Shri Dattatreya

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Dattatreya
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Dattatreya
Dattatreya incarnation of the Divine Trinity Brahma, Vishnu and Siva.
Dattatreya incarnation of the Divine Trinity Brahma, Vishnu and Siva.
Devanagari दत्तात्रेय
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Dattatreya (Sanskrit: दत्तात्रेय) is considered by Hindus to be god
who is an incarnation of the Divine Trinity Brahma, Vishnu and Siva.
The word Datta means "Given", Datta is called so because the divine
trinity have "given" themselves in the form of a son to the sage
couple Atri and Anasuya. He is the son of Atri, hence the name
"Atreya."

In the Nath tradition, Dattatreya is recognized as an Avatar or
incarnation of the Lord Shiva and as the Adi-Guru (First Teacher) of
the Adinath Sampradaya of the Nathas. Although Dattatreya was at first
a "Lord of Yoga" exhibiting distinctly Tantric traits,[citation
needed] he was adapted and assimilated into the more devotional cults;
while still worshiped by millions of Hindus, he is approached more as
a benevolent god than as a teacher of the highest essence of Indian
thought.
Contents
[hide]

* 1 Dattatreya as an historical figure
o 1.1 Birth stories
o 1.2 His travels
o 1.3 His gurus
o 1.4 His disciples
o 1.5 Dattatreya as avatar
* 2 Dattatreya as a devotional deity
* 3 Dattatreya's avatars
o 3.1 Datta sampradaya books
+ 3.1.1 Shri GuruCharitra
+ 3.1.2 Shri Datta Prabodh
+ 3.1.3 Shri Guruleelamrut
+ 3.1.4 Shri Datta Mahatmya
+ 3.1.5 Shri Panta GuruCharitra
+ 3.1.6 Shri Datta Charitrasar
+ 3.1.7 Mahanubhava Dattatreya books / Chaturyugi
Avatar
+ 3.1.8 Modern books
* 4 Dattatreya traditions
o 4.1 Puranic tradition
o 4.2 Shri Gurucharitra tradition
o 4.3 Niranjan Ragunath tradition
o 4.4 Sakalmat Sampradaya tradition
o 4.5 Avadhut Panth tradition
o 4.6 Dattatreya tradition in Gujarat
o 4.7 Dattatreya tradition in Karnataka
o 4.8 Dattatreya tradition in Andhra Pradesh
* 5 Notes
* 6 References
* 7 External links

[edit] Dattatreya as an historical figure

Though the Dattatreya of the Natha tradition coexisted and
intermingled with the Puranic, Brahmanical tradition of the Datta
sampradaya, here we shall focus almost exclusively on the earlier
Tantric manifestation of Datta.[citation needed] Shri Gurudev
Mahendranath had no doubt that Dattatreya was a historical figure. He
stated that Datta appeared on Wednesday, the fourteenth day of the
full moon in the month of Margasirsa, though he does not mention the
year.

[edit] Birth stories
Dattatreya by Raja Ravi Verma

* Sage Narad praised Anusuya's "pativratyam" (Devotion to her
husband) a lot before the wives of Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva making them
jealous of her. They requested their husbands to reduce her
pativratyam. Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva went to Anusuya as guests when
Atri was not there at home and asked her to serve them food (lunch).
When she agreed to do so, they said that they will accept her alms on
the condition that she serves them without wearing clothes. Anasuya
falls into a dilemma. If she comes without clothes in front of other
men her pativratyam will be reduced. If she refuses then that is
dishonor to the guests and they can take away all the power of Atri.
Anasuya felt that the three guests who asked such a strange favour are
not normal people since they are trying to place her in a tricky
situation. Anasuya prayed to her husband in her mind and said that she
doesn't have any fear serving them without clothes as she is not
affected by lust. Since the guests asked for alms saying "Bhavati
Bhikshan Dehi" (Oh Mother! Give us some food) and indirectly called
her a mother, She decided that she will consider them as her children
and serve them as requested. Because of her greatness and as per her
thinking by the time she came to serve food the three gods became
small children and her breasts started producing milk. She then
breastfed them and put them to sleep in a cradle. Atri came back
afterwards and hearing the story from Anasusuya praised the three gods
sleeping in the cradle. They woke up in their original form and
praised Anasuya's pativratyam and gave her a boon. Anasuya requested
that these three should be born as her children--the incarnation of
Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma as Durvasa, Dattareya and Chandra (meaning
moon).[citation needed]
* In Mahabharat[1] Dattatreya is referred to as from the family
tree of sage Atri rather than as son of sage Atri. The epic Shishupal
Vadha (execution of Shishupala) of poet Magha also refers (14.79) to
Dattatreya to be from Atri's family tree and not as his son.

