Atri (अत्रिः)

Atri (Samskrit : अत्रिः) is one of the Saptarshi rshis and one of the Brahmamanasa putras. Puranas mention another maharshi named Atri as the son of Sukracharya (MB Adi Parva 65 chap verse 27). Mention of Atri has been made in the Rigveda (Mandala 1 Suktas 51, 112, 116 etc). The fifth mandala of Rigveda was composed by Atri himself.

Birth and Family

Atri's wife was Anasuya (one free from malice), who was one of the daughters of Devahuti and Sage Kardama. When Brahma instructed Atri to give an impetus to creation by fathering children, he began rigorous austerities and meditation. In the Indian tradition, every undertaking is elevated above the ordinary when preceded by religious fasts, austerities, worship, and meditations. For a prolonged period, Atri underwent with faith the most drastic penances and meditations. Pleased with his absorption, the Trimurti - Brahma, Vishnu, and Maheshvara-appeared and roused him. Opening his eyes, filled with unspeakable love, wonder, and veneration, Atri genuflected before the deities. They insisted that he ask a boon of them. After mulling over the immensity of the gods' grace, he asked to have the three gods incarnate as his three sons. Smiling and saying 'Evamastu'-'So be it'- they faded.

In the Vedas

The earliest reference to him is as a Vedic seer, found in the hymns 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.