A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.534

c5.534

DUR-VĀSAS. ‘Ill-clothed.’ A sage, the son of Atri and Anasūyā, but, according to some authorities, he was a son or emanation of Siva. He was noted for his irascible temper, and many fell under his curse. It was he who cursed Sakuntalā for keeping him waiting at the door, and so caused the separation between her and King Dushyanta. But it was he who blessed Kuntī, so that she became a mother by the Sun. In the Vishnu Purāṇa he is represented as cursing Indra for treating with disrespect a garland which the sage presented to him. The curse was that “his sovereignty over the three worlds should be subverted,” and under it Indra and the gods grew weak and were overpowered by the Asuras. In their extremity they resorted to Vishnu, who directed them to churn the ocean of milk for the production of the Amrita (water of life) and other precious things. In the Mahā-bhārata it is stated that on one occasion Krishna entertained him hospitably, but omitted to wipe the fragments of food from the foot of the sage. At this the latter grew angry and foretold how Krishna should be killed. The Vishnu Purāṇa states that Krishna fell according to “the imprecation of Dur-vāsas,” and in the same work Dur-vāsas is made to describe himself as one “whose nature is stranger to remorse.”