Abstract
This article provides a new interpretation of the famous rigvedic dialogue (saṁvāda) between Urváśī and Purūrávas (X, 95). The a. points out many passages in the dialogue where the audience – the very audience of the original performance(s), not only the interpreters of today – is faced with the problem if the text is making reference each time to the father (Purūrávas) or his son (or another son of Urváśī). This sort of exchange of roles is functional to the conclusion of the dialogue, where Urváśī foretells the fate of Purūrávas in the afterworld: here, his survival will be secured by the sacrifices of his son, who therefore will become, in accordance with a pattern of Indo-European origin, ‘the father of his father’.