Dattatreya

Dattatreya, ascetic Hindu deity considered to be the paragon of yogic practice. He is the quintessential composite deity, not only because he is often depicted as the incarnation of the Trimurti (“three forms”)—the gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva—but also because his followers come from many different traditions and social backgrounds and mix the transgressive elements of Tantra with mainstream elements of orthodox Hinduism. Dattatreya’s birthday (Dattatreya Jayanti, or Datta Jayanti) is celebrated every year on the full moon day of the Hindu month of Margashirsha, typically falling in December.

Early development in Puranas

According to mythological accounts in the Hindu Puranas, Dattatreya was the son of the sage Atri—Dattatreya translates as “given to Atri’s lineage” in Sanskrit—and his wife, Anusuya. Anusuya helped the Trimurti by restoring the light of the sun and was given the boon of having the Trimurti born as her and her husband’s sons. Dattatreya is, according to this telling, an avatar of Vishnu. In the epic Mahabharata, he is listed as a great sage. In later texts, such as the Markandeya Purana, he is depicted as a powerful practitioner and teacher of yoga.

In Hinduism, Vishnu is generally considered to be the preserver, and he is associated with such matters as kingship and right practice (dharma). Shiva is more closely associated with yoga, and, in some small sects, he is associated with various transgressive spiritual practices, such as sexual exploits, meat eating, and alcohol drinking. Dattatreya melds the two deities: as much as he is an avatar of Vishnu, his stories in Purana literature sometimes call him Yogeshvara (“Lord of Yoga”) and describe him partaking of sex, alcohol, and meat. Although these actions would be ritually impure for others, they are not for him, because they are merely external bodily actions that do not touch upon the spiritual essence of his yogic attainment. The Bhagavata Purana describes Dattatreya as a child ascetic who teaches happiness as something that can be gained through detachment (vairagya) and observation of the natural world. As the teachers of this child’s precocious wisdom, Dattatreya lists—instead of the usual lineage (parampara) of male sages given in many Hindu texts—aspects of the natural world, animals, and such people as women, children, and sex workers, who are usually regarded in Hindu textual traditions as lacking in religious authority. Dattatreya is often worshipped by sex workers.

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Medieval development

Dattatreya was venerated by various Tantric groups in the medieval period in India (13th–16th century). He was revered prominently throughout India and South Asia but particularly in the Maratha cultural region that is now the Indian state of Maharashtra. Natha yogi worshippers of Shiva were prominent devotees, as were Mahanubhavas, who constituted a monastic community devoted to Krishna. The Mahanubhavas were said to have been founded originally by Dattatreya himself. A text called the Avadhuta Gita (“Song of the Free”), written between the 14th and 18th centuries, is in the voice of Dattatreya and is considered to have been composed by him. This philosophical text in Sanskrit, regarded as a quintessential work of the Natha tradition, highlights Dattatreya as the supreme avadhuta (“free being,” literally “one who has shaken off”), who has rejected all social norms, all boundaries and divisions, and who supersedes all the schools of Indian philosophy.

In the 16th century there arose a Datta Sampradaya (“Dattatreya tradition”), which was ascetic and yet ritually orthodox (e.g., not partaking in antinomian Tantric practices). The community developed in what are now the states of Maharashtra and Karnataka and was codified in a text called the Gurucharitra. That text details the lives of saints from the 14th and 15th centuries who it considered to be incarnations of Dattatreya.

It is in the Gurucharitra that the image of Dattatreya as an amalgamation and avatar of the Trimurti emerges. Texts and artwork henceforth depict Dattatreya with three heads—those of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva—and six arms bearing iconography associated with those three deities: pot and prayer beads for Brahma, mace and conch for Vishnu, drum and trident for Shiva. Dattatreya is usually shown surrounded by four dogs—typically symbols of impurity in Hinduism—which are said to represent the four Vedas, and a cow, which represents sanctity and traditional Brahmanical orthodoxy.

Modern incarnations and temples

In later times, Dattatreya continued to be revered within multiple Hindu ascetic and devotional (bhakti) religious sects, and certain significant figures in those groups were considered to be incarnations of Dattatreya. These saints, though firmly rooted in Hindu thought and practice, also tended to mix in Muslim thought and practice, in the form of Sufism. Among the most famous of these saints considered to be avatars of Dattatreya was Shirdi Sai Baba (c. 1838–1918), a religious leader of immense popularity—with temples and devotees now spanning the globe—whose religious identity and teachings are a mix of Hindu and Sufi. Shirdi Sai Baba frequently kept company with dogs, and his iconography typically includes a canine companion.

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Dattatreya temples can be found throughout India, especially in Maharashtra and neighboring states, such as Karnataka. One temple dedicated to Dattatreya has been a flash point for Hindu-Muslim conflict. On a hill in Chikkamagaluru, in the Western Ghats of Karnataka, two shrines stand beside each other: one dedicated to Dattatreya and another dedicated to two Muslim Sufi saints, Dada Hayat (11th century) and Baba Budan (16th or 17th century). The latter Sufi saint is said to have brought coffee to India, which is now a prominent crop in Chikkamagaluru and in the surrounding region. Historically, Hindus and Muslims have prayed to these figures side by side and have even joined together in syncretic practices. However, since 2002, Hindu nationalist organizations have sought to take over the shrine area entirely and, similarly to what happened at the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, have tried to eliminate any Muslim component and amplify the worship of Dattatreya alone. Indian Supreme Court decisions in 2008 and 2015 decreed that the syncretic Hindu-Muslim traditions should remain in place.