[edit] His travels

Dattatreya left home at an early age to wander naked in search of the
Absolute. He seems to have spent most of his life wandering in the
area between and including North Karnataka, through Maharashtra, and
into Gujarat as far as the Narmada River. He attained realization at a
place not far from the town now known as Ganagapur in North Karnataka.
The original footprints of Datta are believed to be located on the
lonely peak at Mount Girnar. The Tripura-rahasya refers to the
disciple Parasurama finding Datta meditating on Gandhamadana mountain.

[edit] His gurus

According to Brahma Purana, after an order from his father, sage Atri,
Dattatreya sat on the banks of river Gautami and prayed to Shiva and
finally earned the Brahmagyaan (Eternal Knowledge). This is possibly
the reason why Dattatreya is considered as Adisiddha in Nath
Sampradaya.

In the Bhagavata Purana, Dattatreya enumerates a list of his twenty-
four gurus: earth, air, sky or ether, water, fire, sun, moon, python,
pigeons, sea, moth, bee, bull elephant, bear, deer, fish, osprey, a
child, a maiden, a courtesan, a blacksmith, serpent, spider, and wasp.
The 24 Gurus of Dattateya come from the 24 gurus of Avadhut described
in the Purana.

[edit] His disciples

The disciples of Dattatreya are: Sahasrarjun Kartavirya, Bhargava
Parasuram, Yadu, Alarka, Ayu and Prahlad. These are known from
Puranas. There is one more by name Sankruti described in
Avadhutopanishad and Jaabaaldarshanopanishad.

[edit] Dattatreya as avatar

In The Pathless Path to Immortality, Shri Gurudev Mahendranath writes:

"Shri Dattatreya was a dropout of an earlier age than the period
when Veda and Tantra merged to become one simple cult. It was men like
Dattatreya who helped to make this possible. Three of his close
disciples were kings, one an Asura and the other two both belonging to
the warrior caste. Dattatreya himself was regarded as an avatar of
Maheshwara (Shiva) but later was claimed by Vaishnavites as the avatar
of Vishnu. Not such a sectarian claim as it appears; Hindus regard
Shiva and Vishnu as the same or as manifestations of the Absolute
taking form."

Indeed, the Dattatreya Upanisad, which opens proclaiming Dattatreya's
identity with Vishnu, ends with the mantra Om Namah Shivaya,
identifying Datta with Shiva. In the last portion of the third
chapter, Mahesvara (Shiva) alone is said to pervade reality and shine
in every heart of man. He alone is in front, behind, to the left, to
the right, below, above, everywhere the center. Finally, Mahesvara is
identified with Dattatreya, depicting the latter as an Avatara of
Shiva.

[edit] Dattatreya as a devotional deity

Dattatreya is one of the oldest of the deities. The first reference of
this deity is found in epics like Mahabharat[2] and Ramayan.

Dattatreya is usually depicted with three heads, symbolising Brahma,
Vishnu, and Shiva; past, present, and future; and the three states of
consciousness: waking, dreaming, and dreamless sleep. He is portrayed
sitting in meditation with his shakti beneath the audumbara (wish-
fulfilling) tree. In front of him is a fire pit, and around him are
four dogs. These are sometimes said to be or to symbolise the four
Vedas.

