Dattatreya Jayanti 2026
23 December 2026

Dattatreya Jayanti, or Datta Jayanti, is kept on Margashirsha Purnima as the birth of Lord Dattatreya, son of the sage Atri and his wife Anasuya. The Markandeya Purana and the Bhagavata Purana both tell of him, and he is worshipped as Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva in one. His birth is celebrated at pradosh, in the evening, when the Purnima holds, with a cradle and bhajans in Datta temples.

Dattatreya is honoured above all as the Guru: the Datta tradition of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana sees him as the teacher of teachers. He is shown with three heads and six arms, under an audumbar (cluster fig) tree, with a cow behind him and four dogs at his feet, which tradition reads as the earth and the four Vedas. Many devotees complete a reading of the Guru Charitra by this day.

• Image or picture of Dattatreya, and padukas if you keep them
• Clean saffron or yellow cloth
• Gandh (sandal paste), haldi-kumkum and akshat
• Flowers and a garland
• Ghee diya, incense and camphor
• A small cradle (palna) for the birth celebration
• Dry ginger powder and sugar for sunthavada
• Fruit and sweets for the bhog
• Guru Charitra or a book of Datta stotras
• Roti or food for a cow or dog

Source: Markandeya Purana and Bhagavata Purana tell of his birth to Atri and Anasuya; the story of the three gods coming as guests is popular tradition

The Bhagavata Purana tells that the sage Atri performed long tapas, praying for a son like the Lord of the universe. Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva appeared before him together, and as their blessing sons were born to Atri and Anasuya from a portion of each: Soma from Brahma, Datta from Vishnu and Durvasa from Shiva.

Popular tradition tells it another way. Anasuya was so renowned for her devotion to her husband that Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva came to her hermitage as mendicants to test her, asking for alms on a condition that seemed impossible to meet. By the power of her devotion she turned the three into infants, fed them and rocked them in a cradle.

When Saraswati, Lakshmi and Parvati came looking for their husbands, Anasuya gave the three back in their own forms. Pleased, the gods offered her a boon, and she asked that they be born as her son. So Dattatreya was born, the three in one.

The Bhagavata Purana, in Book 11, also tells of an avadhuta who explained to King Yadu that he had learned from twenty-four gurus, among them the earth, the honeybee and the spider. Tradition identifies this avadhuta as Dattatreya.

What to do

• Celebrate the birth in the evening, at pradosh, since the Jayanti is the Purnima of that hour.
• Read even one chapter of the Guru Charitra or a Datta stotra, as the day honours the Guru and his teaching.
• Feed a cow or a dog as a small act of seva, since both stand beside Dattatreya in his image.
• If you can, visit a Datta kshetra such as Ganagapur, Narsobawadi, Audumbar, Girnar or Pithapuram, places held sacred in the Datta tradition.

What to avoid

• Avoid sending away unfed someone who asks for food; the Datta tradition holds that the Guru may come in any form.
• If you are keeping the vrat, avoid meat and alcohol, as the day is kept with restraint.
• Avoid harshness to dogs, which stand at Dattatreya’s feet in his image.

A Purnima has the same month name in the Purnimanta and Amanta calendars, so this is Margashirsha Purnima everywhere. It is Datta Jayanti in Maharashtra and Karnataka and Dattatreya Jayanti elsewhere, kept with large gatherings at Ganagapur in Karnataka, Narsobawadi and Audumbar in Maharashtra, Girnar in Gujarat and Pithapuram in Andhra Pradesh.

Because the birth is kept at pradosh, the Jayanti goes to the day on whose evening the Purnima holds. When the Purnima begins in the afternoon, Datta Jayanti can fall a day before the Purnima snan-daan, which follows sunrise. Evening also comes at different times in different places, so cities can differ by a day.