Saint Durvasa was an ancient saint. He occupies a predominant position in the history of sages. He is a well known sage of Satyug, Tretya Yug and Dwapar Yug. Saint Durvasa was an incarnation of Lord Shiva. He was also known for his bad temper. Although he was respected for his knowledge and wisdom, everyone was scared of his anger. He had a habit of cursing people over small mistakes. But his anger was always short-lived and he himself used to tell the remedy to cut the effect of curse.

Birth story of Saint Durvasa

It is believed that, Saint Durvasa was an incarnation of Lord Shiva. He was the son of Sage Atri and Anusuya. Sage Atri was the human son of Lord Brahma and her wife was a loyal and a faithful women. One day Goddess Saraswati, Lakshami and Parvati decided to challenge Anusuya’s loyalty towards her husband. All the three goddesses compels their husbands i.e Lord Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva to test her loyalty.

Anusaya’s maintained her loyalty. As a result, all the three gods starts to live with her as her sons. After some time, on request of all the gods and goddesses she releases them. The trinity gods before leaving blesses her that portions of themselves would be born as her sons. Later on, she gave birth to Soma as an incarnation of Lord Brahma, Dattatreya as Vishnu’s incarnation and Durvasa as Shiva’s incarnation.

As per other legends, it is believed that Sage Atri performed severe penance along with his wife Anusaya on Trishkul mountain to obtain a son. Pleased with his penance, Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva blessed the sage that all the three gods would be born to him as his sons.

After some time, Sage Atri was blessed with three sons. Lord Brahma incarnated in the form of Soma, Lord Vishnu’s incarnation was Dattatreya and Durvasa was born as an incarnation of Lord Shiva.

General Character of Saint Durvasa

Saint Durvasa kept on testing his devotees. Although he was a great sage, he failed to control his anger which became his weakness. He used to get highly aggressive at small issues sometimes and curse the person without thinking much.

Saint Durvasa cursed Shakuntala as a result of his anger due to which she had to suffer a lot in her life. No one was saved from his anger including gods, demons, general public etc.

Significant incidents of Saint Durvasa’s Life

Saint Durvasa has attained many powers with his hard penance and meditation. He was able to attain great achievements by adhering Ashtang yoga. Many such events of his life were remembered for centuries and became the origin of many other events in sequence.

Saint Durvasa and Kunti

Once Saint Durvasa was pleased with Kunti’s service and so gave her a mantra which enabled her to invoke any god of her choice to beget children by them. As a result of this boon she gave birth to pandavas, who brought significant changes in the history.

Saint Durvasa and Lord Krishna

Once Saint Durvasa decided to test the patience of Lord Krishna. Lord Krishna serves him best without losing patience on saint’s odd demands. One day, Saint Durvasa asks Lord Krishna to apply the left over Kheer (sweet dish made with rice and milk) all over his body. Lord Krishna did as he was instructed and was blessed by a boon. Saint Durvasa blessed him with all the love present in the universe.

Saint Durvasa and Kind Ambarisha

Once Saint Durvasa visited King Ambarisha’s kingdom. The king was observing Ekadashi and Dwadashi fast on that day. After completing the rituals of the fast, the king offered prasad to Saint Durvasa on which the saint asked him to wait until he had finished his bath in the Yamuna river. The auspicious moment soon arrived when the king had to break his fast to fulfill his rite. But, Durvasa had not yet returned from his bath. After consulting the other priests present, the king broke his fast by taking a sip of water.

When saint Durvasa returned, he got angry knowing that the king had broke his fast. He created a demon out of a strand of his hair to kill Ambarisha. The king started remembering Lord Vishnu and as soon as the demon attacked him, his Sudarshan Charkra intervened and killed the demon and started chasing Durvasa.

Durvasa went to Brahma and Shiva for protection. Lord Shiva asked him to meet  Lord Vishnu, as he was the only one who could save him from the chakra. Lord Vishnu advised him to seek the king’s pardon for his mistake. Durvasa took this advise and returned to Ambarisha to apologize. On seeing his condition, King Ambarisha recalls the Sudarshan Chakra. Thus,  protecting Durvasa’s life.

There are many instances from the life of Saint Durvasa that reflects his life’s perspective. These incidence also helps in gaining knowledge.