In the Dattatreya Upanishad which is a part of the Atharva Veda, he is
described as being able to appear in the form of a child, madman, or
demon in order to help his devotees achieve moksha, liberation from
the bonds of worldly existence.[3]


The single head for Dattatreya can be explained if one sees the
Tantric traditions which prevailed in India about 1000 years back. It
was Gorakshanath who changed removed the aghori traditions and made
the Nath sampradaya in the acceptable civil form of today. Shri
Dattatreya must have been a very powerful sage existing before this
time and over the centuries sometime he was deitified to the form of
Dattatreya. The three heads have come definitely later in the last 900
years or so.[4]

[edit] Dattatreya's avatars
Dattatreya incarnation of the Divine Trinity Brahma, Vishnu and Siva
and his avatars- Shripad Shri Vallabha, Sri Nrusimha Saraswati and
Swami Samarth Maharaj.

Dattatreya is supposed to have taken 16 avatars. The names and their
birthdate (as per the Lunar calendar) are given in brackets.

1. Yogiraaj (Kaartik Shu.15)
2. Atrivarad (Kaartik Kru.1)
3. Dattatreya (Kaartik Kru.2)
4. Kaalaagnishaman (Maargashirsha Shu.14)
5. Yogijanvallabh (Maargashirsha Shu.15)
6. Lilaavishambhar (Paush Shu.15)
7. Siddharaaj (Maagh Shu.15)
8. Dnyaasaagar (Faalgun Shu.10)
9. Vishambhar (Chaitra Shu.15)
10. Maayaamukta (Vaishaakh Shu.15)
11. Maayaamukta (Jyeshtha Shu.13)
12. Aadiguru (Aashaadh Shu.15)
13. Shivarup (Shraavan Shu.8)
14. Devdev (Bhaadrapad Shu.14)
15. Digambar (Aashwin Shu.15)
16. Krishnashyaamkamalnayan (Kaartik Shu.12)

There is a book written by Shri Vasudevananda Saraswati on these 16
avatars. In Dasopanta tradition, all 16 are worshiped and Dasopanta is
considered as the 17th avatara.

In Datta Sampradaya the first avatar is Shri Shripad Shri Vallabh and
the second is Shri Narasimha Saraswati. Also Akkalkot Swami Shri Swami
Samarth, Shri Vasudevanand Saraswati (Tembe Swami, Sawantwadi)) Shri
Manik Prabhu Shri Krishna Saraswati , Shri Shirdi Sai Baba (Shirdi,
Maharashtra),Shri Ganapathi Sachchidananda (Mysore,Karnataka) are
considered as avatars of Dattatreya.[5]

The Upanishads Avadhutopanishad and Jaabaaldarshanopanishad mention
that the philosophy is given by Shri Dattatreya.

The Tripura-rahasya (The Secret of [the goddess] Tripura) is believed
to be an abbreviated version of the original Datta Samhita or
Dakshinamurti Samhita traditionally ascribed to Dattatreya. This more
lengthy work was summarized by Dattatreya's disciple Paramasura, whose
disciple, Sumedha Haritayana, scribed the text. Thus, this text is
sometimes referred to as the Haritayana Samhita.

The Tripura-rahasya is divided into three parts. The first part, the
Mahatmya Khanda or section on the goddess is concerned with the
origin, mantra and yantra of the goddess Tripura, also known as Lalita
or Lalita Tripurasundari. The Jnana Khanda or section on knowledge
elaborates on the themes of consciousness, manifestation, and
liberation. Unfortunately, the last part, Charya Khanda or section on
conduct, has been lost and some believe destroyed.

In the Tantric tradition, the Tripuropastipaddhati is supposed to have
been written by Shri Dattareya. This is mentioned in Tripurarahasya.
The summary of tantra in the Parashuramkalpasutram is also supposed to
have been written by Shri Dattatreya.

Another work, the Avadhuta Gita (Song of the Free) is a wonderful,
compete compilation of the highest thought given to and recorded by
two of Dattatreya's disciples, Swami and Kartika. Swami Vivekananda
(1863-1902) held it in high esteem. Originally a work of seven
chapters, a spurious and misogynistic eighth chapter may be a later
attempt to append sexual morality to the Natha tradition by a
conservative ascetic. Some of the ideas in this Gita are however
common to both Shaivite and Buddhist Tantras.

