| Anasuya | |
|---|---|
 Anasuya explains to the Tridevi that the Trimurti had been turned into infants. This lithograph by Raja Ravi Varma Press depicts one version of the legend in which the Trimurti merge and turn into Anasuya's three-headed son, Dattatreya. | |
| Texts | Ramayana, Puranas |
| Genealogy | |
| Parents | Devahuti (mother) Kardama (father) |
| Spouse | Atri |
| Children | Dattatreya Chandra Durvasa Shubhatreyi (Brahma Purana) |
Anasuya (Sanskrit: अनसूया, romanized: Anasūyā, lit. 'free from envy and malice') is an ascetic, and the wife of Sage Atri in Hinduism. She is the daughter of Devahuti and the Prajapati Kardama in Hindu texts. In the Ramayana, she lives with her husband in a small hermitage on the southern border of the Chitrakuta forest. A pious woman who leads an austere life, she is described as having miraculous powers.[1][2]
Anasuya is the sister of the sage Kapila,[3] who also served as her teacher. She is extolled as Sati Anasuya (Ascetic Anasuya) and Mata Anasuya (Mother Anasuya), the chaste wife of Sage Atri. She becomes the mother of Dattatreya, the sage-avatar of Vishnu, Chandra, a form of Brahma, and Durvasa, the irascible sage avatar of Shiva. When Sita and Rama visit her during their exile, Anasuya is very attentive to them, giving the former an unguent that would maintain her beauty forever.[4]
- ^ "Sati Anasuya". www.speakingtree.in. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
- ^ Williams, George M. (27 March 2008). Handbook of Hindu Mythology. OUP USA. p. 54. ISBN 978-0-19-533261-2.
- ^ Shastri, J. L.; Tagare, Ganesh Vasudeo (1 January 2004). The Bhagavata-Purana Part 1: Ancient Indian Tradition and Mythology Volume 7. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 25. ISBN 978-81-208-3874-1.
- ^ Gopal, Madan (1990). K.S. Gautam (ed.). India through the ages. Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. p. 66.