#urvashi

[h0bg0blin-meat]

@friend-shaped-but sent me a reference and I was like ykw.... Yea this is Urvashi and the Mitra-Varuna core

Alternate (clearer) version:

Reference below cut

[sambhavami]

Women in Mahabharata - The Masterlist I

This list will be as chronological as I can make it, and will be periodically updated with the new posts as I get through my list.

Link: Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

Shataroopa

Devahooti

Prasooti

Aditi

Diti

Danu

Kadru

Vinata

Simhika

Danayu

Kaala

Pradha

Muni

Kapila

Khyati

Dhata

Vidhata

Lakshmi

Mohini

Sura

Surabhi

Gaandharvi

Saraswati

Mrityu

Shibaa

Chandrani Rohini

Gargi Vachaknavi

Sulabha

Svaha

Anasuya

Arundhati

Lopamudra

Puloma

Shubha

Sinivali

Devasena

Daityasena

Kavyamata

Shachi

Upasruti

Mamata

Pradveshi

Sudeshna (Bengal)

Aushinari

Suneeta

Tara

Svetaketu's Mother

Sujata

Ila

Urvashi

Sukanya

Indumati

Keshini

Viraja Ashokasundari

Jayanti

Urjasvati

Devayani

Sharmishtha

Ghurnika

Shandili

Madhavi

Bindumati

Yadavi

Iravati

Sumati

Kunigarga's Daughter

Vaidisheyi

Kausalya

Shooraseni

Paushtri Madhavi

Mishrakeshi

Sauviri

Ashmaki

Varangi

Haiheyi Bhanumati

Kaikeyi Sunanda

Sushrava

Maryada

Aangi

Suyajna

Kaama

Karambha

Maryada Vaidehi

Sudeva

Jvala

Kalingi

Rathantari

Sammata

Menaka

Shakuntala

Pramadvara

Sunanda Kaushalya

Vijaya Dasarhi

Suvarna

Yashodhara

Sudeva Dasarhi

[rebelscumlordvader]

[mythologypaintings]

Urvashi

Artist: Ravi Parma Press

Date: 1890

Collection: Raja Ravi Heritage Foundation, Bengaluru, India

Description

Another love story bordering on a tragic, abrupt end. The beautiful celestial apsara Urvashi is sent down from the heavens and king Puruvanas falls in love with her. She Agrees to his proposal of marriage on the condition that he never neglects her pet goats and secondly, he will never present himself naked before her. Urvashi tells him that if he disobeys the two conditions at any time, she would go away.

Puruvanas remains rooted in love and stays true, causing dismay to the Devas, who want Urvashi back in their abode. Some of them come down stealthily at night and steal the goats; hearing the animals' cry Urvashi chides Puruvanas for letting go unattended. Rushing out to rescue them, the king is caught unaware as a flash of lighting reveals his naked self. With the second condition also broken, albeit unwittingly, Urvashi flies away to the heavens even as a dispirited Peruvanas desesperately tries to stop her departure.

[achyutapriya]

𝐔𝐑𝐕𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐈

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Urvashi is the only apsara mentioned explicitly by name in the Rigveda. Born out of sage Narayan's thigh, she is one of the most prominent apsaras in Indra's divine court regarded as the most beautiful and an excellent dancer. She takes part in major mythological events out of which her marriage to the mortal king Pururavas being the most prominent. She also plays a major role in the birth of revered sages, Vashishtha and Agastya.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

When you dance before the gods, flinging orbits of novel rhythm into space, Urvashi, the earth shivers, leaf and grass, and autumn fields heave and sway; The sea surges into a frenzy of rhyming waves; The stars drop into a sky-beads from the chain that leap till it breaks on your breast; And the blood dances in men's heart with sudden turmoil. ↳˳⸙ Rabindranath Tagore

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

[blue-lotus333]

Urvashi design

I hate the pencil smudge 💔 js wanted to show a recent design of her.

I rlly wanted her to look like a bitch😭

Old design (along with two other apsaras)👇

[rrcraft-and-lore]

Tawaif - a highly skilled courtesan (skilled in: music, dance, poetry, and singing) who catered to nobility in South Asia. Similar in respects to Geisha in many ways, including that sex was NOT obligatory. It occurred, but the primary function was entertainment.

Most commonly romantic poetry like Ghazals -a form of Arabic poetry that made its way over to South Asia: odes of long lost lovers, tragedy, separation, stuff to pull at your heart strings. And, shairi, another Arab/Persian kind of poetry that is built on monorhymed quatrains or four sixteen syllable lines (keeping to the same rhyme scheme) with a caesura used between lines 8//9 to break up the first half from the second. During the British Occupation, they were simply called, Nautch girls or dance girls. But this is far from all they did or were capable of. The name itself, Tawaif, is the term for a HIGHLY SKILLED courtesan. They were trained to the upmost of artistic forms.

They were not there to perform sex acts - that was often incidental and not contractual. And the women had the power to rebuff men's advances.

The Tawaifs of India were regarded as some of the greatest performing artists of their time with documented praise and examples from travelers such as Xuanzang, a Chinese pilgrim, notable traveling Buddhist Monk and scholar who frequented India, remarking on the Tawaifs skill, beauty, and performances during once such visit to the Sun Temple in Multan. Al-Biruni, often regarded as the father of Comparative Religion studies, an Iranian polymath and scholar, regarded on their skill and larger numbers during the 11th century CE upon a visit, Ganikas, another entertainer, are a public dancing girl (very common in cities from the Vedic period upward) who received classical arts training (most obviously dancing) and often performed from public settings up to royal private ones - and would compete to become Nagarvadhu - the most beautiful woman and most highly talented in forms of art (dance mostly).

Many young girls would leave or were taken to be taught these skills, and yes, there were schools for this too as well as private tutelage. People don't often realize this, but Ancient India was a place of extreme learning with all kinds of schools for different disciplines. A place of academies. Something I've talked about, like places like Nalanda, the world's oldest residential university that attracted people from far as Greece to Japan.

Anyways, Tawaifs were so successful and sought after, that records show they were consistently among the highest tax payers. Records also show that their wealth was used (by their consent/given) to help fund rebellions against the British Raj - enough so that the British passed laws to strip them of their ability to work as courtesans and left them only with sex work, which is sadly why some stories today only speak of them as prostitutes and not knowing their full, complex, and impactful history It's said the art of all this came from Urvashi, an Apsara (celestial being of dance, song, seduction/temptation, art, music).

[janesurlife]

Woke up in heaven

She looks exactly how an apsara is described

This painting of urvashi by Raja Ravi Varma is the closest