02The myths

The myths of Urvashi

2 myths, with sources recorded for each.

Urvashi and Pururavas

Mitra discovered what had happened between Urvashi and Varuna and cursed her to live half a mortal life among human beings. In The Ramayana, the curse sent her to earth as the wife of Pururavas of Kasi. She became his queen in Pratishtana and lived with him for some years. The divine dancer had entered a human household, but the curse already contained the limit of that life.

The Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology describes the earthly arrangement through a pact. Urvashi and Pururavas lived together under conditions that held their union in place. They had lambs with them, and Urvashi expected the king to protect them. The Gandharvas stole one lamb and she lamented. They stole the second, and she lamented again. Pururavas could not bear to appear without courage, so he leaped up to pursue the thieves without troubling to dress.

The Gandharvas filled the sky with flashes of lightning. Urvashi saw Pururavas clearly in the light and the broken condition of the pact became visible. She disappeared. Pururavas searched for her across the land until he came to a lake where swans were swimming. The birds were Apsaras, and Urvashi was among them.

Pururavas begged her to return and asked for a moment's conversation. Urvashi told him that he had broken the agreement and should return home. Seeing Pururavas's despair, Urvashi softened and spoke with him before directing him home. The Ramayana gives the larger frame: Mitra's curse eventually ended and Urvashi returned to Devaloka, Indra's realm. Her life with Pururavas therefore closed with separation, leaving the king to search for a woman who had returned to the world from which the curse had taken her.

Urvashi and Pururavas, a MythSource painting of the scene

2 sources· checked 2026-09-22

  1. 1The RamayanaT1
  2. 2Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology (ed. Félix Guirand, 1959)T1

Urvashi's Proposal to Arjuna and Her Curse

Urvashi went to Arjuna in Indra's heaven as a lover. Arjuna did not accept her approach. He saw her through his lineage and addressed her as a mother of the Paurava race, saying that he could not think of her as a woman he might love. He asked her to forgive his refusal, but the words did not calm her.

In Mahabharata, Urvashi's lips quivered with anger and she told Arjuna that he had insulted her. She cursed him to lose his manhood, become a eunuch and spend his days among women, dancing for their amusement. The Puffin Mahabharata gives the same movement: Arjuna apologised, Urvashi rejected the apology and turned his refusal into the form of the curse.

Arjuna was devastated and went to Indra for advice. The curse could not be withdrawn, but Indra could ask Urvashi to reduce it. He requested that the punishment last for one year. The change gave the curse a place in Arjuna's future. During the final year of his exile he would need to live in disguise, and the loss of his manhood would help him pass among women without being recognised.

In Mahabharata: The Greatest Spiritual Epic of All Time, Arjuna told Chitrasena what had happened, after which Chitrasena informed Indra. Indra assured Arjuna that the curse would help him during the year he had to remain hidden, and that his manhood would return when the year ended. Urvashi left in anger, but her curse did not destroy Arjuna's future. The curse became the disguise he would later need for one year, while the encounter closed with her rejection of his refusal and her removal of him from ordinary warrior identity.

Urvashi's Proposal to Arjuna and Her Curse, a MythSource painting of the scene

3 sources· checked 2026-09-22

  1. 1Mahabharata: The Greatest Spiritual Epic of All TimeT1
  2. 2MahabharataT1
  3. 3The Puffin MahabharataT1

Also mentioned in

Stories elsewhere on MythSource that mention Urvashi, each on that figure’s page.

03Different accounts

Different accounts

›The Ramayana frames the union through Mitra's curse and its end, while Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology gives the pact, the stolen lambs and the lightning that reveals Pururavas.

    The accounts that differ: The Ramayana; Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology (ed. Félix Guirand, 1959), 344 - Indian Mythology

    From “Urvashi and Pururavas”

    ›Mahabharata: The Greatest Spiritual Epic of All Time has Arjuna speak to Chitrasena before Indra explains the curse, while The Puffin Mahabharata has Indra limit it to one year after the curse.

      The accounts that differ: Mahabharata: The Greatest Spiritual Epic of All Time, Chapter Twenty-five.  Arjuna Goes to Heaven; Mahabharata, From Dharma".; The Puffin Mahabharata, The Story of the Mahabharata

      From “Urvashi's Proposal to Arjuna and Her Curse”