Atri, the rishi

The boon of the three gods, and three sons

According to the Bhagavata (4.1.17-20), when Brahma asked Atri to increase creation, he went with his wife Anasuya to the Riksha mountains, where the river Nirvindhya flows. There, mastering his mind through pranayama, he stood on one leg for a hundred years living on air alone, and asked in his heart that the Lord of the world give him offspring like himself.

The text says the fire of his tapas began to scorch the three worlds, and Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva came to his hermitage, riding a swan, Garuda and a bull (4.1.21-24). Atri asked why all three had come when he had meditated on one Lord alone. The gods answered that the three of them were that one principle, and that from their portions Atri would have sons of great renown (4.1.27-31). So Soma was born of Brahma’s portion, Dattatreya the yogi of Vishnu’s, and Durvasa of Shiva’s (4.1.33).

The Vishnu Purana (1.10) names the same three sons of Anasuya: Soma, Durvasa and Dattatreya the ascetic. On the Moon’s birth the Bhagavata (9.14.2-3) says Soma was born of Atri’s tears of joy, and Brahma made him lord of the brahmins, the plants and the stars; the Vishnu Purana (4.6) too makes Atri the father of Soma, from whom the lunar dynasty begins.

Atri in the Rigveda

The fifth book of the Rigveda is held to be the work of rishis of Atri’s family. The notes to Griffith’s translation ascribe many of its hymns to seers of Atri’s line, such as 5.15 to Dharuna and 5.28 to Vishvavara, a woman seer of the family.

In hymn 5.40 an asura named Svarbhanu pierces the Sun with darkness, and all creatures look bewildered (5.40.5). With his ‘fourth prayer’ Atri finds the Sun hidden in the gloom and sets the eye of the Sun in the sky again (5.40.6, 8). The last verse says the Atris found the Sun again, which none other could do (5.40.9). Griffith takes it as the story of an eclipse, and Svarbhanu as the Rahu of later times. The Rigveda (1.112.7, 1.116.8) also says the Ashvins rescued Atri when he had been cast into a pit of fire.

In the Ramayana: Rama and Sita at Atri’s hermitage

After Bharata went back, Rama left Chitrakuta and came with Sita and Lakshmana to Atri’s hermitage; the sage welcomed them with a father’s affection (Valmiki Ramayana, Ayodhya Kanda, sarga 117). Atri called his aged wife Anasuya to look after Sita, and told Rama that in a drought of ten years Anasuya by her tapas had made fruits and roots grow for the sages and brought the Ganga to flow for their bathing; the text says that once, for the sages’ sake, she made ten nights into one.

Anasuya praised Sita for following her husband to the forest and taught her on a wife’s dharma. Pleased with Sita’s reply, she wished to give a boon, and though Sita asked for nothing she gave her a heavenly garland, clothes, ornaments and an unguent, which she said would never fade (sarga 118). At Anasuya’s request Sita told the story of her svayamvara, and the next morning, with the sages’ blessing, the three went on into the Dandaka forest (sargas 118-119). Tradition places the hermitage of Atri and Anasuya near Chitrakoot, where the Sati Anasuya Ashram stands today.

Where the sources differ

• Whose daughter Anasuya was: the Vishnu Purana (1.7) makes her a daughter of Daksha and Prasuti, the Bhagavata (3.24.21-22) of Kardama and Devahuti, who gave their daughters to the rishis.
• How the three gods became their sons: in the Bhagavata (4.1) the three gods come, pleased with Atri’s tapas. A widely told folk story has them come as ascetics to test Anasuya’s chastity, and Anasuya turns them into infants; according to Wikipedia this story is not found in the main Puranas, and in the Markandeya Purana’s version Anasuya asks for this boon in return for bringing back the sunrise. We have not checked either form in the text of a Purana.
• How he was born: the Vishnu Purana (1.7) calls Atri simply a mind-born son of Brahma; the Bhagavata (3.12.24) has him born from Brahma’s eyes. According to Wilson’s note, the Linga Purana has him born from the ears.

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