Sage Durvasa appears in Hindu mythology as the angry sage who is always ready to put a curse on anyone who displeases him. People revered Durvasa only out of fear. For instance, the curse put on Shakuntala, daughter of nymph Menaka and sage Vishwamitra, that her lover king Dushyant would forget her is well known through literary texts.

Even the gods were not excluded from his ire as the sage is said to have cursed Krishna. When Durvasa visited Krishna, he desired that Krishna and his wife Rukmini should drag the chariot in which he was sitting to show their respect to the sage’s greatness. When Krishna and Rukmini started dragging the chariot, Rukmini felt thirsty. Krishna stopped the chariot and made Ganga change her course and come where Rukmini was standing, so she could quench her thirst. Durvasa became furious because Krishna did not ask his permission before bringing Gang, a and cursed Rukmini that she would be addicted to wine drinking and she would be separated from her husband Krishna.

Who was sage Durvasa? And why was he always so angry?