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to have the son, each saying "It is mine not yours." When they
quarrelled with each other, the Devas and Rishis asked Tara who was
the father of the child. The child reproved his mother for the delay
in answering. Brahma took Tara aside and learned from her that
Soma was the father of the son, Soma then took the child. Brahma
seeing the deep wisdom of the child named him Budha (Mercury).
Budha had by 113. one son Pururavas. Narada related his
beauty and his virtues to the Devas in Svarga. Urvasi heard all that
and took a fancy for the king. By the curse of Mitra Varuna, she
had then a human form. Both the king and the Apsaras became
attached to each other and they lived as husband and wife. But
Urvasi laid down two conditions of her company with the king (i)
that the king was to preserve two rams, which the Apsaras had
brought with her and (2) that the king was never to expose himself
before her except in privacy. Indra sent the Gandharvas in search of
Urvasi. They found her out and took away her two rams. She had
a maternal affection for these animals and she cried out in despair.
The king hurriedly took his arms and ran after the Gandharvas.
They left the rams and fled away. The king brought them back.
But in the hurry, he had forgot to cover himself and Urvasi left him.
The king became disconsolate, and roamed about in search of her.
After some days he found her on the banks of the Sarasvati with her
5 companions. He entreated her to come back. She promised to
give her company to the king one night every year and informed him
of her delicate state of health.
Urvasi came after a year, with one son. She advised the king
to entreat the Gandharvas for her hands. The king did so and the
Gandharvas became pleased with him. They gave him one Agni-
sthali (pot of fire). The king took the Agnisthali to be Urvasi and
roamed with it in the forest. (The Gandharvas gave him the fire for
the performance of sacrifice necessary for the attainment of Urvasi).
The king found out his mistake at last. He then placed the fire in the
forest, went home and meditated every night on Urvasi. On the ap-
proach of Treta, he was inspired with the three Vedas (Karma-kanda).
He then went to the place of fire and found there one Asvatha tree (the
sacred fig) grown from inside a Sami tree (Sami is the name of a tree
said to contain fire). He decided that the fire must be within the
Asvatha tree. He took two pieces of wood (technically called
Arani) from that tree and produced fire by their friction. He deemed
one piece to be Urvasi and another piece to be himself and the space
between the two pieces to be his son. By friction, the fire called Jata-
vedas came out (Vedas is wealth, enjoyments in general. Jdta is
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v?