GANDHARVA AND APSARA

GANDHARVA AND APSARA  -  A SONG AND DANCE ORIGIN FROM THE 

INDRA'S COURT

 

Gandharva the singer and Apsara the danseuse adorned Devendra's Indralok.  The song and dance combination of Gandharva and Apsara was like a la Bollywood thriller.  All dance forms and music originate from the Indralok.

                                                                 Image of Gandharva

                                                                       Image of Apsara

In the Durbar of Devendra at the Indralok, the Gandarvas entertained the members of Indra's Court by serving Somaras and singing songs, while Apsaras danced for them.

 

The Apsara is a celestial nymph. The apsara and gandharva are performing artists to the Gods.  The apsaras are dancers, singers and courtesans, while the Gandharvas entertained with their musical talent. The Apsaras were exceedingly beautiful. The Gandharvas were companions to the Apsaras. They are handsome, possessed brilliant weapons and wear fragrant clothes.  They also had mastery in warfare. 

The Gandharva and Apsara was semi-divine. But they were incapable to curse others.  Apsaras found mostly the wedding suitors in Gandharvas.  Gandharvas were singers par excellence.

The Devas with a cup of an intoxicating drink (Somaras)  in their hands enjoyed the song of Gandharva and the dance of heavenly beauties Apsaras.

 

The fermented juice drink called Somaras  which was believed to have been  consumed by Hindu Gods and their ancient priests, the Brahmanas during the rituals. The ingredients of Somaras being hallucinogenic mushrooms, honey, cannabis, blue lotus, milk and pomegranate.

  

In mythology, the Gods gained their immortality by drinking Somaras and it was the favorite tipple of the great god of gods Indra.  They then gave it to the Archer God Gandharva to keep in safe custody.  However, Somaras guarded by him was stolen by Agni, the fire-god from his safe keeping and gave it to the human race.   A furious Indra cursed Gandharva that he and his clan can never drink Somaras but only serve it to the gods. 

In another version it is stated that Gandharvas are the original owners of the Somaras and they sold it to the Devas for exchange of a Goddess, as they were very fond of female company.

 

The erring Gandharvas are sometimes due to the curse of Lord Indra sent to the earth from heaven as a punishment.   The Gandharvas targets the beautiful young girls of the world and make them to fall in love with them.  The Gandharva's romance with the earthly beauties was described in the fables of yore.  The Gandharva's with their great ability in their musical talent seduced the girls from the globe who has fallen for their music and gets trapped in their love. 

The Apsaras from the Indralok occasionally visit the earth  and get involved with mortal beings.  They return to Indralok when Devendra desires so.  A human life span is one blink of an eye lid of  Devendra.  Devendra cannot remain not even for a second separated from the company of his Apsaras of Indralok.

 

 

The famous Apsaras are Urvashi, Menaka, Ramba, Tillothamma.  Shakuntala was also born to an Apsara.

 

 

Tillothamma means -  Til = particle, Uttam = best Tilottama = She is the best of all materials.

 

 

The Apsaras are  found to be living in water  and trees such as banyan trees and sacred fig. They are entreated to bless wedding processions.

While on this topic of Apsaras, the writer would like to feature a story of Urvashi the most beautiful of all Apsaras.

Nothing fascinates you like Indian mythology.  A leaf taken from the mythological character the celestial nymph Urvashi's worldly Avatar is so captivating that you cannot afford to miss it.

Urvashi was an Apsara, a river nymph who lived with God and occasionally stepped on earth.  She was the most beautiful of all Apsaras for whom the Gods formed a que.  Her beauty was a topic of discussion in Devalok (heaven) and was a matter of envy for other Apsaras.

The trees, animals and grass all were attracted to her beauty and whenever she walked they slanted towards her for close proximity.

She is perennially youthful and infinitely charming but always elusive.

Urvashi literally means "Uras"(heart) + "Vashi" (control) = someone who controls the heart.

One day in the early morning King Pururava was passing through a river bank and he happens to see Urvashi bathing in the river.  A stunned Pururava by seeing the the bathing beauty immediately fallen for her head over heels and developed an obsession for her. 

Pururava proposed to her and pleaded her to become his queen and live in his palace.  In a spirit of play, the nymph indulged the king and said "only if you take care of my pet goats and never let anyone but I see you naked".  To her great surprise the mortal Pururava agreed, leaving her with no choice but to marry him.

It was a new experience for Urvashi and she enjoyed it.

It is said that life time of man is just a blink of Indra's eye.  And yet Indra could not bear this momentary separation from Urvashi.  He ordered the celestial musicians known as Gandharvas to bring her back.

The Gandharvas stole Urvashi's pet goats from under her bed while Pururava was busy making love to her. Urvashi saw this from the corner of her eye and cried in a stricken voice, 'my goats' someone is stealing my goats!  Keep your promise Pururava bring them back.

Pururava immediately jumped off the bed and got baffled or confused and then ran after the thieves without bothering to cover his body.  While he was chasing the thieves Indra hurled  a thunderbolt across the sky.  In the flash of the lightning everyone in the city saw Pururava naked.  As a result, the condition set by Urvashi or Pururava's promise was breached and it was time for her return to Indralok.

