Kindama

In the Mahabharata, Kindama is a
forest-dwelling sage, whose curse on
King Pandu advances the epic’s plot.
Although celibate in his human form,
Kindama occasionally uses his magic
powers to transform himself and his
wife into animals, so that they can experience sexual pleasure. On one occasion,
as Kindama and his wife are in the form
of deer, King Pandu shoots the copulating pair with an arrow. In their dying
moments the sage and his wife revert to
their human forms. The sage curses the
horrified Pandu to die the moment he
takes his wife in an amorous embrace.
Since Pandu is childless, he abdicates
the throne in favor of his blind brother
Dhrtarashtra and becomes a celibate
renunciant. Pandu’s wives, Kunti and
Madri, eventually bear children through
magical means. The struggle for
power between their children and
Duryodhana, Dhrtarashtra’s son, is the
epic’s pivotal conflict.