What is Dattatreya Jayanthi?

Dattatreya Jayanthi is the birth day of the Hindu God Dattatreya also known as Datta. He is also known to be an incarnation of the trinity Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.

When is Dattatreya Jayanthi?

Dattatreya Jayanthi is observed on the full moon day of the Agrahayana month as per the Hindu calendar. It is prevalently celebrated in Maharastra.

Dattatreya Jayanti Dates

2017 – 03 December

2018 – 22 December

2019 – 11 December

2020 – 29 December

Rituals

• Devotees take bath early in the morning in holy rivers or streams, and observe fast.
• Specific flowers like Tuberose and, Jasmine, lamp, incense stick, and sweets are offered during the puja ceremony.
• It is a practice that offerings to Datta are made in multiples of 7 in a pattern of Diamond.
• The icon of the deity is smeared with sandalwood paste, turmeric and vermillion during the pooja.
• Devotees pray to data and promise to follow his footsteps. They also read Avadhuta Gita and Jivanmukta Gita, which contain the god’s discourse. Devotees also read Datta Prabodh (1860) by Kavadi Baba and the Datta Mahatmya by Param Pujya Vasudevananda Saraswati (Tembe Swami Maharaj)
• After the completion of pooja devotees should circumambulate the god 7 times and distribute the Prasad.

Chanting

On Datta Jayanti, the Deity Datta principle is 1000 times more active than on any other day. Hence, one can derive maximum benefit from it by chanting ‘Shree Gurudev Datta’ or ‘Sree guru dattatreyaya namah’for at least 1-2 hours. If possible one can chant up to 4-6 hours. If one is not able to monitor number of hours, one can chant as much as possible throughout the day.

Places where Dattatreya Jayanthi is celebrated.

Datta Jayanti is celebrated with much pomp in the god’s temples. The temples devoted to Dattatreya are situated throughout India, the most important places of his worship are in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat like Ganagapur in Karnataka near Gulbarga, Narasimha Wadi in the Kolhapur district, Pithapuram in Andhra Pradesh near Kakinada, Audumbar in Sangli district and Girnar in Saurashtra.

Some temples like Manik Prabhu Temple, Manik Nagar host an annual 7-day festival in honour of the deity in this period. In this temple, Datta Jayanti is celebrated for 5 days from Ekadasi to Poornima. People from Maharashtra, Karnataka and Telangana come here to have darshan of the deity. The saint Manik Prabhu, who is also regarded as an incarnation of Dattatreya by the people of Datta Sampraday, was born on Datta Jayanti.

Significance of Dattatreya Jayanti
Worshiping Dattatreya

Deity Dattatreya is known to guide people to live a pious life. Worshipping him on this day helps devotees to lead a prosperous and happy life. Devotees believe that they benefit in all aspects of life by performing puja on Dattatreya Jayanti but the main significance of this day is that it protects individuals from ancestral issues.