According to the Bhagavata Purana, he was a great devotee of Vishnu and adhered firmly to the truth. Being pleased with his devotion, Vishnu had given his Sudarshana Chakra to Ambarisha, who worshiped the Lord's weapon with great devotion. Once, Ambarisha performed the Dvadashi Vrata at Vrindavan, which required that the king must start a fast on Ekadashi and break it at the start of Dvadasi and feed all the people. As the moment of breaking the fast was drawing near, the mighty sage Durvasa arrived and was received with all honours by Ambarisha. Durvasa agreed to the king's request to be his honoured guest, and asked the king to wait until he finished his bath in the Yamuna river and returned. As the auspicious moment approached when the king had to break his fast to fulfill the vow of the vrata, Durvasa did not turn up. On the advice of his priests, the king broke his fast by taking a little water and waited for the arrival of sage Durvasa to offer him food.