Ebook Vedic Index of Names and Subjects

Purii-ravas is the name of a hero in a hymn of the Rigveda1 containing a curious dialogue between him and a nymph, Urvaéi, an Apsaras. He is also mentioned in the Satapatha Brahmana,2 where several verses of the Rigvedic dialogue find a setting in a continuous story. In the later literature he is recognized as a king.3 His name is perhaps intended in one other passage of the Rigveda.' It is impossible to say whether he is a mythical figure pure and simple, or really an ancient king. His epithet, Aila,5 'descendant of 1915' (a sacrificial goddess), is certainly in favour of the former alternative.