Dattātreya: The epitome of Hindu integration

Genesis 1:27 tells us that God created mankind in his own image. We Hindus have never really subscribed to that point of view. As long as we can remember, we have created our gods, perhaps not in our image, but certainly to address our most pressing needs. The warlike Ārya revered Indra, Agni and Soma. When we were more settled we respectfully retired these Vedic gods and created Devī, Śiva, Viṣṇu and Brahma. Most recently, in the 1960s and 70s we saw the birth and meteoric rise of Santośī Mā, to deal with the demons of the time. Most divinities are usually discreet and sometimes in opposition. Take for example Lakṣmī and Sarasvatī – you cannot have both unless you are Tenali Raman! Take the better known rivalry between Śiva and Viṣṇu. Followers of Śaiva and Vaiṣṇava paths have tried in the past to reconcile differences by creating composite deities like Harihara.

But no divinity comes close to embodying the assimilative force of Hinduism quite like Dattātreya does. He first appears as a powerful ṛṣi in the Mahābhārata giving boons to Arjuna Kārtavīrya, an ancestor of the Yādavas. Between the 11th and 16th century in a Purāṇic metamorphoses to avatārahood, he rises to the top of the Marāṭhī pantheon, standing second only to Gaṇeśa. A yogī and an avatāra, he is an amalgamation of the trimūrti - Śiva, Viṣṇu and Brahma. Unlike other avatāras who die, he is immortal and believed to roam the earth even today suddenly appearing, leading to the popular Marāṭhī saying "datta mhaṇūna ubha rahaṇem". (दत्त म्हणून उभा राहाणे)

His iconography demonstrates his kaleidoscopic and assimilative nature. Depictions from earlier centuries show him as ekamukhī with two or four arms (dvi-bāhu, caturbhuja). This form, influenced by Mahānubhāva worship is still visible in centres like Mahur and Paṇḍharpur. (Learn more about Mahānubhāvas here.)  

Ekamukhī mūrtis with six arms are found in temples near Bombay, Nasik, Ahmednagar and Pune. Similar clean shaven ekamukhīs are also found in Benaras, in the sub-Himalayan region and Nepal. The famous Dattātreya temple in Bhaktapur, Nepal has an Ekamukhī, dvi-bāhu mūrti. Although it is a Vaiṣṇava temple, on Mahāśivarātri, Śaiva devotees flock to this temple, as the deity is considered the teacher of Śiva in the Nātha tradition. This town was quite sadly, severely damaged in the recent earthquake.

However Dattātreya is most familiar to us in his posterior trimukhī form (three heads on one body) signifying the indivisibility of Viṣṇu, Brahma and Śiva. The central face is that of Viṣṇu and in his six arms he carries the emblems of the three gods (mālā, kamaṇḍalu, damrū, triśūla, śaṅkha, cakra). This wandering ascetic is described most beautifully by Sant Tukāram:  “I fall prostrate before the one with three heads and six hands; A bag of alms hanging from his soulder, dogs in from him; He bathes in the Gaṅga daily; A staff and water-pot are in his hands; On his feet are clanking wooden sandals; On his head a splendrous coil of hair; On his body beautiful ashes. Tukā says, I bow to him who is clad in space.”*

तीन शिरे सहा हात । तया माझा दंडवत ।।१।।


काखे झोळी पुढे श्वान । नित्य जान्हवीचे स्नान ।।२।। 


माथा शोभे जटाभार । अंगी विभूती सुंदर ।।३।। 


तुका म्हणे दिगंबर । तया माझा नमस्कार ।।४।।*

You can listen to this abhang here.

