Homo Sapiens
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Apsaras: Hindu Mythology Fairies (Portrait, Origins, Roles)
6 minutes of reading / Indian Mythology & FolkloreApsaras are the dancing girls of Indra’s court. They rose from the milk ocean when it was churned, and are of resplendent and celestial forms.
However, the Apasarases did not undergo purification and hence no god could wed them.
So they became women of easy virtue and dwelt among the Gandharvas (Hindu class of mythological beings skilled in dance and music).
The Apsaras are six hundred millions in number; and some of the most important among them are Urvasi, Menaka, Rembha and Thilothama.
The Apsaras occupy in Hindu mythology the position of the fairies of Western mythology.
The Apsaras, like the Gandharvas, and Kinnaras do not live in heaven but inhabit the valleys of the mythical mountains.
They are a law unto themselves in matters moral. They are, more or less, social outcasts and represent the actors, dancers and singers of this world of whom the Code of Manu speaks with such contempt.
Description of the apsaras
The Apsaras nymphs dance and sing. They are called “gods girls”.Their female companions are the Devapatnis, proper wives of the gods. Like all Hindu celestials they are depicted as overloaded with gems and garlands.
They also wear necklaces, golden girdles, and anklets, which tinkle as they welcome saints to heaven.
Saints or warriors ride to heaven on musical cars drawn by geese, lions, or tigers and are greeted by the music of musical instruments such as vina, vallaki, muraja and bells, while the nupura of the waiting nymphs delight their ears as well.
The nymphs wear their locks in five braids.
They wear fine clothes and throw them aside when they bathe in the heavenly Mandakini, but are much ashamed when seen naked by Vyasa (a mortal sage).
Ordinarily they are not so shy, and are often described as lewd and pitiless.
It is sometimes said they do not have husbands and are free to all.
Thus, the Asparas nymphs are free in love and ordinarily care only for love and play.
When a hero dies in battle, thousands of them hover above him, each one seeking his soul and saying to herself “May he be my lord”.
They also dance at human weddings, while Gandharvas sing finely, but the Apsarasas themselves sing sweetly with “song beautified by elocution”.
