Her mother was Devahuti and her father was sage Kardama, Sage Kapila was her brother and teacher. She is extolled as Sati Anusuya – Anusuya, the chaste wife of sage Atri. She later became the mother of Dattatreya, the sage-avatar of Vishnu and Durvasa, the irascible sage. When Sita and Rama visited her during their exile, Anusuya was very attentive to them, giving Sita an ointment which could maintain her beauty forever.
The story of Anasuya's family is mentioned in Bhagavata Purana Skanda III. Sage Kardama married Devahuti, daughter of Swayambhu Manu. They had ten children, a son named Kapila Maharshi (Lord Vishnu's avatar) and nine daughters including Anasuya. As each daughter was married to a rishi, Anasuya was married to Athri Maharshi.
The Divine Trinity tests Anasuya
Sage Narada praised Anasuya in his hymns and verses, by which Laxmi, Parvati and Saraswati wanted to learn pativratya from Anasuya. They requested their husbands go ask her permission so that they could visit her in human form. The Divine Trinity went to Anasuya disguised as sages and asked permission for their wives in the form of bhiksha, on the condition that she would be naked while serving them.
At first she was perplexed, but ultimately she understood who they were thanks to her yogic powers. She turned them into 6-month-old babies and removed her clothes to feed them with motherly affection. Many days passed as the three goddesses waited for their husbands to return. When the husbands did not return, they traveled to Anasuya's cottage and found them transformed into children. The Goddesses requested Anasuya to bring them back to normal.
According to a popular version, the Holy Trinity was pleased with her chastity and devotion towards her husband, who then granted her a boon. She asked the Holy Trinity to be incarnated as her children, three sons and a daughter named Shubhatreyi. Another version relays a different result in which the gods merged and turned into Anasuya's three-headed son.
A Brahmin named Kaushik from Pratishthan used to visit a prostitute, despite being a Brahmin and having a devoted wife. When he later became infected with leprosy, the prostitute stopped seeing him, forcing him to return to his wife who still cared for him. He still longed for the affection of the prostitute, so one day, he asked his wife to take him to her.
In that town, sage Mandavya had been impaled in lieu of a crime and was lying on a spike in the forest. While being led by his wife through the deep forest at night, Kaushik happened to trip on the sage, who cursed him to death before the next sunrise. To stop the curse, Kaushik's wife stopped the sunrise with the power of her love, creating havoc in the heavens. The gods went to Brahma for help, who in turn went to Anasuya, asking her to convince Kaushik's wife to allow the sunrise.
Anasuya not only convinced Kaushik's wife to allow the sun to rise but also brought Kaushik back to life after the curse had run its course. Brahma was very happy with Anusuya and was then born to her as Chandraatri.
Sometime later, Rahu masked the sun, cloaking the whole world in darkness. With powers granted by many years of austerity, Atri wrested the sun out of Rahu's hands, restoring light to the world and pleasing the gods.
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