The Daughter from a Wishing Tree Read online

  Pururava was not a headstrong husband, so he agreed to his wife’s wishes. He only wanted to see her happy.

  Urvashi went to Sage Chyavana and Sukanya and explained her strange situation to them. They were kind and looked after her until she had her baby boy, whom she named Ayur. With sadness in her eyes, she gave the baby to the couple and said, ‘From this day on, this child is yours. Please take care of him as your own and ensure that he is raised to be a good man. He is born a prince, so I will be grateful if you could also teach him archery. I don’t know when these circumstances will change so that I can come back for him. Right now, my first duty is towards my husband.’

  With a heavy heart and tears spilling from her eyes, Urvashi left the ashram and returned to Pururava, who remained unaware of the birth of his son.

  Ten years passed, and Urvashi often thought of her child.

  In the heavens, Indra grew impatient and upset at Urvashi’s absence. He had assumed that she would have returned to his court by now. He thought to himself, ‘I can see how Urvashi is sacrificing a big part of her life to be with Pururava. There will be no end to this. I must trick them so that she will come back here quickly.’

  He called two of his spies and instructed one of them, ‘Urvashi wears a special necklace. Her husband has given it to her, and it is a precious family heirloom with immense sentimental value. The next time she is out with her husband and in the vicinity of Chyavana’s ashram, you transform into a vulture and grab the necklace from her. Then you fly as high as you possibly can. I will take care of the rest.’

  Indra turned to the second spy and said, ‘Dress like a poor sage and go to Chyavana’s ashram. Distract Ayur and make him somehow spot the vulture. The rest will automatically fall into place.’

  Just as Indra had schemed, the magical vulture seized Urvashi’s necklace while she was out on a stroll with her husband and flew high into the sky before anyone could react.

  At the same time, a poor sage entered Chyavana’s ashram. He saw Ayur practising with his bow and arrow and began speaking to him. ‘Can you shoot very far?’ he asked. ‘I don’t think a ten-year-old can shoot at a very long distance.’

  ‘I can do much more than that,’ replied Ayur with the confidence only a young boy can have.

  ‘Really?’

  Ayur nodded.

  ‘Well, see that vulture in the sky? He is carrying something. If you are as good as you say you are, can you bring the vulture to the ground and give me what he has?’

  ‘That is very easy,’ said the young boy and aimed his next arrow at the vulture.

  Meanwhile, Pururava had been on horseback, keenly tracking the movements of the vulture in order to shoot him down. Urvashi was following him but had been left far behind. ‘How dare that bird snatch the heirloom from my wife’s neck?’ he thought. He took aim and shot an arrow at the vulture.

  Just as Indra had planned, two arrows were shot from two bows at the same time. Both the arrows touched the vulture, who released the necklace from his grip and disappeared.

  Both Pururava and the boy ran to the spot in which the necklace fell. Ayur reached first and picked up the necklace. He had never seen such sparkling gold! Fascinated, he wondered what it was. Just then, Pururava also came along and saw the necklace in Ayur’s hand. The king said, ‘O little boy! I shot the vulture first. Give me the necklace; it belongs to me.’

  ‘No, I shot the arrow first. I even reached here and saw the necklace first. I will give this to Guru Ma. This will make her day,’ said the bright boy.

  ‘Dear boy, I think you have failed to recognize me. I am Pururava, the mighty king and the great archer. I don’t miss whatever I decide to target—’

  ‘I am very good at archery too,’ interrupted the young boy. ‘I don’t miss my shot either.’

  Pururava tried to reason with him. ‘But you are a hermit. What is the use of this necklace to you? It belongs to my family. If you would like, I can give you land and many cows.’

  ‘But I don’t want those things. I want this necklace.’

  Patiently, Pururava continued to request him, but Ayur refused to listen.

  ‘Listen, boy. You are forcing me to take a stand. Why don’t I show you my archery skills?’ said the king, pointing an arrow at Ayur.

  Ayur glared at the king and said, ‘Why don’t I show you mine too?’ He aimed an arrow back at Pururava.

  By then, Sukanya and Urvashi also reached the spot.

  ‘Stop it, Ayur!’

  ‘Stop, Pururava!’

  The moment Urvashi saw Sukanya, she understood who the boy was and couldn’t resist smiling.

  Sukanya decided that it was time. She had to unveil the truth. ‘The two of you cannot fight each other,’ she said. ‘It is forbidden.’

  ‘Why?’ asked Pururava.

  ‘Because he is your son, my king,’ said Sukanya in a faint voice.

  ‘What do you mean? You must be mistaken.’

  Urvashi answered her husband’s query. ‘Ten years ago, I came here and gave birth to your son because I was made aware of a change in the curse that Bharata Muni had put on me. Later Indra had asked for the curse to be modified with this condition: If you ever learnt that we have a child together, then I would have to return to Indra’s court. I knew that you couldn’t live without me, and so, I hid the birth of Ayur from you.’

  ‘O Urvashi, what a sacrifice you have made for me! Had you told me, I would have fought my hardest against Indra—’ said Pururava.

  But before he could even finish the sentence, Urvashi disappeared from sight. She had returned to Indra’s abode. It was a bittersweet moment for Pururava. With tears in his eyes, he embraced his son, Ayur. Together, the father and son bade farewell to Chyavana and Sukanya, and they went back to the capital without Urvashi.

  In his palace, Pururava thought about his wife night and day. His life was hard without her. He loved his son, but nobody could fill Urvashi’s place in his heart. In Indra’s court, Urvashi was extremely unhappy and constantly thought of her family.

  One day, Pururava thought, ‘I have helped Indra in many wars and brought victory to him. Still, he has been unfair to my wife. I cannot take it anymore. I must wage a war against him to get my wife back. My family is suffering because of him.’

  Convinced that this was the right thing to do, Pururava ordered his soldiers to prepare for war.

  When Indra heard of this, he strongly felt that he would not win against Pururava. Besides, he would lose a valuable ally too. The best way to defuse the situation was to send Urvashi back to earth. He would lose his gem, but her heart was human and she was filled with pure love for her family. It was better to let her go. So, Indra took Urvashi to Pururava and said, ‘I am amazed at the love between you and your wife. Here she is. With her determination, she managed to hide Ayur and her maternal feelings for a long time. I bless her. She will continue to retain her citizenship in the heavens and can use the powers of an apsara when she chooses to.’

  Pururava thanked Indra and the gods for their blessings and felt grateful to have a devoted wife and a bright son.

  There is a popular play written by Kalidasa based on this story called Vikramōrvaśīyam.

  The First Clone in the World

  Sanjana was the beautiful daughter of Vishwakarma, the great engineer and architect of the heavens. He wanted Sanjana to marry a powerful god, and advised her. ‘There are only three suitable contenders for you,’ Vishwakarma told his daughter, ‘three who can generate light in your life: Vidyut, the god of lightning; Agni, the god of fire; and Surya, the sun god. Whom would you like to marry, dear daughter?’

  Sanjana thought for a while and said, ‘Lightning is temporary. It only comes at night along with rain and thunder. Even fire arrives only when it is intentionally lit. The sun, however, holds a constant presence in the world and is helpful to mankind. So, Surya is the most powerful of them all. I would like to marry him.’

  An alliance was made, and soon, the two wer