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In particular, I'm looking for the story, where rishi Durvasa cursed mother Saraswati, because he couldn't pronounce something that lord brahma had taught him and mother Saraswati laughed at him when he was in brahma loka. I was also looking for the source for the story of which I only remember little since I had seen it somewhere years ago.

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    You can give bounties of 50 points. If you continue giving 100s on many questions you will soon be in shortage of points. To be even able to make use of the site fully, we need to some points. Otherwise we can't use all of it's features.
    – Rickross
    Jul 14, 2020 at 15:37
  • yeah, it's certainly hard getting answers.
    – juztcode
    Jul 14, 2020 at 15:41
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    I feel if people know the answer they will answer. No need to hurry. You can wait and in the meantime ask more questions if you have any.
    – Rickross
    Jul 14, 2020 at 15:48

1 Answer 1

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The episode of Saraswati Devi incarnating as Ubhaya Bharati has been mentioned in Sankara Digvijaya: The Traditional Life of Sri Sankaracharya by Madhava Vidyaranya

According to it, Saraswati Devi laughed at the Durvasa after hearing his out of tune utterance of Vedic mantras. Durvasa then cursed Saraswati due to her misdeed and out of leniency, showed her a way to get free from it. As a result, she took birth as Ubhaya Bharati.

To become the wife of Mandana in future, Saraswati was born on earth as Bharati (later known as Ubhaya-Bharati) under the influence of a curse for a misdeed of hers. It is said that in the assembly of Brahma, the sages were once chanting the Veda when the choleric sage Durvasas, who also happened to be in the company of the chanters, uttered the Vedic Mantras out of tune. Saraswati, the consort of Brahma and the goddess of learning, thereupon laughed at the sage, who was roused to great wrath by this insult. Looking fiercely at Saraswati, he cursed her to be born on earth as a human being. The Goddess in deep distress fell weeping at the feet of the sage and pleaded for mercy. At this plea of the Goddess, supplemented by the request of all the other sages to view the mistake leniently as the transgression of a daughter, the sage said to Saraswati: "You shall be free from the curse when you happen to meet God Siva in his incarnation as the Sannyasin Sankara." The stroke of destiny being irrevocable, she was born on earth in a Brahmana family on the bank of the Sona and grew to be the centre of all virtues and all learning. Astonishing all, she acquired even in her girlhood mastery of all the Vedas and the Sastras as also of all other branches of learning.

[9-16, The Antecedents of Mandalla , CANTO 3 : THE EARTHLY MANIFESTATION OF DEVAS]

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    @Rickross Can I use flag for inappropriate down-vote?
    – hanugm
    Jul 16, 2020 at 6:09
  • certainly the source is good, but I think I was looking for a more scriptic source . I haven't read the book, but would you mind telling me if the episode comes as a full context, or only as a short story somewhere in the middle?
    – juztcode
    Jul 16, 2020 at 14:52
  • @juztcode This event comes in the chapter which talks about the incarnation of gods and goddesses during Shankara's time. What do you mean by more scriptic?
    – hanugm
    Jul 16, 2020 at 15:12
  • @hungum if you observe serial downvoting then inform mods but for couple of downvotes are not subjected to mods' attention.
    – Pandya
    Jul 16, 2020 at 15:15
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    @juztcode I mean, you may not able to find in any scripture such as puranas, etc., Puranas wrote about the prophecy of Shankara. kamakotimandali.com/advaita/avatarita.html but there may be no mention about Ubhaya Bharati devi.
    – hanugm
    Jul 16, 2020 at 15:36

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