Curses of Durvasa Rishi

Other names- Dhuurvasa, Durvaasa, Durvasaa

In the Puranas, there is a description of Sage

Durvasa. He was the son of Sage Atri and Ansuya.
He was very thin and tall. It is said that his parents
acquired him as the portion of Shiva after devout
austerity.

The father of Rishi Durvasa is Rishi Atri who is

one of the three Brahma Rishis along with Rishi
Gautama and Rishi Bharadwaj.

 Devi Ansuya the wife of Rishi Atri wanted to

have a child. After many years of childlessness she
asked her husband for permission to do a penance
to the Tridev, (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva) after a
dream where she was told she would need to do a
penance to have a child. She wanted a child with
the attributes and lustre of Brahma Vishnu
andShiva.

Durvasa was famous for his angry nature.

When Shakuntala neglected Durvasa while at Saint
Kanvas ashram, he got angry and cursed her that
the one whom she is thinking of and for whom she
neglected Durvasa will forget her. It is because of
this curse only King Dushyant forgot Shakuntala.

Durvasa did not spare Krishna also from his

curse. One day, Durvasa was eating kheer (a sweet
dish made of rice and milk),Krishna was also there.
Durvasa ordered Krishna to apply the left over
kheer on his body. Krishna applied it on the full
body but did not apply on his feet thinking of the
kheer to be consecrated. Durvasa got angry at this
and cursed Krishna that since you did not obey my
orders and did not apply the kheer on your legs,
your legs will not remain impenetrable and
unbroken. It is the famous story that Krishna died
because an arrow by a hunter hurt his toe.

Durvasa was famous for his angry nature but also

for his straight forwardness. If he was welcomed
duly with honour, he used to be pleased

 immediately. Once, Pandus wife Kunti had served

him. Durvasa was pleased with Kuntis service and
so gave her a mantra (sound, syllable, word or a
group of words that are capable of creating a
transformation. Mantras can be interpreted to be
effective as vibration or simply as sound, which may
include verbal repetition in the form of chanting or
internal mental repetition). On uttering this mantra
and just thinking of any deity in her mind, she could
summon any one of them. With the power of this
mantra only, Kunti gave birth to Yudhishthir from
Dharmaraj, (Lord of duty and religion), Bhima from
Vayudev (Lord of wind), Arjun from Indra (Lord of
Devtas in heaven) and Nakul and Sahadev from
Ashvinikumars (the celestial twins). Thus she gave
birth to five sons and they became famous as
Pandavas. With the power of this same mantra,
Kunti also gave birth to Karna from Suryadev (Sun
God).

As per Garuda Puran, once upon a time Sage

Durvasa (spiritually enlightened sage) visited the
capital of Swarg (heaven). Sage in pleasant mood
intended to see Lord Indra and on meeting him
affectionately offered garland of 'never wilting
flowers'. Lord Indra took them in a casual way and
passed the garland to Airaawat (divine elephant)
who in turn crushed the garland under his feet.
Angered at Lord Indra's arrogance, Sage Durvasa
pronounced a curse on him, devoiding him of all the
riches, virtues and power. Knowing this, demon
King Bali attacked Lord Indraand snatched away all
the riches and virtuous possessions. The gods were
weakened and Lord Vishnu (the preserver of the
Universe) advised Lord Indra that to regain his lost
powers and splendor he needed ambrosia or Amrita

 (divine nectar). To extract this from the depths of

the ocean, the demons were motivated to churn the
ocean along with the Gods. Mighty mountain
Mandarachal was used as churn staff, formidable
serpent King Vasuki became the string to move the
churn, Lord Vishnu in the guise of Koorm (tortoise)
gave support from the bottom

Durvasa and Shakuntala

In the Abhijanashakuntala, written by Kalidasa,

when the maiden Shakuntala ignored Durvasa's
demands to be welcomed as a guest because she
was daydreaming about her lover, Dushyanta, he
cursed her that her lover would forget her.
Horrified, Shakuntala's companions managed to
mollify Durvasa, who softened the curse, saying
that Dushyanta would remember Shakuntala when
he saw the ring that he gave her as a token of their
love.The sage's curse came true of course,and was
eventually lifted, just as he said it would be. By the
end of the play, the two lovers are reconciled, and
are happy to be together again, along with their
son, Bharata.

