DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.638#0131
DEMONS AND GIANTS AND FAIRIES 69
away, like the Teutonic elves and dwarfs. The Gand-
harvas are renowned musicians and bards and singers.
When they play on their divine instruments the fairy-
like Apsaras, who are all females, dance merrily. In the
various Aryan heavens these elves and fairies delight and
allure with music and song and dance the gods, and the
souls of those who have attained to a state of bliss. The
Apsara dancing girls are "voluptuous and beautiful", and
inspire love in Paradise as well as upon earth. Their
lovers include gods, Gandharvas, and mortals. Arjuna,
the human son of Indra, who was transported in a Celes-
tial chariot to Swarga over Suravithi, " the Milky Way ",
was enchanted by the music and songs and dances of the
Celestial elves and fairies. He followed bands of Gand-
harvas who were "skilled in music sacred and profane",
and he saw the bewitching Apsaras, including the notori-
ous Menaka, "with eyes like lotus blooms, employed in
enticing hearts"; they had " fair round hips and slim
waists", and "began to perform various evolutions,
shaking their deep bosoms and casting their glances
around, and exhibiting other attractive attitudes capable
of stealing the hearts and resolutions and minds of the
spectators ".1
In the Rigveda there is a water-nymph, named Ap-
saras; she is the "spouse" of Gandharva, an atmospheric
deity who prepares Soma for the gods and reveals divine
truths to mortals. They vanish, however, in later times;
the other Vedas deal with the spirit groups which figure
so prominently in the Epics. No doubt the groups are
older than Gandharva, the god, and Apsaras, the goddess,
who may be simply the elf-king and the fairy-queen. The
" black" Dasyus are sometimes referred to by modern-day
writers as the dark aborigines who were displaced by the
1 Vara Parva section of Mahabharata.
away, like the Teutonic elves and dwarfs. The Gand-
harvas are renowned musicians and bards and singers.
When they play on their divine instruments the fairy-
like Apsaras, who are all females, dance merrily. In the
various Aryan heavens these elves and fairies delight and
allure with music and song and dance the gods, and the
souls of those who have attained to a state of bliss. The
Apsara dancing girls are "voluptuous and beautiful", and
inspire love in Paradise as well as upon earth. Their
lovers include gods, Gandharvas, and mortals. Arjuna,
the human son of Indra, who was transported in a Celes-
tial chariot to Swarga over Suravithi, " the Milky Way ",
was enchanted by the music and songs and dances of the
Celestial elves and fairies. He followed bands of Gand-
harvas who were "skilled in music sacred and profane",
and he saw the bewitching Apsaras, including the notori-
ous Menaka, "with eyes like lotus blooms, employed in
enticing hearts"; they had " fair round hips and slim
waists", and "began to perform various evolutions,
shaking their deep bosoms and casting their glances
around, and exhibiting other attractive attitudes capable
of stealing the hearts and resolutions and minds of the
spectators ".1
In the Rigveda there is a water-nymph, named Ap-
saras; she is the "spouse" of Gandharva, an atmospheric
deity who prepares Soma for the gods and reveals divine
truths to mortals. They vanish, however, in later times;
the other Vedas deal with the spirit groups which figure
so prominently in the Epics. No doubt the groups are
older than Gandharva, the god, and Apsaras, the goddess,
who may be simply the elf-king and the fairy-queen. The
" black" Dasyus are sometimes referred to by modern-day
writers as the dark aborigines who were displaced by the
1 Vara Parva section of Mahabharata.