The Apsarases, Nymphs of the Lower Heavens. The Apsarases are the recognized courtesans of the sky. Their perfect beauty is accompanied by irresistible seductions, which the gods do not blush to employ upon occasion in order to maintain their power as soon as they feel it threatened. Let some great ascetic, by dint of superhuman constancy, of his penances and meditations, come to the eve of attaining sublime perfection, they will dispatch one of the most alluring of the Apsarases to the imprudent one who has drawn to near to heaven, and the holy man will have nothing left but to start his interminable self-torments all over again. For an appreciable lapse of time the lords of the heavens need have no further fear of him.
But the Apsarases, who are women as much as goddesses, do not always need a command from above to lower their eyes to the earth; they often approach men of their own desire. While accessible to love, their heart is nevertheless without any maternal fibre, and when it pleases them to return to their heaven they simply leave their children behind.