Description

Atri, one among the seven sages, an incarnation of Lord Brahma, was the purest among human beings, the most radiant and an upholder of truth. His very name refers to one who does not have the 3 gunas of satwa, rajas and tamas. It was to Sage Atri and the other members of his gothra that the fifth mandal of the Rigveda was revealed. The thought of Sage Atri brings to one's mind his wife, Anasuya. Representing pure 'purusha' and pure 'prakrithi', they formed an ideal couple who lead an ideal family life and lived to serve humanity. Due to her devotion to God, Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara were born as sons to her, being respectively Chandra, Dattatreya and Durvasa. Anasuya persuaded another ideal wife, Sumathi, to revoke her curse in order to save the world. She used the power of her own tapas to restore Sumathi's husband to her. During Rama's vanavaasa, they were an aged couple; yet, they served Rama, Sita and Lakshmana with full of love and devotion. Sage Atri was a disciplinarian, a person with a high degree of restraint, who engaged himself in people's welfare and was proud of his wife's divine powers. He was respected even by the chief of the gods, Devendra. Sage Atri's fame spread from the time of the Vedas to the age of Mahabharatha. It was because of his timely counsel to Drona that the rampage and the bloody carnage on the battlefield was stopped. Thus ,he was instrumental in preventing the destruction of the world and showing the path of salvation to Drona.