Rishi (ṛṣi)

A rishi is a seer, one who has heard or seen sacred truth directly rather than learned it, and whose accumulated austerity gives real power over events. The Mahabharata is full of them and they are rarely serene: Durvasa curses on provocation, Vishvamitra fights his way up from king to brahmarshi, and Parashurama exterminates the warrior class twenty one times. Their arrival in a story usually means someone is about to be tested, cursed or given a boon that will complicate the next several generations.