The story, of which this Vedic poem is a partial dramatisation, is given
in the Brahmana of the Yajur Veda. Mr. Max Muller has translated the
passage. {66a} According to the Brahmana, 'Urvasi, a kind of fairy, fell
in love with Pururavas, and when she met him she said: Embrace me three
times a day, but never against my will, and let me never see you without
your royal garments, _for this is the manner of women_.' {66b} The
Gandharvas, a spiritual race, kinsmen of Urvasi, thought she had lingered
too long among men. They therefore plotted some way of parting her from
Pururavas. Her covenant with her lord declared that she was never to see
him naked. If that compact were broken she would be compelled to leave
him. To make Pururavas break this compact the Gandharvas stole a lamb
from beside Urvasi's bed: Pururavas sprang up to rescue the lamb, and, in
a flash of lightning, Urvasi saw him naked, contrary to the _manner of
women_. She vanished. He sought her long, and at last came to a lake
where she and her fairy friends were playing _in the shape of birds_.
Urvasi saw Pururavas, revealed herself to him, and, according to the
Brahmana, part of the strange Vedic dialogue was now spoken. Urvasi
promised to meet him on the last night of the year: a son was to be the
result of the interview. Next day, her kinsfolk, the Gandharvas, offered
Pururavas the wish of his heart. He wished to be one of them. They then
initiated him into the mode of kindling a certain sacred fire, after
which he became immortal and dwelt among the Gandharvas.

It is highly characteristic of the Indian mind that the story should be
thus worked into connection with ritual. In the same way the Bhagavata
Purana has a long, silly, and rather obscene narrative about the
sacrifice offered by Pururavas, and the new kind of sacred fire. Much
the same ritual tale is found in the Vishnu Purana (iv. 6, 19).

Before attempting to offer our own theory of the legend, we must examine