Urvashi was one of the Apsaras in the celestial world. It
was common for her to visit earth and fall in love with men. On one such visit
she fell in love with Pururava, a king of the Kuru clan. The story of Arjuna,
one of the Pandavas, and Apsara Urvashi begins here.
After years of courtship, Urvashi left Pururava and went
back to the celestial world.
Years later Urvashi again visited earth and saw a handsome
young man in Amravati .
The man reminded her of his former love Pururava.
Urvashi approached the young man with desire to make love.
But surprisingly she was turned away. This had never happened before. This hurt
her false pride and ego.
An angry Urvashi wanted know the reason why a human being
rejected an apsara like her.
The young man introduced himself and told her that he was
Arjuna, the Pandava, and was a descendent of Pururava. This made her a motherly
figure. She is also a beloved of Indra (it is believed that Indra is the father
of Arjuna). Thus morality did not allow Arjuna to make love to her.
Urvashi tried to reason that apsaras is not bound by human
relationships and human morality does not apply to them. So she again invited
Arjuna to make love with her.
Arjuna refused and this embarrassed Urvashi.
She lost her temper and cursed Arjuna to become a eunuch.
Indra who came to know about the curse modified it – that
Arjuna will only be eunuch for a year. This curse was used by Arjuna during the
final year of exile in the Mahabharata.