Anasūyā and the Birth of Dattātreya
A devoted wife stopped the sunrise to save her sick husband from a curse, and the order of the worlds broke down. Anasūyā, the devoted wife of Atri Maharshi, put it right. She healed the brāhmaṇa and brought the sun back. The devas, glad, offered her any vara (boon), and she asked that Brahmā, Vishṇu and Maheśvara be born as her sons. From this came Candra (from Brahmā), Dattātreya (from Vishṇu) and Durvāsa (from Śiva).
Kauśika and his devoted wife
In the city of Pratishṭhāna lived a brāhmaṇa named Kauśika. He had kushṭha (leprosy) because of the pāpa (sin) of an earlier birth. His wife served him with complete devotion. She bathed him, dressed him and fed him, cleaned his waste with her own hands, spoke gently to him in private, and honoured him as a deva. In spite of this, Kauśika was bad-tempered and harsh.
One evening he said that he wished to visit a courtesan. His wife, a pativratā (a wife devoted to her husband), put devotion before shame. Because he could not walk, she carried him on her own shoulders through the night.
Māṇḍavya’s śāpa
As she carried her husband through the night, she struck the foot of Māṇḍavya Maharshi, who was sitting in meditation. The angry ṛshi said: “Whoever has done this, your husband will die at sunrise!”
When she heard this fearful śāpa (curse), the brāhmaṇa woman answered at once with a resolve born of her pativratā-śakti (the power of her devotion): “The sun shall not rise!” And so it was. The sun did not rise, and days went by in endless darkness.
Without the sun, all the daily acts of dharma failed: bathing, giving, the agnihotra, the yajña and the keeping of time. The devas lost their share of the yajña and grew weak. The worlds fell into confusion.
Anasūyā steps in
Brahmā saw the disorder and said to the devas: “Only Atri’s wife Anasūyā can set this right. Go and win her favour.”
The devas went to Anasūyā and asked her to bring back the sun. Anasūyā went to the brāhmaṇa woman. She saw the sacred power of her devotion and praised her pativratā-dharma at length. She explained that for a woman the husband is the highest deva, that pati-sevā (service of the husband) alone gives every fruit in this world and the next, and that the whole order of the worlds depends on everyone keeping dharma faithfully.
Then Anasūyā called up her own pativratā-tejas (the radiance of her devotion) and sent it up toward the sun. After ten days the sun rose again. By her power Kauśika was healed of all disease. He rose young and shining like a deva, with the kushṭha gone completely.
The Trimūrti as her sons
The devas were full of thanks and offered Anasūyā any vara she wished. With folded hands Anasūyā asked: “If you are truly pleased with me, let Brahmā, Vishṇu and Maheśvara be born as my sons.”
The Trimūrti agreed. After some time Atri Maharshi, in a sacred union with Anasūyā, conceived three sons.
- Brahmā’s aṃśa (portion), of rajas-guṇa, appeared as Candra, born of Atri’s mental essence. Atri himself gave Candra the title Somanātha and made him lord of herbs, waters and time.
- Vishṇu’s aṃśa, of sattva-guṇa, was born as Dattātreya, the great yogī, the all-knowing one, the teacher of yoga to all the worlds.
- Śiva’s aṃśa, of tamas-guṇa, could not bear to stay in the womb and was born as Durvāsa, the fierce tapasvin (one who practises austerity), who destroys the impure with his gaze and his śāpas.
Sources
- Mārkaṇḍeya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 16