Dattatreya Jayanti: All you need to know about the Hindu Festival!

Delhi, Dec 13, 2016: Dattatreya Jayanti which is also known as Datta Jayanti is celebrated every year to mark the birth of the Hindu God Dattatreya. God Dattatreya is a combination of the three majestic entities ie. Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Here are some interesting facts about the Dattatreya Festival:

1. Lord Dattatreya happens to have acquired knowledge from twenty-four masters in his lifetime.The Datta community is said to have originated because of him. Many different temples are dedicated to him across India but are more prominent in Southern India.
2. Dattatreya Festival does not have any fixed date.
3. It usually happens to be celebrated in December on the full moon day. This year, it falls on 13th of December.
4. There are certain important day timings for the festival:

Sunrise 07:03 AM

Sunset 17:38 PM

Purnima Tithi begins 09:16 AM

Purnima Tithi ends 05:35 AM

4. Many temples hold a seven-day festival that is dedicated to God Datta. Temple Manik Prabhu is one of them.

5. Celebrations take place from Ekadashi to Purima wherein many aartis take place. The initiation of the festival is marked by the recitation of the Shri Gurucharitra. The recitation of the Shri Gurucharitra starts a week prior to the festival.

6. There are certain rituals attached to the Dattatreya Jayanti which are religiously followed by the devotees. These rituals include:

• The devotees have to wake up early, take bath in holy water bodies and observe a fast for the day.
• Devotional books like Avadhuta Gita and Jivanmukta Gita are read during the performance of the puja and flowers, incense stick, lamp, and sweets are offered to the God Dattatreya.
• The devotees have to take seven circles around the Lord Datta's idol and then distribute the prasad to everyone in the puja.
• The usual rituals of applying sandalwood paste, vermillion, and turmeric to the idol or photo of the deity is also followed by the devotees.
• Mantras like "Shree guru dattatreyaya namah" or "Om Shri Gurudev Datta"is also an auspicious ritual.

  prepared by Shambhavi Sinha of NewsGram. Twitter: @shambhavispeaks