Durvasa

Indian mythology · sage · wrath, curses

The irascible sage born of Shiva's anger, whose hair-trigger curses drive plot after plot: it is his curse that makes Shakuntala forgotten, and his gift that lets Kunti summon gods as fathers.

Stories

Shakuntala's Ring

Under Durvasa's curse, the king forgets his forest bride entirely, and the ring that would restore his memory slips into a river. Years later a fisherman finds it in a carp's belly; memory returns like a wound, and Shakuntala's son Bharata gives his name to a subcontinent.