Datta Jayanti 2026दत्त जयन्ती

When is Datta Jayanti?

Observed on Margashirsha Purnima (at dusk). Dates follow the Panchang for New Delhi and can differ by a day in other places — check the Panchang for your city.

What Datta Jayanti means

Datta Jayanti, on the full moon of Margashirsha, celebrates the birth of Dattatreya, the son of the sage Atri and his wife Anasuya, in whom Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are united. He is shown with three heads and six arms, standing beneath an audumbar (fig) tree with a cow behind him and four dogs at his feet — the cow for the earth and dharma, the dogs for the four Vedas.

Dattatreya is honoured as the adi-guru, the first teacher of yogis, and his tradition of the Avadhuta — the free, wandering sage who learns from all of nature — is described in the Bhagavata Purana, where he tells King Yadu of his twenty-four gurus, from the earth and the sky to the bee, the python and the child.

In Maharashtra and Karnataka his devotion is especially strong through the lineage of Shripad Shri Vallabha and Narasimha Saraswati, whose lives are told in the Shri Guru Charitra, read in the week before Datta Jayanti.

The story of Datta Jayanti

Anasuya, the wife of the sage Atri, was famed for her purity and devotion. To test her, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva came to her hermitage disguised as mendicants and asked her to serve them food without clothing. Anasuya, unshaken, sprinkled water on them and turned them into infants, then served and nursed them as a mother.

When their consorts came searching, Anasuya restored the three gods. Delighted by her virtue, they offered her a boon, and she asked that they be born as her son. So Dattatreya was born — "given" (datta) to Atri (Atreya) — as the united form of the three.

Datta Jayanti puja vidhi, step by step

How Datta Jayanti is kept.

What you need

• An image of Dattatreya
• Flowers, tulsi and audumbar leaves, sandal, a ghee diya, incense
• Sunthavda (dry ginger with sugar), milk and fruit
• The Shri Guru Charitra, for reading

When to do the puja

In 2026 Datta Jayanti falls on Wednesday, 23 December; in 2027, on Monday, 13 December (Margashirsha Purnima). The puja is done at dusk (pradosh), the hour of Datta's birth; check the Panchang for your city. See the Panchang for your city.

Steps

1. Guru Charitra. Read the Shri Guru Charitra over the seven days before, finishing on Datta Jayanti, if your family keeps the parayana.
2. Fast. Fast through the day, as health allows.
3. Dusk puja. At dusk, worship Dattatreya with flowers, tulsi and audumbar leaves, and offer sunthavda and milk.
4. Palna. Rock a cradle with Datta's image and sing his birth songs.
5. Feed. Feed the poor, cows and dogs.

Offerings & food: Sunthavda (dry ginger and sugar), milk, fruits, and offerings of the audumbar (fig) tree, sacred to Datta

Mantras for Datta Jayanti

Datta Jayanti across India

Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat (Girnar), Andhra and Goa; Ganagapur, Narsobawadi, Audumbar and Pithapuram

Maharashtra

Narsobawadi and Audumbar on the Krishna river hold grand celebrations; homes read the Guru Charitra for seven days.

Karnataka

Ganagapur, where Narasimha Saraswati lived, draws lakhs of pilgrims.

Gujarat

Pilgrims climb to the Datta peak on Mount Girnar.

Andhra Pradesh

Pithapuram, birthplace of Shripad Shri Vallabha, celebrates with special worship.

Prayers to recite

Do’s and don’ts

Frequently asked questions