Dattatreya

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Dattatreya Dattatreya incarnation of the Divine Trinity Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. God of Sannyasa Devanagari: दत्तात्रेय

Dattatreya (Sanskrit: दत्तात्रेय) is considered by some Hindus (in western India) 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, he was adapted and assimilated into the more devotional cults; while still worshipped by millions of Hindus, he is approached more as a benevolent God than as a teacher of the highest essence of Indian thought.

Contents 1 Dattatreya as an historical figure 1.1 Birth stories 1.2 His travels 1.3 His gurus 1.4 His disciples 1.5 Dattatreya as avatar 2 Dattatreya as a devotional deity 3 Dattatreya's avatars 4 Dattatreya literature 4.1 Datta sampradaya books 4.1.1 Shri GuruCharitra 4.1.2 Shri Datta Prabodh 4.1.3 Shri Guruleelamrut 4.1.4 Shri Datta Mahatmya 4.1.5 Shri Panta GuruCharitra 4.1.6 Shri Datta Charitrasar 4.1.7 Mahanubhava Dattatreya books 4.1.8 Modern books 5 Dattatreya traditions 5.1 Puranic tradition 5.2 Shri Gurucharitra tradition 5.3 Niranjan Ragunath tradition 5.4 Sakalmat Sampradaya tradition 5.5 Avadhut Panth tradition 5.6 Dattatreya tradition in Gujarath 5.7 Dattatreya tradition in Karnataka 5.8 Dattatreya tradition in Andhra Pradesh 6 Notes 7 References 8 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. Shri Gurudev Mahendranath had no doubt that Dattatreya was an historical figure. He stated that Datta was born on Wednesday, the fourteenth day of the full moon in the month of Margasirsa, though he does not mention the year.

[edit] Birth stories

• Atri made a great tapascharya on the riksha kulaparvat (kula mountain) because of which the whole world started burning. Brahma-Vishnu-Mahesha were impressed with him and asked him what he wants. For which Atri asked them to be his children (or have children like them). So Atri and Anusuya had 3 sons namely, Soma or Chandra (the Moon) from Brahma, Dattatreya from Vishnu and sage Durvas from Shiva.
• In Brahma Purana, Atri asked for the 3 sons and one daughter. So he had Chandra, Dattatreya, Durvas as sons and Shubhatreyi as daughter.
• A brahmin named Kaushik was staying in a town called Pratishthaan. He used to go to a whore in spite of being a Brahmin and having a devoted wife. Later he suffred from Leprosy and was thrown out by the whore. Then he came back to his wife who accepted him still. However, he still did not care for the wife, and was thinking about the whore all the time. One day he asked his wife to take him to that whore. In that town, by mistake the sage Mandavya had been spiked instead of the real thief and he was lying on the spike in the forest. While walking through the deep forest in the night, Kaushik happened to hit his leg by mistake to Mandavya sage who cursed him to death before the sunrise. To stop the curse, Kaushik's wife with her powers stopped the Sunrise which created havoc. Then gods went to Brahma who in turn went to Anusuya and asked her to convince Kaushik's wife to allow the sunrise. She convinced Kaushik's wife and brought back Kaushik to life after the sunrise. Gods were very happy with Anusuya and she had the trio born to her.
• Rahu had masked the Sun and whole Earth was in the dark. Then Atri got the Sun out of Rahu's hands and lighted the Earth. The gods were happy and then Shiva and Vishnu were born as Durvas and Dattatreya to Atri-Anusuya.
• Sage Narad praised Anusuya very much making the wives of Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva jealous of Anusuya. They requested their husbands to go and break her "pativrata" vrata (being loyal to husband all the time). They went to Anusuya as guests when Atri was not there at home and asked her to serve them food (lunch) without wearing clothes. She agreed and remebering her husband put the water on their converting them to 3 babies. Here the 3 goddesses were waiting for their husbands to come back and eventually arrived at the scene to find that their husbands have been converted to babies. They repented and by the request of Anusuya the three Gods decided to be born as her 3 sons.
• 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 Mysore, through the 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. 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.

The Markandeya Purana reports that Dattatreya, to free himself of all attachments, dove into a lake where he stayed for many years. By doing so, he also hoped to evade an assembly of Munis who remained on the banks of the lake awaiting his return. Datta emerged from the water naked in the company of a beautiful woman. The text relates that he made love with her (maithuna), drank liquor, and enjoyed singing and music. In spite of this, the Munis did not abandon him, and Dattatraya, accompanied by his shakti, continued to engage in these practices and was meditated on by those longing for moksha.

