MYTHOLOGY-APSARAS

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APSARAS

 Apsaras are celestial maidens of exquisite beauty and alluring charm and artistically blessed with power of dancing and singing. They have the power to transform their body to any forms at their will, as and when desired.  In Indian Mythology they are described as  court dancers of the king of Gods, Lord Indra.

 In the remote period of time, the Vedic Aryans were  not only familiar with these Apsaras but personally observed them as flashes of lightning which are so common and of everyday occurrence in the Arctic  and Northern regions. They find mention in the Rig Veda ( RV-X-95) too. They were considered as Goddesses of Dawn and  even worshipped  because the rising sun was their lifeline. Indian   Manusmrti also speaks about  the land where sun rises once a year,shines for half year and is then engulfed in the darkness of the night in the second half.

In moden terminology they are callled Aurora borealis, born of water i.e. rain and thunder but later mytholised as Apsaras.  They are closely associated with the Gandharvas, who are the celestial musicians. In Vedic parlance Gandharvas are clouds and thus in -separable from  the flashes of lightning. They have no physical form and are  only creations of our imagination.

 The Váyu Purana describes them in some detail. It has long lists of their names . The Apsaras are distinguished as of two kinds, Laukika, 'worldly,' of whom thirty-four are specified; and Daivika, or 'divine,' ten in number: the latter furnish the individuals most frequently engaged in the interruption of the penances of holy sages, such as Menaká, Sahajanyá, Ghritáchí, Pramlochá, Viswáchi, and Púrvachitti. Urvaśí is of a different order to both, being the daughter of Náráyańa. Rambhá, Tilotamá Misrakeśí, are included amongst the Laukika nymphs. There are also fourteen Gańas, or troops, of Apsarasas, bearing peculiar designations, as Áhútas, Sobhayantís, Vegavatís, &c.  ( VP.Book CH I, 21)

 Apsaras, however,  have a world of their own and fanciful stories have been coined about their exploitations and wonderous feats. No story is complete without  having an element of these maidens.They are lauded as immortals residing in the Heavens and only the lucky ones crave for a personal audience with them. They are all  professionally skilled  in dance and music. They are always and mainly in attendance in the Court of Indra; the god of clouds,rain and thunder; and are supposed to entertain him and many other demigods  in the Heavens. They occur in many other mythologies including Persian, Greek and Nordic  and described in fanciful tales and folklore.   

Urvashi, one of the most famous and favoured, is believed to have sprung forth during the churning of the milky ocean by the Devas and Asuras at the dawn of Time.

In addition to entertaining at Indra's court, they are often sent by him to disrupt the penance of sages, for Indra lives in perpetual fear that his position may not be usurped by some sage by his ascetic merit. Sometimes, the nymph would succeed in seducing the sage and achieve her mission, at other times, she would merely incur the wrath of the sage, who would curse her. In the former case, the children (almost always female), born of such a union would be abandoned, and  brought up by foster parents. Satyavati and Shakuntala are such instances, born respectively to Adrika and Menaka.

If an Apsara were to fail in her mission, the sage would curse her, typically to be turned into stone or some lower animal, with the proviso that after the lapse of a certain amount of time, or upon the occurrence of a particular event, they would regain the original form and would return to heaven.

One of the main tasks of these nymphs is to sport with those men who had attained heaven by virtue of their ascetic merit or by the merit of their good deeds. They are eternal virgins, and the constant sporting has no effect on their youth or beauty. This can be best illustrated by citing Urvashi's dialogue with  Arjuna in [Mbh :3.46]:

"O son of the chief of the celestials, we Apsaras are free and unconfined in our choice. It behoveth thee not, therefore, to esteem me as thy superior. The sons and grandsons of Puru's race, that have come hither in consequence of ascetic merit do all sport with us, without incurring any sin. We have no husband, no sons, indeed, no relations."

 What are Aurora borealis

The aurora borealis (the Northern Lights) and the aurora australis (the Southern Lights) have always fascinated mankind, and people even travel thousands of miles just to see the splendorous spectacle of the brilliant light shows in the earth's atmosphere. The auroras, both surrounding the north magnetic pole (aurora borealis) and south magnetic pole (aurora australis) occur when highly charged electrons from the solar wind interact with elements in the earth's atmosphere. Solar winds stream away from the sun at speeds of about 1 million miles per hour. When they reach the earth, some 40 hours after leaving the sun, they follow the lines of magnetic force generated by the earth's core and flow through the magnetosphere, a teardrop-shaped area of highly charged electrical and magnetic fields.They can only be seen and believed.No one can experience them in regions other than the Northern areas.

By: O P Gupta