India, Oct. 2 -- Sage Durvasa was known equally across the scriptures for his considerable spiritual power and his famously short, unpredictable temper. When Shakuntala, lost entirely in thoughts of her beloved Dushyanta, failed to notice Durvasa arriving unannounced as a guest and did not offer him the customary hospitality expected of any host, he cursed her in a sudden fury, declaring that the very person she had been thinking of so fondly would forget her completely and entirely. Realizing almost immediately the harshness of his own reaction, he softened the curse only slightly, allowing that a single token, a ring, could eventually restore Dushyanta's lost memory of her. Even so, the consequences of that one momentary lapse into ange...