The word apsara is derived from the Sanskrit word ap, which means water, and sara, which means movement, so apsara means somebody who moves around in water—a water-nymph. Apsaras are believed to have come out of the churning of the ocean by the devas and asuras.
The first mention of apsara occurs in the Rigveda, where she is mentioned as the spouse of Gandharva. Both Apsara and Gandharva seem to be singular entities. Later mentions, however, allow for the possibility of more than one apsara.
Atharvaveda describes them as inhabitants of water and ‘noisy, dice-loving, mind-confusing, gleamer, starry-one, and divine’. They are said to grant luck in gambling and there is even a hymn to invoke it. The Mahabharata mentions the names of 45 apsaras. Some of the more famous ones are Rambha, Menaka, Urvashi and Tilottama. They gradually came to be seen as divine singers and dancers who accompanied the divine musicians, gandharvas, in entertaining Indra and other inhabitants of swarga (heaven). They have the power to transform themselves into different physical shapes and forms.
Whenever anyone performed an extremely hard penance on earth, apsaras were dispatched to test their devotion and virtue. According to the Mahabharata, when a soldier who has fought bravely falls dead on the battleground, apsaras fight among themselves for the honour of marrying him and accompanying him to Indra’s heaven. This story was narrated to soldiers before wars so that they would rush into the war zone and fight bravely.
There is another side to this aspect of apsaras: the impact they have on the widows of the fallen soldiers. The Mahabharata narrates a story where a woman whose husband is happily preparing to go into war requests him not to forget her love and devotion if he dies and meets an apsara. Along the same lines, devadasis used to live in several temples in India. The practice had been started to preserve dance and rituals, but due to malpractices and exploitation of devadasis, it got banned.
Apsaras have been popular in art and architecture, too. Their images adorn the outside of many temples not just in India, but also in East Asian regions like Khmer and modern-day Cambodia. In these temple depictions, as also in religious calendar artwork, they are depicted as exceedingly beautiful, having long flowing hair, wearing ornate clothing and jewelry, and holding a dancing pose.
The depictions continue to inspire the movements and poses in the Cambodian ballet. Apsaras represent the beauty of life and portray the sringara rasa. In modern times, they continue to be held as an ideal for female beauty and still fascinate people with their grace.