[edit] Datta sampradaya books

The sect or sampradaya which follows Dattatreya as the main deity have
some specific books which they follow. These books can be classified
to belong to two broad categories. The first one belongs to Shri
GuruCharitra tradition while the second one belongs to the Mahanubhava
sampradaya and Nath sampradaya tradition. We describe briefly below
the books belonging to these traditions.

[edit] Shri GuruCharitra

This book was written about 250 years later than Dnyaneshwari which is
one of the first comprehensive books explaining religious philosophy
to the masses. Although Shri GuruCharitra was written 250 years later,
this book has an immortal place in the Dattatreya worship tradition in
Maharashtra and other adjoining states. The writer of this book, Shri
Saraswati Gangadhar was himself a Kannadiga, but wrote this wonderful
and most influential book in the Marathi literature. The GuruCharitra
and its contents are described in the wiki article separately and thus
are not described here.

[edit] Shri Datta Prabodh

After Shri GuruCharitra, the next most important book in Datta-
sampradaya is Shri Datta Prabodh (prabodh: enlightenment). This was
written by Param Bhagwat Anantasut Vitthal alias Kaavadibaba on the
1st day of Chaitra (Pratipada, Shaka 1782 according to the lunar
calendar) in 1860 CE at Baroda. The book has 61 Adhyaya (sections) and
14,236 stanzas. The first 35 Sections are stories of Shri Dattatreya
and his life-work. The sections 36 to 50 describe the stories of
Matsyendranath-Gorakshanath, Kanifnath of the Nath sampradaya. The
last 10-11 sections describe the life stories of the great devotees
like Shri Janaradna swami, Facts|date=February 2007}}

[edit] Shri Guruleelamrut

In Datta-sampradaya there are two books highly respected and
worshipped, bearing the same name of "Guruleelamrut". Late Shri
Vamanrao Vaidya (Vamorikar) is the author of this book. This book has
55 Chapters with 9757 ovyas or stanzas. Just like Shri Gurucharitra,
this book is equally worshipped and respected in Maharashtra. The book
is about the life story of Shri Swami Samarth of Akkalkot. The book
was published after the death of Shri Vaidya, by Vinayak Sadashiv
Limgaonkar, who also wrote the summary chapter to the book. The
language of the book is very simple, lucid and very poetic.

The second book by the same name, is written by Shri Anand Bharati
(samādhi 1901CE). This book is a short book and also describes the
life story of Shri Swami Samarth of Akkalkot. The book has 21
chapters. The book follows the standard tradition of initial worship
of deities in the order Ganesha, goddess Saraswati, Prakritipurush,
Saints, Gurus and Parents. The further chapters narrate the stories
about Dattatreya and his incarnations. Rest of the book then describes
the life and work of swamiji. The book is in the form of question-
answer, with questioner is Shri Gopal Sharma alias Haribhakta and the
answering authority is Shri Anand Bharati.[citations needed]

[edit] Shri Datta Mahatmya

This book was written by Shri Vasudevananda Saraswati also known as
Shri Tembe Swami. He also wrote a book in Sanskrit called Dattapurana.
The Marathi Datta-Mahatmya book has 51 chapters and 5513 stanzas. This
book is in the form of disciple-teacher conversation, where the
disciple is Deepak and his Guru explains to him the importance
(Mahatmya) of Dattatreya. It has full coverage of Dattatreya's
disciples and devotees and their stories and mentions the 24 gurus of
Dattatreya and Dattatreya's philosophy. The book also describes
several vratas (specific strict rituals) to be followed and is revered
and respected by Dattatreya devotees.[citations needed]

[edit] Shri Panta GuruCharitra

This is the life story of Shri Pantmaharaj Balekundrikar from
Balekundri written by his disciple Shri Vaman Narahar Kamat and
completed in 1918 CE. It has 54 chapters and more than 6000 stanzas
and describes the life story and life philosophy of the Pant-maharaj.
[citations needed]

