Durvasa

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Durvasa
Durvasa
A painting depicting Durvasa cursing Shakuntala
AssociateShiva (Puranas)
Personal information
Parents
Siblings
SpouseKadali

In

Sanskrit: दुर्वासस्), is a legendary[1][2] rishi (sage). He is the son of Anasuya and Atri. According to some Puranas, Durvasa is a partial avatar of Shiva,[3] known for his short temper. Wherever he goes, he is received with great reverence by humans and devas alike.[4]

Curses and boons

The rishi Durvasa, being short-tempered, is said to have both cursed and gifted boons to several notable deities and people in the Hindu scriptures. Some of them include:

Curses

  1. Indra, whom he cursed to lose all his powers, after Indra's elephant Airavata threw down a rather fragrant garland given by Durvasa to Indra.[5][6][7]
  2. Saraswati, whom he cursed to be born as a human because she laughed at his incorrect recitation of the Vedas.[8]
  3. Rukmini, whom he cursed to be separated from her husband, Krishna, because she drank water without seeking Durvasa's permission.[9]
  4. Shakuntala, who avoided Durvasa while at the ashrama (hermitage) of sage Kanva, which enraged Durvasa rishi, who cursed her that Dushyanta would forget her. Durvasa later clarified that Dushyanta would remember her when she presented his ring (that he had previously given to her) to him.[10][11]
  5. Kandali, his wife, whom he cursed to be reduced to a heap of dust for excessively quarrelling with him.[12]
  6. Bhanumati, the daughter of Banu, the erstwhile leader of the Yadavas. Bhanumati provoked Durvasa while playing at the garden of Raivata, and in response, Durvasa cursed her. She, later in life, is abducted by the Danava Nikumbha. However, Durvasa clarified (after being pacified) that no harm would come to Bhanumati, and that she would be saved go on to marry the Pandava Sahadeva.[13][14][15]

Boons

  1. payasam remaining after Durvasa had eaten. Krishna complied with this, and Durvasa blessed him with invulnerability in those parts of his body that he covered with the payasam, noting that Krishna never smeared the soles of his feet with it.[16] Krishna would die years after the events of the Kurukshetra war by an arrow to his foot shot by a hunter who mistook it for a deer.[17]
  2. Kunti, whom he taught mantras capable of summoning a deva to beget children. Karna is born to Kunti, and later the five Pandava brothers are born of Kunti's and her co-wife Madri's use of the mantras.[18]

Origin

According to Chapter 44 of the Brahmanda Purana, Brahma and Shiva got into a heated quarrel. Shiva became violently enraged when the devas fled from his presence in fear. His consort, Parvati, complained that Shiva is now impossible to live with. Realizing the chaos his anger had caused, Shiva deposited this anger into Anasuya, the wife of sage Atri. From this portion of Shiva deposited into Anasuya, a child is born, named 'Durvasa' (lit. one who is difficult to live with). Because he is born of Shiva's anger, he had an irascible nature.[19][20]

Samudra Manthana

Main article: Samudra Manthana

In

asuras' desire for immortality.[19]

According to a story in the Vishnu Purana, Durvasa, while wandering the earth in a state of ecstasy due to a vow he is observing, came by a Vidyadhari (nymph of the air) and demanded her heavenly wreath of flowers. The nymph respectfully gave the garland to the sage, whereupon he wore it on his brow. Resuming his wanderings, the Durvasa came across Indra riding his elephant, Airavata, attended by the gods. Still, in his state of frenzy, Durvasa threw the garland at Indra, who caught it and placed it on Airavata's head. The elephant is irritated by the fragrance of the nectar in the flowers, so it threw the garland to the ground with its trunk.

Durvasa is enraged to see his gift treated so callously and cursed Indra that he would be cast down from his position of dominion over the three worlds, just as the garland is cast down. Indra immediately begged Durvasa's forgiveness, but the sage refused to retract or soften his curse. Because of the curse, Indra and the devas were diminished in strength and stripped of their lustre. Seizing this opportunity, the asuras led by Bali waged war against the gods.[21]

The gods were routed and turned to

ocean of milk to obtain the amrita
(nectar of immortality), on the pretext of sharing it with them. Vishnu promised that only the devas would drink the nectar to regain their former power, so they could once again defeat the asuras. The devas took Vishnu's advice and called their truce with the asuras, and thus the gods and demons began planning their great enterprise.

Ramayana

In the Uttara Kanda of Valmiki's Ramayana, Durvasa appeared at Rama's doorstep and, seeing Lakshmana guarding the door, demanded an audience with Rama. Meanwhile, Rama was having a private conversation with Yama (the god of death), disguised as an ascetic. Before the conversation, Yama gave Rama strict instructions that their dialogue is to remain confidential, and anyone who entered the room is to be executed. Rama agreed and entrusted Lakshmana with the duty of guarding his door and fulfilling his promise to Yama.

Hence, when Durvasa made his demand, Lakshmana politely asked the sage to wait until Rama had finished his meeting. Durvasa 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 Yama 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.[22]

Rama is filled with sorrow, for he did not want to kill his beloved brother, Lakshmana. Still, he had given his word to Yama and could not go back on it. He called his advisers to help him resolve this quandary. On

Sarayu river.[23]

Mahabharata

In the

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. 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 is gratified. Before departing, he rewarded Kunti by teaching her the Atharvaveda mantras, which enables a woman to invoke any god of her choice to beget children by them. Curious and skeptical, Kunti decided to test the mantra.[24]

After invoking

Kauravas were unable to strip off her clothes in the gambling hall, thus protecting her modesty.[25]

Another example of Durvasa's benevolent side is the incident when he granted

Hastinapura. Duryodhana with his maternal uncle Shakuni managed to gratify the sage. Durvasa is 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.[25]

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.[25]

Krishna immediately appeared before Draupadi, announcing that he was 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 a 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 (An avatar of Vishnu himself) meant the satiation of the hunger of all living things. Sage Durvasa and his disciples then quietly left after their bath, without returning to the Pandavas's hermitage, for they were afraid of facing what they thought would be the Pandavas's wrath at their impolite behaviour of refusing the food that would be served to them.[25]

Swaminarayan Hinduism

Durvasa curses Narayana.

