Durvasa

As Durvasa finishes blessing Mudgala, a messenger of the gods descends in a celestial chariot and tells him to ascend — he has earned heaven. But Mudgala does not climb aboard. Instead, he asks the messenger to describe heaven's qualities and its shortcomings before he decides, invoking the principle that seven steps together constitutes friendship with the righteous.

Durvasa, the notoriously short-tempered sage, arrives at Mudgala's hermitage as a shaven-headed lunatic and devours every grain of food the hermit has gathered. He returns six times, each time eating everything, smearing leftovers on his body, and leaving Mudgala to starve. But Mudgala never wavers — not in anger, not in generosity, not in the purity of his mind.

After a full year of flawless service, the fearsome sage Durvasa is completely satisfied with Kunti's conduct. He offers her a boon; when she declines, he instead gives her a mantra that will summon any god and place them under her control — a gift she accepts only out of fear of his curse.

Kunti, a young princess, tests the mantra given to her by the sage Durvasa — summoning the sun god Surya into her presence. But when Surya appears and demands union, she tries to send him away. He refuses to leave in vain, threatening to curse both Durvasa and her father if she does not give herself to him.