[edit] Shri Datta Charitrasar

Shri Vishnu Gopal Natu from Ajgan (Sawantwadi) wrote this book which
also one of the popular ones in Maharashtra. There are total 77
chapters with 7721 stanzas. The book is fully devoted to the deity
Dattatreya and not to any of his specific incarnations, unlike the
ones described above. The book however contains the stories of several
of the prominent Datta-devotees and this book is quite modern from
that point of view. The book follows the initial standard order of
chapters described above.[citations needed]

[edit] Mahanubhava Dattatreya books / Chaturyugi Avatar

The important and influential Datta-Sampradaya books described above
were mainly belonged to the traditions of Shri Shripad Shrivallabha
and Shri Narasimha Saraswati in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarath and
Andhra Pradesh. However, before them in Maharashtra, Shri Chakradhar
Swami, (from whose time the language Marathi is considered dated, as
his disciple Mahimbhatt is the first book writer (Leelacharitra) in
the literature history of Marathi language), founded Mahanubhava panth
or sect. Considering this aspect, then Rawalobasa's Sahyadrivarnat is
technically the first book in Marathi on Dattatreya. This book has 517
stanzas and 188 of them are devoted to Shri Dattatreya.

According to Mahanubhava followers, among the five avatars of the Lord
they consider, the first one is Sri Krishna, followed by Sri
Dattatreya, Sri Chakrapani, Sri Govindaprabhu and Sri Chakradhar
Swami. According to Mahanubhava dharm, lord Dattatreya is incarnation
of the formless god, like Sri Krishna and is single headed and not
triple headed. They believe he is not an incarnation of the three
devas, Brahma, Vishnu and Mahadev, but is the supreme lord himself.

Another book from this sect is Krishnadasa's Shri Dattavijaya. This
has 34 chapters and 5736 stanzas. One more book that is important here
is Dattatreyabalakrida by Sharangadhar poet. This book is written as a
conversation between Asit and Deval. This book describes the birth
story of Shri Dattatreya in Badrikasharama in Tretayuga. What is
notable here is that this story is different than the one consisting
of Brahma-Vishnu-Mahesha story. The followers of Mahanubhav panth only
believe in as told to them by Sri Chakradhar Swami (whome they
consider the incarnation of supreme lord himself). According to Swami
the avatar of lord Dattatreya will remain in all the four yugas. And
that is why he is also referred to as "Chaturyugi Avatar".[citations
needed]

[edit] Modern books

There have been several books written on Shri Dattatreya in modern
times in the 20th century and the list is quite big. Mainly these
books follow the same traditional order of the initial chapters,
followed by the life stories of the specific incarnation of the Swami
or Guru. Most of the following chapters describe how he has blessed
his disciples and his life philosophy. The tradition of Datta-
sampradaya is quite big and unending. Several modern swamis or gurus
have enormous following and are immediately turned in to the avatar of
Shri Dattatreya with their fame and following. The essential point to
note here is that the Indian social tradition allows and assimilates
all the sects together, as can be seen from the description of the
books above.[citations needed].

[edit] Dattatreya traditions

Following are the various traditions of Dattatreya described in brief.
Mainly the traditions are from Gujarath, Maharashtra, Karnataka and
Andhra Pradesh. Considering the languagewise literature, they are from
Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada and Telugu languages.[6]

[edit] Puranic tradition

The ancients disciples of Dattatreya are already described in the
above sections. Among these, Karatavirya Sahasrajun was the most
favourite of Dattatreya. The other ones are, Alarka (alias Madalasa-
garbharatna), King Aayu from Somavansha, King Yadu (son of Yayaati and
Devayaani) of Yadavs (Krishna's dynasty) and Shri Parashurama alias
Bhargava. There is one more by name Saankruti, who is mentioned in
Avadhutopanishad and Jabalopanishad. [7]

