Pururava and Urvashi

Dadi**: Guddu beta, have you heard of the apsaras - the celestial dancers of heaven?

Guddu**: Like beautiful angel-dancers?

Dadi**: Yes! Tonight's story is about the most beautiful apsara of all - Urvashi - and the human king who loved her. It's a story of love, conditions, and heartbreak.

Guddu**: Tell me!

Dadi**: King Pururava was no ordinary king. He was extraordinarily handsome and powerful, ruling over thirteen islands. Though human, even celestial beings admired him.

Guddu**: The gods liked a human?

Dadi**: His glory was that great! One day, the apsara Urvashi had to come to earth due to a curse. When she saw Pururava, she fell deeply in love.

Guddu**: Did he love her back?

Dadi**: He was completely captivated by her otherworldly beauty! When Urvashi agreed to become his wife, Pururava was the happiest man alive. But there was a catch...

Guddu**: A catch?

Dadi**: Urvashi set three conditions. First, she kept two pet sheep that she loved like children - Pururava must protect them always.

Guddu**: That seems easy.

Dadi**: Second, she would eat only clarified butter - nothing else. And third - this was the crucial one - she must never see Pururava unclothed except during their intimate moments.

Guddu**: Strange conditions!

Dadi**: Pururava agreed to everything. He was mad with love and would have agreed to anything. For years, they lived in bliss. Their love produced a son, and the kingdom flourished.

Guddu**: So everything was happy?

Dadi**: Until the celestials decided they wanted Urvashi back. The gandharvas - celestial musicians - came to earth and stole Urvashi's two pet sheep in the middle of the night.

Guddu**: Oh no! Didn't Pururava protect them?

Dadi**: When Urvashi woke to hear her sheep crying, she screamed, "The thieves are stealing my children! And my husband lies here like a woman, doing nothing!"

Guddu**: That must have hurt his pride!

Dadi**: Stung by her words, Pururava leapt from the bed to chase the thieves - forgetting to put on any clothes! At that exact moment, the gandharvas created a flash of lightning.

Guddu**: The lightning made her see him...

Dadi**: Naked, just as she had forbidden. The third condition was broken. In that instant, Urvashi vanished, returning to heaven.

Guddu**: It was a trap!

Dadi**: The celestials had planned everything - the stolen sheep, the insulting words, the lightning. They wanted Urvashi back and knew how to break the conditions.

Guddu**: Poor Pururava! Did he try to get her back?

Dadi**: He went mad with grief, beta. He wandered across the earth like a madman, searching for her everywhere. Finally, after years, he found her by a lake.

Guddu**: Did she come back?

Dadi**: She couldn't stay permanently - she belonged to heaven now. But she granted him one night together each year, and from their union came several sons who became ancestors of great royal lineages.

Guddu**: That's sad. Only one night a year?

Dadi**: Eventually, Urvashi taught Pururava sacred rituals. By performing them, he was able to ascend to heaven and be with her forever after death.

Guddu**: So there's a happy ending?

Dadi**: Of a sort. But the story warns us, beta: love that comes with conditions is always at risk. The conditions that seem manageable become traps we don't see coming.

Guddu**: Maybe don't agree to strange conditions?

Dadi**: Or maybe understand that some loves are not meant to be permanent in this world. Urvashi belonged to heaven; Pururava belonged to earth. Their love was real but their worlds were different.

Guddu**: Like loving a dream?

Dadi**: Beautifully said, beta. Some of the most intense loves are with what cannot stay. The wise learn to love without grasping, to enjoy without demanding permanence.

Guddu**: That's a different kind of love lesson.

Dadi**: Every love teaches something different. Goodnight, my philosopher!

Guddu**: Goodnight, Dadi!