Dear Omar,

Besides Vettam Mani’s  Purāṇic Encyclopaedia, there is another purāṇa reference work: The Purana Index, by V. R. Ramachandra Dikshitar, 3 volumes, University of Madras, 1951-1955 (reprinted by Motilal Banarsidass in 1995). It covers only five purāṇas, which it regarded as the most ancient: Vāyu, Brahmāṇḍa, Matsya, Viṣṇu, and Bhāgavata. For the particular Urvaśī episode that you inquired about, under Urvaśī, it gives as source Matsya-purāṇa 24.12-33. It utilized the 1907 Ānandāśrama edition of the Matsya-purāṇa.

The 1916 English translation of The Matsya Puranam, made by "A Taluqdar of Oudh," published in 2 parts as volume 17 of The Sacred Books of the Hindus series, does not state what Sanskrit edition it was made from. However, the above-given reference to 24.12-33 is right for this episode in it. My impression is that this is a rather loose translation of the Matsya-purāṇa. A new English translation of the Matsya Mahāpurāṇa by "A Board of Scholars" was published by Parimal Publications in 2007.

We unfortunately do not yet have a critical edition of the Matsya-purāṇa. One was undertaken by V. Raghavan shortly after the inception of the All-India Kashiraj Trust, and he published articles on it in their Purāṇa journal starting with vol. 1 in 1959. Although he published "A Sample Edition of the Matsya Purāṇa" in vol. 4, 1962, neither he nor others ever completed this edition. Thus, we do not know if some Matsya-purāṇa manuscripts have variant readings for the characters in this Urvaśī episode. While Vettam Mani’s account has Agastya giving the curse, the Ānandāśrama edition of the Matsya-purāṇa has Bharata giving the curse.

Best regards,

David Reigle
Colorado, U.S.A.

On Tue, Jan 31, 2017 at 1:21 AM, Omar Abu Dbei via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:

Dear Professors and Collegues,


my name is Omar Abu Dbei and I am currently a PhD student under the supervision of Raffaele Torella in Rome.
While consulting Vettam Mani’s  Purāṇic Encyclopaedia, I have found a reference, under the entry Urvaśī (pp. 812-813), to a mythical episode that might be, under many respects, of the greatest interest for my research:

Once Agastya went to the durbar of Indra. On the occasion Indra asked Urvaśī to dance. In the midst of the dance she saw Jayanta, the son of Indra, and became amorous and her steps went wrong. Nārada who was playing his famous lute called Mahatī could not play well. Agastya went angry and cursed Jayanta to become a bud. He cursed Nārada also. So his lute became the lute of the world. Urvaśī was born on the earth under the name Mādhavī due to the curse.

 

Unfortunately, no Sanskrit source is recorded and, not being a specialist myself in the field of Purāṇas, I have been unable so far to find any possible one. Is there anybody who knows the exact source of this myth?


Many thanks for your attention.


Kind regards,


Omar Abu Dbei

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