[edit] Shri Gurucharitra tradition

This tradition follows from Shripad Shrivallabha and Shri Narasimha
Saraswati. Several very famous Datta-avatars are from this tradition.
Some names are, Shri Janardanswami, Eknath, Dasopant, Niranjan
Raghunath, Narayan Maharaj Jalwankar, Manik Prabhu, Swami Samarth,
Shri Vasudevananda Saraswati et al. The disciples of Shri Narasimha
Saraswati were, Trivikrambharati from Kumasi, Sayamdev, Nagnath,
Devrao Gangadhar and Saraswati Gangadhar from Kadaganchi. There are
two major traditions started by Shri Swami Samarth of Akkalkot and
Shri Vasudevananda Saraswati alias Tembe Swami and are described in
their respective articles. [8]

[edit] Niranjan Ragunath tradition

His original name was Avadhut, but his guru Shri Raghunathswami
renamed him as Niranjan. He had several disciples in Maharashtra in
Nashik, Junnar, Kalamb, Kolhapur, Meeraj etc, to name a few are
Ramchandra Tatya Gokhale, Govindarao Nana Patwardhan-shastri etc. His
heritage seems to have gone beyond Surat, Baroda, Girnar and north of
Jhansi. The most famous disciple of Niranjan Raghunath is Narayan
Maharaj Jalwankar. Narayan Maharaj mainly worked in Malva region.
Sapta Sagar is one of his well known literature. Heritage continued
with Shri Lakshman Maharaj. He was from Indore. Balbhim Maharaj
Sadekar was his disciple. Balbhim Maharaj was an engineer living in
Sadegaon. He called himself Gurupadicha veda i.e. Mad for Guru.

Shri Satguru Bhagirathinath Maharaj also hailed from Indore. She was
born at Nashik in Kolhatkar family. She had attraction for god from
early age. After Balbhim Maharaj, she faced strong opposition as
people were not ready for a Woman Guru. She worked mainly for
upliftment of ladies and poor needy people. She was master in
Kirtanas. She wrote a drama Brahmatmabodh, a book Anandpadaver Chauda
Chaukadyanche Rajya and many psams(Bhajans). Her disciples have
migrated to England, America and Africa.She was constructed a big
temple in Pune. The name of temple is Balbhim bhuvan.Bhalbhim is her
loving and Kind Guru name.

Dattatreya Mahadev Cholkar was one of the blessed discliples of
Bhagirathinath Maharaj. Although he was blind physically, he was very
clever in his teaching methods. He wrote original Brahmatmabodh in
poetic form. Bhagirathinath appreciated it, modified and rewritten it
in simple text form. He written more than 4000 psams(unpublished). He
was very good in kirtanas just like Bhagirathinath Maharaj.

Sri Dattatreya Mahadev Cholkar had constructed a huge temple in
Yavatmal (Maharashatra). The name of Temple is Shri Bhagirathi Guru
Mandir.Daily discourse and advait Kirtans and Programs conducted by
Management of the Temple.'

Shri Satguru Samartha Madhurinath is also loving and studies disciple
of Sri Dattatreya Mahadev Cholkar. She started preaching as Satguru in
1994. Being a professor by profession, she persuades uneducated as
well as highly qualified people with equal ease. She demonstrates her
disciples how to meditate with the divine and how to devote and serve
the almighty in our daily routine life. Datta Bhagirathi Ogh,
Biddhibodh, Bodhasaramrut, Mayavivaran and Shri Abhedbodh are her
books written in marathi. Good Behaviour, a way to Universal Integrity
is her admired book in English. Many knowledge seekers are benefitted
from her even today. She lives in Gorai, Borivali which is in Mumbai
and continues work of spreading awareness of almighty.

