The Apsara's Curse That Became a God's Mother

She had not always been a monkey.

Before any of this, Anjana was an apsara, a celestial being, named Punjikasthala.

Then she drew a curse from the sage Durvasa, and it was a serious one. It took her heavenly form away entirely and sent her down to be born on earth as a vanara princess.

There was one way out, and Durvasa named it.

She would be free the moment she bore a son who was an incarnation of Shiva.

Sit with that sentence, because it is a strange thing to carry through a life. Not: do penance and I will relent. Not: wait a hundred years and it will lapse.

Give birth to a god, and you may come home.

The long wait