He is followed by four different coloured dogs who represent the four Vedas and/or the four appetites of man, and a cow who is none other than Kāmadhenu. Here we see Dattātreya yet again transcending the pure/impure binary, as an avadhūta (one who has "shaken" off or discarded all things worldly) would. Sometimes he is shown wearing a langoṭī whereas devotee in the Jūnā Akhāḍa for instance, depict him as digaṃbara i.e. nagna. To know Dattātreya is to know practically all major religious and philosophical strands in Hinduism from Advaita to antinomian Tantrism, the Mahānubhāva sect, brahminical ritual orthodoxy, renunciatory Yoga, Vaiṣṇava bhakti, Śaiva asceticism, Śāktism and Devī worship. Although Mahārāṣṭra is the heartland of Dattātreya devotion, he is revered in Karnāṭaka, Andhra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and even Nepal. His worshippers come from all social and religious strata – yogis, thieves, Brahmins, philosophers, prostitutes, ascetics mahānubhāvas, untouchables. His appeal extends to Jainas and Muslims too. To understand the complex and divine mosaic that is Dattātreya is truly to understand the integrative spirituality of Hinduism.

Born to ṛṣī Atri and his wife Anasūyā he was the Viṣṇu aṃśa of the trimūrti who consented to be born to the couple. His name has been interpreted variously. Traditionally since Viṣṇu ‘gave himself’ to the sage, he is datta (given to Atri). Ātreya is a patronymic, which technically applies to his brothers Soma and Durvāsa also.  His devotees say that he has given (up) datta the three guṇas – he is beyond them. While this doesn’t work grammatically it does conventionally and phonically. In the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa (MP), he is depicted as the lord of Yoga, addicted to sensual pleasure, though not affected by it. He indulges in māṃsa, mada, maithuna, and musical instruments, and is pleased by similar offerings (MP 19.10-12) This heterodox, anitnomian behaviour is interpreted as dissimulating his supreme dispassion. The complexity of his core svabhāva (innermost nature) can be discerned by comparing his portrayal in the Mārkaṇḍeya and the more orthodox Bhāgavat Purāṇa, where this behaviour is condemned.

He is well known as a teacher of yoga. In the Mārkaṇḍya and other Purāṇas, he is depicted as a jñana-yogī, whose teachers are most unusual. Rather than a single guru or paramparā, he has a ‘honey bee approach,’ drinking from different yoga flowers and different teachers.  Inspirational are his twenty four teachers which include the earth, air, ākāśa, fire, water, the moon, the sun, pigeons, the python, the sea, the moth, male elephants, fish, and a prostitute. (Learn what they taught him here.) His avadhūta gīta is considered to be the pinnacle of advaita vedānta and influenced Swami Vivekānanda greatly. (Make a start on it here.)

In Tantric texts, as well as later yoga, saṃnyāsa and Viṣṇu upaniṣads he appears in his best known role of an avadhūta or a paramahaṃsa. In the Mahānubhāva theology, he is worshipped as one of parameśvara’s five manifestations. He is appropriated by Śāktas, Nāthas, Śaṅkara’s Daśanāmis and aghorīs, testifying to his eclectic and integrative appeal. The highest form of worship for his devotees is through the Guru Caritā, which is the most sacred repository of his līlās, and the wellspring for kirtankāras singing his praise. In the Tripurā rahasya, he is the expounder of Śākta non-dualism in South India. In the 12th century Dattātreya Tantra, Śiva instructs him on various alchemic and magical practices. The eponymous Dattātreya yogaśāstra expounds the teachings of haṭha yoga. You can read a translation by Dr James Mallinson here (again, ideally, learning Sanskrit would be the best way to go).

In conclusion, I would only like to reiterate the power of Hinduism to generate and of Hindus to follow deities that appear just when we need them. And in exactly the form that we need them. They are born for us. They grow with us, and when they are not needed, they gracefully bow out of the divine theatre. As of today, Dattātreya, continues to appeal to and integrate different paths. His devotees believe he is omnipresent though invisible, and will manifest himself when we need him. And he is there for everyone, high and low, orthodox and outcaste. The next time you go to Pune, be sure to visit The Dagadu Halvāī Datta Mandir, where he is particularly jāgṛt (awake). The temple was built on the edge of Pune’s red light district in 1904, so that the prostitutes, of whom he is the patron god, could have a place to worship.

*I would like to thank Rajeev Deshpande for his help with Marāṭhi. You can follow him on Twitter @deshrajeev.

To study Dattatreya in more detail, visit this link which informed this article.