Pournami/Dattathreya Jayanthi on 20th December, 2010 !!

Jai Sriman Narayana !!

Dattathreya Jayanthi falls on 20th of December, 2010.  The legend has that, Manasa Putra of Lord Brahma; Sage Atri was born from the brilliance of His eyes.   He has a virtuous wife called Anasuya.  Maharishi Narada praised her virtues among the deities in the Devaloka very often.  This made very disturbing for Goddesses: Saraswathi, Lakshmi and Parvathy against the 'Rishi Patni’ and created jealousy against Anasuya.

The three Goddesses made a plan to bring down the reputation of Anasuya.  They sent Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva to Earth as guests of Anasuya.  The three guests arrived at the hermitage of Sage Atri and knocked at his door.  The Sage was not at home and Anasuya opened the door for the guests.  She was surprised and happy to receive the Lords at her hermitage as her guests.  She prepared food for them and requested to have their meal.  They declared that they would accept the honor only at one condition.  She solemnly requested them to put forward their condition and it was totally strange and shocking to her.  The condition was she should serve them food without clothes on her body. 

However it was shocking for Anasuya, within seconds she had found a solution for the problem.  With the power of her chastity she turned her guests into babies.  The three babies began to cry.  She affectionately carried them and put them on the cradle.  She began to feed them with great love.  This made vast chaos in the Heaven and the Goddesses started to worry about their husbands.  The deities were in dilemma thinking about who would take care of the responsibility of Creation, Preservation and Destruction in the Universe?

Finally, the three Lords requested Anasuya to forgive them.  As a mark of her affection towards the babies the three Lords decided to leave their appearance in the form of three babies: Soma, Datta and Durvasa.  Soma was later known as the moon while Durvasa went to forest for severe penance.  Datta - Dattathreya had been left with Sage Atri and Anasuya as their Manasaputra.

Jai Sriman Narayana !!