The philosophy of this tradition is mainly Bhagawat Dharma (religion),
Sampradaya (sect) is attatreya and Marga (path) is Vihangam (Bird
like). [9]

[edit] Sakalmat Sampradaya tradition

The meaning of sakalmat is, all faiths are accepted (Sakala means All
and mata means opinion, but here we have to take the meaning as
faith). This is a form of Datta-sampradaya which is called Rajyogi or
Royal type. Shri Chaitanya Dev is the main worshipped god here and
this sampradaya one views gold, pearls, diamonds, expensive clothes
and music, art etc as part of tradition. Here poor and rich are
considered as the same. Thus all the materialistic items are viewed at
par with nothing. The philosophy of this tradition is that there is no
resistance to any kind of religious faiths in the world. All faiths
are believed to give the ultimate godliness to its followers. This
tradition was started by Shri Manik Prabhu of Humanabad. Hindus,
Muslims and people of all castes are allowed here. Some disciples of
this tradition are, Bapacharya, Narayan Dikshit, Chimnya Bramhachari,
Gopalbua. [10]

[edit] Avadhut Panth tradition

The Avadhut panth or sect was started by Shri Pantmaharaj
Balekundrikar of Balekundri near Belgaum. More information of the
Avadhut philosophy and tradition is described in the article on
avadhut. The main disciples of this tradition are, Govindaraoji,
Gopalraoji, Shankarraoji, Vamanrao and Narasimharao. These are all
called "Panta-bandhu"s i.e. Panta-brothers. This sampradaya is spread
across Balekundri, Daddi, Belgaum, Akol, Kochari, Nerali, Dharwad,
Gokak, Hubali. [11]

[edit] Dattatreya tradition in Gujarat

Girnar is a famous place in the Datta-sampradaya and is situated in
Saurashtra, Gujarat. Shri Vamanbua Vaidya from Baroda is from the
tradition of Shri Kalavit Swami. His philosophical tradition is
furthered by Saswadkar, and Pattankar. The temple of Narasimha
Saraswati in Baroda continues this tradition of Dattatreya devotion.
The main Dattatreya devotees who spread the Datta-panth in Gujarat
were Pandurang Maharaj of Naareshwar and Shrirang Avadhut. Gujarati
books like Dattabavani and Gurulilamrut are quite famous. Dr. H. S.
Joshi has written the book Origin and Development of Dattatreya
Worship in India. [12]

[edit] Dattatreya tradition in Karnataka

The town of Ganagapur,where Dattatreya is said to have attained
realization lies on the banks of River Bhima in Gulbarga district of
North Karnataka.The following information is taken from the letters
and articles written by late Shri Vishwanath Keshav Kulkarni-
Hattarwatkar from Belgaum and one of the experts of Datta-tradition in
Karnataka. Dattatreya tradition is quite rich in the adjacent states
of Maharashtra. In fact the Gurucharitrakar Shri Saraswati Gangadhar
was himself a Kannadiga. Other than him there have been numerous
disciples and Dattatreya devotees from the northern part of Karnataka.
Some famous names are Shridharswami, Narayanmaharaj from Kedgaon,
SiddheshwaraMaharaj from Sadhoghat, Siddharudh Swami from Hubali et
al.

Shripantamaharaj Balekundrikar has also written several Kannada poems
on Dattatreya worship. Several places such as Borgaon, Chikodi,
Kunnur, Sadalaga, Balekundri, Shahapur, Nipani, Hubali, Hangal,
Dharwad etc have Dattatreya temples or some places have Narasimha
temples who is also considered to be an incarnation of Dattatreya. In
fact it appears that Shri Narasimha Saraswati and some of his
disciples used to worship this form of Dattatreya. The maharaja of
Mysore Shri Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar has written a book,Dattatreya:
The Way and the Goal in English. The book is written mainly to comment
on Jeevanmuktageeta and Avadhutgeeta. The last chapter is A Critical
Estimate of the Philosophy of Dattatreya where all the Dattatreya
philosophy and work has been described in detail. [13]

[edit] Dattatreya tradition in Andhra Pradesh

The first avatara of Dattatreya, Shri Shripad Shrivallabha was from
Pithapuram in Andhra Pradesh. As per the article by Prof. N.
Venkatarao,[14] he describes several connections of Dattatreya
tradition with those in Maharashtra. Maatapur or Mahur which is now
located in Maharashtra was part of Telangana region in old days. The
head of Mahur temple is called Dattatreya Yogi.