[edit] His gurus

According to Brahma Purana, after order from his father sage Atri, Dattatreya sat on the banks of river Gautami and prayed to Shiva and finally earned the Brahmadnyaan (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 Pralhad. 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 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]

This deity has slowly evolved over the years in India and depicts one of the finest creations of the Indian civilization and Indian thought. In the beginning, the Mohenjodaro culture or Indus civilization the Shiva deity was the main deity which was the deity of all the animals. Thus the name Pashupati for Shiva.

Later over the years the concept of gods also developed and slowly the modern forms started emerging. The Dattatreya deity has its roots in this evolution process. Initially the Dattatreya deity was supposed to be having only one head, instead of three as shown now. However, sometime between now and 1000 years back, this change took place and three heads emerged. Very old statues of Shri Dattatreya do not have 3 heads, they have only one. These are called Eka-mukhi Datta and one with 3 heads is called Tri-mukhi Datta.

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 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 worshipped 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 Manik Prabhu and Shri Krishna Saraswati are also considered as avatars of Dattatreya.^[5]

[edit] Dattatreya literature

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. Dnyaneshwari is one of the first comprehensive book 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 as per the lunar calendar) in 1860CE at Baroda. The book has 61 Adhyaya (sections) and total stanzas are 14,236. The first 35 Sections have the 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, Eknath and Nimbaraj.^{[citations needed]}

[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 (samadhi 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 is written by Shri [Vasudevananda Saraswati]] alias Shri Tembe Swami. He had also written in Sanskrit a book by name Dattapurana. The Marathi Datta-Mahatmya book has 51 chapters and total of 5513 stanzas. This book also has the form of disciple-teacher conversation, where the disciple is Deepak and his Guru is explaining him the importance (Mahatmya) of Dattatreya. The book has full coverage of Dattatreya's disciples and devotees and their stories. It also mentions the 24 gurus of Dattatreya and Dattatreya's philosophy. The book also describes several vratas (specific strict rituals) to be followed. This is also book 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 1918CE. Book has 54 chapters and more than 6000 stanzas. The book describes the life story of the Pant-maharaj and also describes his life philosophy.^{[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 intial standard order of chapters described above.^{[citations needed]}

[edit] Mahanubhava Dattatreya books

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 considerd to be dated, as he is the first book writer in the literature history of Marathi language), founded Mahanubhava path 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 Krishnas they consider, the first one is Shri Dattatreya, followed by Shri Chakrapani, Shri Govindaprabhu and Shri Chakradhar. This Dattatreya of Mahanubhavas is single headed and not triple headed. 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 notabe here is that this story is different than the one consisting of Brahma-Vishnu-Mahesha story.^{[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 Gujarathi, Marathi, Kannada and Telugu languages.^[6]

[edit] Puranic tradition

The ancients disciples of Dattatreya are alredy 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 Parashuram 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 Vasudevanda 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 et al. His tradition seems to have gone beyond Surat, Baroda, Girnar and north of Jhansi. The most famous disciple of Niranjan Raghunath is Narayan Maharaj Jalwankar. The philosophy of this tradition is mainly Bhagawat Dharma (religion), Sampradaya (sect) is Dattatreya 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 Gujarath

Girnar is a famous place in the Datta-sampradaya and is situated in Saurashtra, Gujarath. 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 Gujarath were Pandurang Maharaj of Naareshwar and Shrirang Avadhut. Gujarathi 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 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 adjascent 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 norhtern 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 Jaichamarajendra Vadiyar Bahadur 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 (Former head of the Telugu language department in Madras University), 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. :^[14]

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

• Sadanandayogi
  • Challasuraya
  • Ishwar Panibhatt
• Dhenukonda Timayya
  • Mallan
  • 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 Gujarathi
13. ^ Joshi, Dr. P. N. (2000) Shri Dattatreya Dnyankosh. Pune: Shri Dattatreya Dnyankosh Prakashan.
14. ^ 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 Oct. 14, 2004.
• Mahendranath, Shri Gurudev. The Pathless Path to Immortality. Retrieved Oct. 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.

[edit] External links

• Article on Lord Dattatreya from Avadhoota Datta peetham
• Information on Shri Dattatreya - Datta Guru
• Sree Guru Charitra in English
• History of Dattatreya