The Urvashi + Pururava episode was undoubtedly the greatest passion play ever happened.  After losing Urvashi Pururava wandered in the forests as an insane man due to the agony.  The ecstasy was no more there in his life.

Another story of Apsara is that of Menaka.  

Menaka is an exceedingly beautiful Apsara in the Devalok.  She was sent to earth by the King of Devas, God Indra to break the tapasya of sage Vishwamitra.  The sage has become most powerful and would have grown to outclass the Devas themselves.  Indra sensed the danger to Devas and assigned the Apsara Menaka to seduce and break the tapasya of Vishwamitra. She was told if she does not accept the mission, will be cursed by God Indra.   Menaka had no option but to set off to Vishwamitra's ashram.  However, she was afraid of the sage's anger and the resultant outcome if he comes to know about her dubious intentions.

She transformed Vishwamitra's ashram as a beautiful garden and used scented oils and fragrant flowers to set the scene for the seduction game.  She sang and danced in front of the sage to draw his attention.  By that time the god Vayu sent a wind which almost denuded her lifting her clothes.  Vishwamitra disturbed by the song and dance opened his eyes from the tapasya only to see the alluringly beautiful body of Menaka  who was almost naked.  He was fallen for her physical charms and beauty and makes love to her.  They made love for many many years staying in the Ashram.  Even though Menaka's mission was to break the tapasya of Vishwamitra, she started genuinely loving him.   She delivered a baby girl.  Vishwamitra sensing the mission of Menaka cursed her that she will be separated from him and the baby forever.  That was minimum punishment because he too started loving Menaka.  A dejected and sorrowful Menaka returned to the Devalok (heaven).

Vishwamitra abandoned the girl child in the forest.  Shakun birds took care of the baby and she was spotted by Sage Kanva and taken to his nearby Ashram.  He named her "Shakuntala" after the caretaker bird's name.

The prominent Gandharvas are Panada, Opamanna, Nala, Cittasena, Manali, Janesa, Geetha Vidhyadharan, Hu Hu, Managarva and Dramilan.

Let us know more about the Gandharva Dramilan.

The king of Madhurapuri, Ugrasena was offering morning prayers for the betterment of his kingdom and it's subjects to God Shri Parameshwaran.  At that time his queen Bhuvana along with her maids was marching towards forest like garden.  The garden was full of fragrant flowers and the sandal woods draped with jasmine plants. There were various kinds of colorful flowers.  Queen Bhuvana sensed an intoxicating fragrance coming from the deep woods and she headed towards the origin of intoxicating scent.  Bhuvana did not realize that she has moved away from her maids.  

Approaching the origin of intoxicant fragrance, she shouted.  Who is hiding there, come out in the open.  Don't get bewildered I am Gandharvan Dramilan who like travelling and the flowers, gardens and women.  I have to go back to Indra's court.  I have just relaxed here and saw an exceedingly  beautiful woman coming to this direction.   After saying this he appeared in front of Bhuvana.  When saw the handsome man with beautiful fragrant body the queen was mesmerized and attracted towards his physical charms.  Dramilan opened his arms to embrace Bhuvana who after initial resistance gave away and hugged him.  The Gandharva created a floral bed on the ground and made love to her.   He said to her that I am completely satisfied with you and wish you happiness in all respects and started to go to the heavens.  While seeing that Bhuvana said you have cheated me and I curse you that the son or daughter born out of our mating will be killed by a successor of Ugrasena's family tree.

 

Bhuvana's claims of cheating was laughingly dismissed by  Dramilan saying that It is Gandharva's traits to love beautiful women and make love to them and disappear.

Bhuvana continued to murmur and showered curses on him.  Bhuvana gave birth to a son of Dramilan who was named Kamsan.  She also gave birth to a daughter of Ugrasena, the king namely Devaki.  Due to the result of the curse of  Bhuvana, the son of Devaki Shree Krishnan

killed his uncle Kamsan. Shree Krishnan was from the family of Ugrasenan. 

An image from the film Njan Gandharvan - A 1991 Malayalam film

The film shows a cursed Gandharvan visit earth after ousted  from Indralok by God Indra.   

In a handsome human form he appears and seduces a beautiful nymphet from this world.  The girl spots a wooden statue which is handy washed ashore a sea beach.  She picks it and when she touched it becomes a handsome man and fallen in love with him.  Only she will experience his presence and not visible to others most of the time.

The Gandharvan visits girl's home and mesmerize her family with his charming personality and beautiful voice as a singer. His singing talent was appreciated by her mother and granny.  He soon becomes a regular visitor to  her house.

There are many comical sequences when he court friendship with her and not visible to her brother who is furiously wanting to chase him away.

The friendship continues till such time he loses his voice and dies due to the wrath of Gods.

It is a romantic fantasy film feasting some beautiful moments to the audience.

                                                               

The story of Apsaras and Gandharvans fascinated me always.  I am happy to start my second innings with the introduction of these heavenly bodies.

Cheers,

Love

Johnson Vj