Apsarases
group · 3 works · 18 mentions · 31 anchored passages
apsarases · Ugrajit · Ugraṃpaśyā · apsaras goddesses · apsarā · bubble-roaming spirits · five apsarases · radiant Apsarases · the Apsarases · troops of Apsarases
in the texts
Atharvaveda (Paippalāda)
Class of semi-divine women associated with the Gandharva, water, forests, and, in a darker aspect, madness.
Those who roam about in front, below the sun and below the sky — this troop of Apsarases we address with the sacred formula.
Those who are weepers, dwellers in darkness, eager for dice-play, bewitchers of the mind — to those Apsarases, wives of the Gandharvas, I have paid homage.
The Gandharva too has indeed come together with these blameless Apsarases;
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa
Celestial nymphs who attend and entertain at Bharadvāja's feast.
Twenty thousand apsarases came from Nandana — those by whose touch a man appears as if beside himself with rapture.
Satisfied with all their desires, smeared with red sandalwood, and attended by the throngs of apsarases, the soldiers cried out:
Ghṛtācī, Viśvācī, Miśrakeśī, Alambusā — those radiant ones who attend upon Śakra, and those who attend upon Brahmā — I invoke all of them together with Tumburu, along with their retinues.
Rigveda
Divine nymphs associated with the enclosure of Yama in Vasiṣṭha's origin myth.
weaving the enclosure stretched out by Yama, the Vasiṣṭhas sat down with the Apsarases.
He, the discerner, knowing both worlds, giver of thousands and one who possesses eternally — Vasiṣṭha was born amid the Apsarases, about to weave the enclosure stretched by Yama.