Durvasa, Rama, and Lakshmana

In the Uttara Kanda of Valmiki's Ramayana, Durvasa

appears at Rama's doorstep, and seeing
Lakshmana guarding the door, demands an
audience with Rama. At the time, Rama was having
a private conversation with Death disguised as an
ascetic. Before the conversation began, Death gave
Rama strict instructions that their dialogue was to
remain confidential, and anyone who entered the
room and saw or heard them was to be executed.
Rama agreed and entrusted Lakshmana with the

 duty of guarding his door and fulfilling his promise

to Death. Thus, when Durvasa made his demand,
Lakshmana politely asked the sage to wait until
Rama had finished his meeting. The sage grew
angry and threatened to curse all of Ayodhya if
Lakshmana did not immediately inform Rama of his
arrival. Lakshmana, in a dilemma, decided it would
be better that he alone die to save all of Ayodhya
from falling under Durvasa's curse, and so
interrupted Rama's meeting to inform him of the
sage's arrival. Rama quickly concluded his meeting
with Death and received the sage with due
courtesy. Durvasa told Rama of his desire to be fed,
and Rama fulfilled his guest's request, whereupon
the satisfied sage went on his way. Rama was
overcome with sorrow, for he did not want to kill his
beloved brother, Lakshmana. Still, he had given his
word to Death and could not go back on it. He called
his advisers to help him resolve this quandary. On
Vasishta's advice, he ordered Lakshmana to leave
him for good, since such abandonment was
equivalent to death as far as the pious were
concerned. Lakshmana then went to the banks of
the Sarayu, resolved on giving up the ghost via
Yoga. Unseen by anyone, Indra took him to heaven.

Durvasa and Kunti

In the Mahabharata, Durvasa is known for granting

boons to those who had pleased him, particularly
when he had been served well as an honoured
guest. An example of such behaviour is the episode
between him and Kunti (the future wife of Pandu
and mother of the Pandavas). When Kunti was a
young girl, she lived in the house of her adopted
father, Kuntibhoja. Durvasa visited Kuntibhoja one

 day, and sought his hospitality. The king entrusted

the sage to his daughter's care and tasked Kunti
with the responsibility of entertaining the sage and
meeting all his needs during his stay with
them.Kunti patiently put up with Durvasa's temper
and his unreasonable requests (such as demanding
food at odd hours of the night) and served the sage
with great dedication. Eventually, the sage was
gratified. Before departing, he rewarded Kunti by
teaching her Atharva Veda Mantras which enabled
her to invoke any god of her choice to beget
children by them.It was by the use of this mantra
that she was able to call the following gods:

Surya - He blessed her with a son named Karna, the

unknown eldest Pandava

Dharma or Yama - He blessed her with a son named

Yudhisthira, most righteous of the Pandavas.

Vayu - He blessed her with a son named Bhima, of

great strength

Indra - He blessed her with a son named Arjuna, the

great archer

The twin Ashvins - They blessed Madri (Pandu's

second wife) with beautiful twins named Nakula and
Sahadeva.

Protecting Draupadi's Modesty

Contrary to the more famous Mahabharata version

of Dushasana's attempted disrobing of Draupadi,
the Shiva Purana (III.19.63-66) attributes her
miraculous rescue to a boon granted by Durvasa.
The story goes that the sage's loincloth was once
carried away by the Ganges's currents. Draupadi

 quickly tore a piece of her garment to cover him.

The sage was pleased with her. He granted
Draupadi a boon which caused an unending stream
of cloth to cover her when Dushasana was trying to
strip her in Hastinapura's royal dice-hall.

Durvasa and Duryodhana

Another example of Durvasa's benevolent side is

the incident when he granted Duryodhana a boon.
During the Pandavas' exile, Durvasa and several
disciples arrived at Hastinapura, and were gratified
by Duryodhana's devoted hospitality. Durvasa was
pleased enough to grant him a boon. Duryodhana,
secretly wanting Durvasa to curse the Pandavas in
anger, asked the sage to visit his cousins in the
forest after Draupadi had eaten her meal, knowing
that the Pandavas would then have nothing to feed
him.

Visiting the Pandavas

So Durvasa and his disciples visited the Pandavas

in their hermitage in the forest, as per Duryodhana's
request. During this period of exile, the Pandavas
would obtain their food by means of the Akshaya
Patra, which would become exhausted each day
once Draupadi finished her meal.Because Draupadi
had already eaten by the time Durvasa arrived that
day, there was no food left to serve him, and the
Pandavas were very anxious as to their fate should
they fail to feed such a venerable sage. While
Durvasa and his disciples were away bathing at the
river, Draupadi prayed to Krishna for help. Krishna
immediately appeared before Draupadi saying he
was extremely hungry, and asked her for food.

 Draupadi grew exasperated and said she had

prayed to Krishna precisely because she had no
food left to give. Krishna then told her to bring the
Akshaya Patra to him. When she did, he partook of
the lone grain of rice and piece of vegetable that he
found stuck to the vessel and announced that he
was satisfied by the

"meal". This satiated the hunger of Durvasa and his

disciples, as the satisfaction of Krishna (portrayed
here as the Supreme Being who pervades the entire
Universe) meant the satiation of the hunger of all
living things. The sage Durvasa and his disciples
then quietly left after their bath, without returning to
the Pandavas' hermitage, for they were afraid of
facing what they thought would be the Pandavas'
wrathful reaction at their impolite behaviour of
refusing the food that would be served to them.