Editing Durvasa (section)

==Mahabharata==
In the [[Mahabharata]], Durvasa is known for granting boons to those who pleased him, particularly when he had been served well as an honoured guest. An example of such behaviour is the episode between him and [[Kunti]], the future wife of [[Pandu]] and the mother of the [[Pandavas]]. When Kunti is a young girl, she lived in the house of her adopted father, [[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]] [[mantra]]s, 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.<ref name="Kisari Mohan Ganguli 1896">The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa - translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli(1883–1896)</ref>

After invoking [[Surya]], the sun god, she bore her first son, [[Karna]]. Fearing the fate of an unmarried mother, she placed the newborn in a basket and set him afloat down a river. The infant Karna is later found and raised by [[Adhiratha]], a charioteer for the monarch of [[Hastinapur]]a, and his wife, Radha. Soon after this episode, Kunti is married to Pandu, the king of Hastinapur, and, by invoking those same mantras taught to her by Durvasa, she bore the three eldest of Pandu's five sons. Karna would go on to become an accomplished warrior and a formidable adversary of the Pandavas. This enmity would eventually culminate in his death on the [[Kurukshetra War|battlefield of Kurukshetra]] at the hands of [[Arjuna]], his younger half-brother, who is unaware of their fraternal bond.<ref name="Kisari Mohan Ganguli 1896" /> Apart from his hair-trigger anger, Durvasa is also known for his extraordinary boons. According to the [[Shiva Purana]], once while bathing in a river, Durvasa's clothes were carried away by the river's currents. Seeing this, [[Draupadi]], who is nearby, gave her own clothes to the sage. Durvasa blessed her by saying that she would never lack clothes at the time of requirement, and it is due to his blessing that the [[Kauravas]] were unable to strip off her clothes in the gambling hall, thus protecting her modesty.<ref name="Daraupadi">Was Draupadi Ever Disrobed? - by Pradip Bhattacharya (taken from the Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, vol. 86, 2005, printed in 2006)</ref>

Another example of Durvasa's benevolent side is the incident when he granted [[Duryodhana]] a boon. During the Pandavas's exile, Durvasa and several disciples arrived at [[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.<ref name="Daraupadi" />

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.<ref name="Daraupadi" />

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.<ref name="Daraupadi" />