According to the followers of

Swaminarayan Hinduism, Narayana took birth as the saint Swaminarayan due to a curse by Durvasa. The story goes that shortly after Krishna's passing, Uddhava proceeded to Badrinath, the abode of Nara-Narayana. He joined the many divine sages and saints who were there listening to Nara-Narayana's discourses. As Nara is speaking, Durvasa arrived at the assembly from Mount Kailash, but no one noticed him because they were all so engrossed in the discourse.[26]

He waited for one

ghadi (12 minutes), for someone to welcome him with the respect he felt he is entitled to, but still, no one realized that he was there. Seeing no one rise to receive him, he took this as an insult, and cursed the entire assembly, saying that they would all be born as humans and suffer insults and agony from the wicked. Nara-Narayana's parents, the god Dharma and goddess Bhakti, pacified Durvasa, who then reduced his curse, saying that Narayana himself (represented here as the Supreme Being) would be born as Dharma and Bhakti's son, and that his birth would relieve them all from the clutches of evil. Proclaiming thus, Durvasa made his way back to Kailasha.[26]

Dharma and Bhakti were eventually born as Hariprasad Pande (a.k.a. Dharmadev) and Premvati Pande (a.k.a. Bhaktidevi). Narayana is born as their son, named Ghanshyam, who is now known as Swaminarayan. The story is limited to Swaminarayan Hinduism, and no other Hindu scriptures support the tale.[26][27][28]

Temple

In

shiva linga
.

In popular culture

Indian filmmaker

Shree Nath Patankar made Durvas Shaap (Curse of Durvasa), a silent film about the sage in 1923.[29]

References

  1. ISBN 978-3-447-02522-5
    .
  2. Witzel, Michael E. J. (2001). "Autochthonous Aryans? The Evidence from Old Indian and Iranian Texts"
    (PDF). Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies. 7 (3): 69–71.
  3. ^ www.wisdomlib.org (29 June 2012). "Durvasa, Durvāsa, Durvāsā, Dur-vasa: 15 definitions". www.wisdomlib.org. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
  4. ^ Srimad Valmiki-Ramayana (With Sanskrit Text and English Translation) - Part II(9th Edition), Gita Press, Gorakhpur
  5. ^ Wilson, Horace Hayman (1840). "The Vishnu Purana: Book I: Chapter IX". www.sacred-texts.com. Archived from the original on 9 September 2006. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  6. ^ Dutt, Manmath Nath (1896). VishnuPurana - English - MN Dutt. Calcutta. pp. 37–38.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  7. ^ Vishnu Puran Illustrated With Hindi Translations. Gita Press, Gorakhpur. pp. 35–36.
  8. ISBN 81-7120-434-1
    .
  9. ^ www.wisdomlib.org (16 April 2021). "Durvāsā cursing Rukmiṇī [Chapter 2]". www.wisdomlib.org. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  10. ^ Kalidasa: Translations of Shakuntala and Other Works - by Arthur W. Ryder(1914)
  11. ^ Sacontala - translated by Sir William Jones(1789)
  12. ^ Brahmavaivarta Purana Sri-Krishna Janma Khanda (Fourth Canto) Chapter 24 English translation by Shantilal Nagar Parimal Publications Link: https://archive.org/details/brahma-vaivarta-purana-all-four-kandas-english-translation
  13. ISBN 9780842608220
    .
  14. ^ "Harivamsha in the Mahabharata - Vishnuparva Chapter 90 - Abduction of Bhanumati and end of Nikhumba". mahabharata-resources.org. Archived from the original on 25 April 2015. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  15. ^ Dutt, Manmatha Nath (1897). A Prose English Translation Of Harivamsha. p. 653.
  16. ISBN 978-93-5118-876-6
    .
  17. ISBN 9780842608220
    .
  18. ISBN 9780842608220
    .
  19. ^ a b The Vishnu Purana - translated by Horace Hayman Wilson(1840)
  20. ^ Srimad Bhagavatam (Bhagavata Purana): The Story of the Fortunate One - translated by [1]
  21. ^ Srimad Bhagavatam - translated by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabupada, Copyright(c) The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
  22. ^ Srimad Valmiki-Ramayana (With Sanskrit Text and English Translation) - Part I(9th Edition), Gita Press, Gorakhpur
  23. ^ Ramayan of Valmiki - translated by Ralph T. H. Griffith, M.A.(1870–1874)
  24. ^ a b The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa - translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli(1883–1896)
  25. ^ a b c d Was Draupadi Ever Disrobed? - by Pradip Bhattacharya (taken from the Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, vol. 86, 2005, printed in 2006)
  26. ^ a b c Swaminarayan Satsang: Portal of Swaminarayan - Under Shree Nar Narayan Dev Mandir Bhuj, at [2]
  27. ^ The website of The Original: Shree Swaminarayan Sampraday - Under His Holiness Acharya 1008 Shree Koshalendraprasadi Maharaj, at [3]
  28. ^ The website of the Shree Swaminarayan Gurukul, Rajkot, at[permanent dead link]
  29. ISBN 9780851706696
    . Retrieved 12 August 2012.
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