Around 1550 CE, Dattatreya Yogi taught the Dattatreya philosophy to
his disciple Das Gosavi in Marathi. Das Gosavi then taught this
philosophy to his two Telugu disciples Gopalbhatt and Sarvaved who
studied and translated Das Gosavi's book of Vedantavyavaharsangraha
into Telugu language. According Prof. R. C. Dhere, DattatreyaYogi and
Das Gosavi are the original gurus in the Telugu Dattatreya tradition.
Prof. Rao states that Dattatreya Shatakamu was written by
Paramanandateertha who is equally important in his contributions to
the Telugu tradition of Dattatreya. He was a proponent of Advaita
philosophy and dedicated his two epics, Anubhavadarpanamu and
Shivadnyanamanjari to Shri Dattatreya. His famous Vivekachintamani
book was translated into Kannada by Nijashivagunayogi and Lingayat
saint Shanatalingaswami translated this into Marathi. :[15]

The Telugu Nath parampara is Dattatreya-> Janardan -> Eko Janardan ->
Naraharimahesh -> Nagojiram -> Koneruguru -> Mahadevguru ->
Parashurampantul Lingamurthy and Gurumurthy. Dattatreyayogi tradition
is, Dattatreyayogi -> Paramanandateertha

* Sadanandayogi
o Challasuraya
o Ishwar Panibhatt
* Dhenukonda Timayya
o Mallan
o Chintalingaguru
+ Yogananda
+ Timmaguru
+ Rambrahmendra
+ Kumbhampati Narappa

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Anushasan Parva, Addhyaay 91
2. ^ Vanaparva 115.12, Shantiparva 49.36-37, Anushasanparva 152.5
and 153.12
3. ^ Dattatreya Upanishad
4. ^ Dr. R. C. Dhere, Datta Sampradayacha Itihas
5. ^ Shri Datta Swami. Shri Datta Swami: Divinity on the Earth
6. ^ Joshi, Dr. P. N. (2000) Shri Dattatreya Dnyankosh. Pune: Shri
Dattatreya Dnyankosh Prakashan.
7. ^ Anandashraya Sanskrit Granthmala.
8. ^ Shri GuruCharitra Ed. R. K. Kamat, Keshav Bhikaji Dhawale
Prakashan, Girgaum, Mumbai.
9. ^ Ed. Y. V. Kolhatkar, Niranjan Raghunathanche Granth
10. ^ ShriSansthan ManikPrabhu Padyamala, Upasanamartand -Shri
ManikPrabhu Granthavali, ShriManikPrabhu Charitra by G. R. Kulkarni.
11. ^ Joshi, Dr. P. N. (2000) Shri Dattatreya Dnyankosh. Pune: Shri
Dattatreya Dnyankosh Prakashan.
12. ^ Rangabavani by J.N.Adhvaryu, Shri Vadhutprashasti, Pravasi
Avadhut and Guruvarni Varta by Paropakari, Shri Datta Upasana by
Jethalal Narayan Trivedi. These books are written in Gujarati
13. ^ Joshi, Dr. P. N. (2000) Shri Dattatreya Dnyankosh. Pune: Shri
Dattatreya Dnyankosh Prakashan.
14. ^ Former head of the Telugu language department in Madras
University
15. ^ Works relating to the Dattatreya Cult in Telugu Literature: N.
Venkata Rao (Essays in Philosophy presented to Dr. T. M. P. Mahadevan,
Madras, 1962. pp464-475).

[edit] References

* Mahendranath, Shri Gurudev. Notes on Pagan India. Retrieved
October 14, 2004.
* Mahendranath, Shri Gurudev. The Pathless Path to Immortality.
Retrieved October 14, 2004.
* Rigopoulos, Antonio (1998). Dattatreya: The Immortal Guru,
Yogin, and Avatara. New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN
0-7914-3696-9.
* Kambhampati, Parvathi Kumar (2000). Sri Dattatreya (First
Edition ed.). Visakhapatnam: Dhanishta. .

[edit] External links

* Practical and scientific articles about Lord Dattatreya
* Information on Shri Dattatreya - Datta Guru
* Sree Guru Charitra in English by Acharya Ekkirala Bharadwaja