apsaras
ap-sara/s As [ RV. ; AV. &c.], or ap-sarA/ [ AV. &c.], f. ( fr. 2. a/p + √ sf ), ‘going in the waters or between the waters of the clouds’, a class of female divinities (sometimes called ‘nymphs’; they inhabit the sky, but often visit the earth; they are the wives of the Gandharva s ( q.v. ) and have the faculty of changing their shapes at will; they are fond of the water; one of their number, Rambhā , is said to have been produced at the churning of the ocean).