How Rishi Durvasa's curse resulted in the 'Greatest Show on Earth - The Kumbh Mela'!

Rishi Durvasa holds a special place in the many lores of Hindu mythology.

To begin with he was the ‘avatar’ of Lord Shiva born to Atri and Anasuya.

He was extremely feared for his short temper. He didn’t think twice before giving a shraap (curse) to anyone who didn't please him.

[caption id="attachment_577" align="aligncenter" width="218"] Durvasa cursing Shakuntala[/caption]

Right from Ambaraisha to Shakuntala and even Lakshman ‘suffered’ due to his curse. (more on these stories later)

But the one person who was one of his earliest ‘victims’ and whose attempts to get back to what he had lost resulted in a series of events due to which millions of followers come together once in 12 years to wash away all their sins.

The individual I am talking about is Indra and it is the Kumbh Mela which resulted from curse Sage Durvasa had given Indra.

Let’s know more about this story today.

[caption id="attachment_578" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Vidyadhari giving the garland to Durvasa[/caption]

Once Durvasa was wandering on earth, when he came across a female Vidyadhari (a nymph of the air) who was wearing a beautiful garland of flowers. Seeing Durvasa being attracted to the garland the nymph respectfully gave it to the sage. When he came back from earth, the sage came across Indra riding his elephant, Airavata.

[caption id="attachment_579" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Indra riding on Airavata[/caption]

Durvasa presented the garland to Indra, who not sure of what to do with the garland placed it on Airavata's head. The elephant was irritated by the fragrance of the nectar in the flowers and threw the garland to the ground with its trunk and crushed it with his feet. Durvasa was enraged to see his gift treated so callously and immediately cursed Indra that he would be cast down from his position of dominion over the three worlds, just as the garland was cast down.

Indra immediately begged Durvasa's forgiveness, but the sage refused to retract or even soften his curse, and went on his way.

Because of the curse, Indra and the Devas were diminished in strength and shorn of their lustre. Seizing this opportunity, the Asuras led by Bali waged war against the gods. The Devtas were routed and turned to Brahma for help.

Brahma in turn directed them to seek refuge with Vishnu. Vishnu in turn gave the idea for the Samudra Manthan.

Stay tuned; the story becomes very interesting from here ;)

A day featuring both 'current' Indra and 'future' Indra!

The fourth day of Diwali is celebrated as Govardhan Puja in Northern India.

This legend has its roots in Govardhan, a small hillock in Braj, near Mathura.
According to Vishnu Puran the people of Gokul used to celebrate a festival in honor of Lord Indra and worshiped him after the end of every monsoon season. Once Lord Krishna observed that his father Nanda Maharaj and cowherd men were preparing themselves for a sacrifice to 'pacify' Indra. The sacrifice was done in order to ‘please’ Indra so that there was no scarcity of water for the grains and fodder. However young Krishna had other ‘plans’ for this time. He explained to all the residents of the village that Indra had no role to play in the water cycle which brought about rain. Instead it was Govardhan Hill which was worth worshipping as all the cattle grazed on Govardhan Hill and the rains were due to Govardhan and not Indra.

Everyone was convinced and it was decided to call off the prayers to Lord Indra.

Indra was angered by this and sent a deluge to submerge Gokul. People were afraid that the downpour was a result of their neglect of Indra. But Krishna assured them that no harm would befall them. To protect the people from the torrential downpour Krishna lifted Mount Govardhan with his little finger and provided shelter from the rain to everyone. This incident gave the name 'Govardhandhari' to Shri Krishna.

This incident opened Indra’s eyes and he ‘surrendered’ to Lord Krishna.

Through this incident Lord Krishna taught people to worship nature and not idols for things such as rain and good harvest.  He wanted to convey to the people that if they took care of the nature, good care would be taken of them as well.

This festival is also called ‘Annakut’ (meaning a heap of grain) which refers to a ‘mountain of food’ symbolizing Govardhan mountain.

This day is also celebrated as Bali Pratipada in some parts of India (more about this festival in the next article). It is believed that King Bali would be the next 'Indra'.

Therefore the fourth day of Diwali is very special as it brings together both the 'current' and the 'future' Indra.