Durvāsā, the Sage Who Tests

Three sons for Atri

Atri, Brahmā's son and Anasūyā's husband, went with his wife to the mountain called Ṛkṣakula to do tapas for a son. On the bank of the Nirvindhyā river he held his breath and meditated for a hundred years, with a single thought: the one Lord, changeless and beyond words, will give me a son.

A flame of pure tapas rose from his body and began to burn the worlds. The gods ran to Brahmā; Brahmā took them to Viṣṇu; Viṣṇu took them all to Śiva. And Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva, having talked together, went to Atri's hermitage.

Atri bowed to the three and asked, astonished: I meditated only on the one Lord of the whole world. Why have three of you come? The three answered: it is as you intended. We three are equally lords of this world. From a portion of each of us, you will have three sons.

So from Anasūyā were born three sons: from Brahmā's portion, Candra, the Moon; from Viṣṇu's portion, Dattātreya, who spread the path of renunciation; and from Śiva's portion, Durvāsā — who spread the fire of brahminical tapas, and, the Purāṇa says, tested many people's dharma out of compassion.

Ambarīṣa's fast

King Ambarīṣa of the Solar dynasty, ruler of the seven continents and a great devotee of Viṣṇu, kept the Ekādaśī fast and had vowed to break it on the next day, Dvādaśī, within its time. Knowing this, Durvāsā came with a crowd of disciples. The king invited him to eat. Durvāsā went to bathe first — and, to test the king, stayed away and away.

Dvādaśī was running out. To keep his vow without insulting his guest, the king did what the śāstras allow: he sipped a little water, and waited.

Durvāsā returned, knew it at once, and blazed with fury. Wretched king! You invited me, and then drank before feeding me. I will show you what that earns. He moved to burn the king to ash.

The discus that did not know

At that moment Viṣṇu's discus, Sudarśana, which dwelt within the king to protect him, flared up. Deluded by Śiva's māyā, not recognising the sage, it blazed out to burn Durvāsā.

Then a voice spoke from the sky to Ambarīṣa: king, it was Śiva who gave this discus to Viṣṇu. Calm it at once. This Durvāsā is Śiva himself — do not take him for an ordinary sage. He has come to test your dharma. Take refuge in him quickly, or the world will end.

Ambarīṣa prayed: if I have ever given, if I have done good works and kept my dharma, if my family honours the brahmins — let Viṣṇu's weapon be calmed. If the Lord I serve is pleased with me, let the discus be still. And the discus, knowing now whose portion stood before it, grew quiet. The king bowed to the sage as Śiva's avatāra; Durvāsā, delighted, ate, blessed him, and went his way.

Rāma's vow

He tested Rāma too. When Time came to Rāma in the form of a sage, he made Rāma promise that they would speak alone, and that anyone who interrupted would be put to death. Rāma set Lakṣmaṇa at the door. Then Durvāsā arrived and demanded to see Rāma at once — or he would curse the whole line. Lakṣmaṇa, caught between his brother's vow and the sage's curse, chose to go in. And Rāma, keeping his word, gave up Lakṣmaṇa. Seeing such firmness, Durvāsā was pleased, and blessed him.

Kṛṣṇa's chariot

Kṛṣṇa was famous for his reverence for brahmins. Durvāsā came to see it for himself — and yoked Kṛṣṇa and Rukmiṇī to a chariot, climbed in, and drove them. They pulled him gladly. When he stepped down, pleased, he blessed Kṛṣṇa with a body as hard as a thunderbolt.

Draupadī's cloth

Once, bathing in the Gaṅgā, Durvāsā lost his garment and stood ashamed in the water. Draupadī, bathing nearby, tore a strip from the edge of her own sari and let it float to him. He covered himself, and in gratitude blessed her: may your garment never run short. When the time came, the Purāṇa says, that blessing protected her and the Pāṇḍavas.

So Durvāsā went through the world — fierce to those who scorned him, a blessing to those whose dharma held — testing, teaching, and setting many free.