Atri (अत्रिः)

Atri (Samskrit : अत्रिः) is one of the Saptarshi rshis and one of the Brahmamanasa putras. Mahabharata mentions another maharshi named Atri as the son of Sukracharya (MB Adi Parva 65 chap verse 27). Atri has been a mantra drashta mentioned in the Rigveda (Mandala 1 Suktas 51, 112, 116 etc). He is also the rshi for the fifth mandala of Rigveda.

Birth and Family

Atri is Brahmamanasaputra. Another reference to Atri maharshi is that he is the son of Shukracharya.

Atri's wife was Anasuya (one free from malice), who was one of the daughters of Devahuti and Kardama Prajapati. When Brahma instructed Atri to further creation by fathering children, he began rigorous austerities and meditation. For a prolonged period, Atri underwent with faith the most drastic penances and meditations. Pleased with his tapas, the Trimurtis - Brahma, Vishnu, and Maheshvara - appeared and roused him. With devotion Atri bowed to them. After mulling over the immensity of their grace, he asked the boon to have the three deities incarnate as his three sons.

The story of Atri and Anasuya bringing forth their sons has variant versions. Silavati, reputed for her chastity, was once carrying her husband Ugrasravas (who though a leper desired to visit the brothel house) to a prostitute's house, and on the way disturbed the penance of Anumandavya muni who cursed Ugrasravas to die before sunrise. With the power of her chastity, Silavati countered it by stopping the sunrise. When chaos prevailed as sun did not rise, devatas and rshis request Anasuya, the chaste wife of Atri maharshi to talk to Silavati. Anasuya prevails upon Silavati to withdraw her words and let the sun rise. Due to this the devatas were pleased and bless Anasuya to choose a boon of her desire. It was then that she prayed that the Trimurtis be born as her sons. Atri and Anasuya are famous as the father of Dattatreya (amsa of Vishnu), Chandra (amsa of Brahma) and Durvasa (amsa of Shiva) according to one version. (Brahmanda Purana Adhyaya 44)

According to another anecdote, once the wives of the Trimurtis (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva), Sarasvati, Lakshmi and Parvati being jealous of the greatness of Anasuya decide to test her devotion to her husband. Towards this end they request their husbands to test Anasuya. The three of them visit the ashrama of Atri, at the time of absence of Atri and request Anasuya to serve food to them with a condition of being divested of clothes. At that instance, Anasuya transforms the trimurtis into babies and feeds them according to their precondition. Seeing them as babies, the wives of Trimurtis accept defeat and request Anasuya to transform them back into their real forms. At that time Anasuya requests the Trimurti's to be her son and they take the form of Dattatreya (with three heads one each of the Trimurtis).

Atri - In Vedas

The earliest reference to Atri is as a Vedic seer, found in the mantras of the Rig Veda, along with Agni, Indra, etc. The fifth mandala (section) of the Rig Veda is ascribed to him. In a mystic meditation on prana, the vital breath, the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, after describing the other six sages, depicts Atri, the seventh, thus: 'The tongue is Atri, for through the tongue food is eaten. Atri is but this name "Atti". He who knows it as such becomes the eater of all, and everything becomes his food’.

the king with the origin of its ritual. He dissuaded Sage Parashara and other sages from performing a sacrifice to annihilate the whole race of demons. He accompanied many other sages who went to Drona to counsel him to stop hostilities between the warring Kauravas and Pandavas. He was also the chief priest at a sacrifice called rajasuya yajna, which was initiated by King Soma. He was one of the sages who witnessed Parashurama's austerities.

The Shiva Purana tells the story of how Maharshi Atri and Anasuya were responsible for getting the holy river Ganga to flow down to earth. Pleased with them, Shiva appeared in the form of a linga, and at their ardent request took his seat there permanently by assuming the name Atrishvara.

Another episode, related by the god Vayu to Arjuna in the Mahabharata, goes thus: During a pitched battle between the gods and the demons, the latter were winning. The demons shot off a shower of arrows, obscuring the sun and the moon. The gods broke ranks and began groping in darkness. Some of them approached Maharshi Atri and begged him to help them. Moved by their pleas, Atri transformed himself into the sun and the moon. The fiery sun scorched the demons, thus rescuing the gods.