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Sri Dattatreya Ashtottara Shatanamavali
1. Om Anasooyaasutaaya Namah
2. Om Dattaaya Namah
3. Om Atriputraaya Namah
4. Om Mahaamunaye Namah
5. Om Yogeendraaya Namah
6. Om Punyapurushaaya Namah
7. Om Deveshaaya Namah
8. Om Jagadeeshvaraaya Namah
9. Om Paramaatmane Namah
10. Om Parasmai Brahmane Namah
11. Om Sadaanandaaya Namah
12. Om Jagadgurave Namah
13. Om Nityatriptaaya Namah
14. Om Nirvikaaraaya Namah
15. Om Nirvikalpaaya Namah
16. Om Niranjanaaya Namah
17. Om Gunaatmakaaya Namah
18. Om Gunaateetaaya Namah
19. Om Brahmavishnushivaatmakaaya Namah
20. Om Naanaaroopadharaaya Namah
21. Om Nityaaya Namah
22. Om Shaantaaya Namah
23. Om Daantaaya Namah
24. Om Kripaanidhaye Namah
25. Om Bhaktipriyaaya Namah
26. Om Bhavaharaaya Namah
27. Om Bhagavate Namah
28. Om Bhavanaashanaaya Namah
29. Om Aadidevaaya Namah
30. Om Mahaadevaaya Namah
31. Om Sarveshaaya Namah
32. Om Bhuvaneshvaraaya Namah
33. Om Vedaantavedyaaya Namah
34. Om Varadaaya Namah
35. Om Vishvaroopaaya Namah
36. Om Avyayaaya Namah
37. Om Haraye Namah
38. Om Sachchidaanandaaya Namah
39. Om Sarveshaaya Namah
40. Om Yogeeshaaya Namah
41. Om Bhaktavatsalaaya Namah
42. Om Digambaraaya Namah
43. Om Divyamoortaye Namah
44. Om Divyavibhootivibhooshanaaya Namah
45. Om Anaadisiddhaaya Namah
46. Om Sulabhaaya Namah
47. Om Bhaktavaanchhitadaayakaaya Namah
48. Om Ekasmai Namah
49. Om Anekaaya Namah
50. Om Adviteeyaaya Namah
51. Om Nigamaagamavanditaaya Namah
52. Om Bhuktimuktipradaatre Namah
53. Om Kaartaveeryavarapradaaya Namah
54. Om Shaashvataangaaya Namah
55. Om Vishuddhaatmane Namah
56. Om Vishvaatmane Namah
57. Om Vishvatomukhaaya Namah
58. Om Kripaakaraaya Namah
59. Om Sarveshvaraaya Namah
60. Om Sadaatushtaaya Namah
61. Om Sarvamangaladaayakaaya Namah
62. Om Nishkalankaaya Namah
63. Om Niraabhaasaaya Namah
64. Om Nirvikalpaaya Namah
65. Om Niraashrayaaya Namah
66. Om Purushottamaaya Namah
67. Om Lokanaathaaya Namah
68. Om Puraanapurushaaya Namah
69. Om Anaghaaya Namah
70. Om Apaaramahimne Namah
71. Om Anantaaya Namah
72. Om Aadyantarahitaakritaye Namah
73. Om Samsaaravanadaanaagnaye Namah
74. Om Bhavasaagarataarakaaya Namah
75. Om Shreenivaasaaya Namah
76. Om Vishaalaakshaaya Namah
77. Om Ksheeraabdhishayanaaya Namah
78. Om Achyutaaya Namah
79. Om Sarvapaapakshayakaraaya Namah
80. Om Taapatrayanivaaranaaya Namah
81. Om Lokeshaaya Namah
82. Om Sarvabhooteshaaya Namah
83. Om Vyaapakaaya Namah
84. Om Karunaamayaaya Namah
85. Om Brahmaadivanditapadaaya Namah
86. Om Munivandyaaya Namah
87. Om Stutipriyaaya Namah
88. Om Naamaroopakriyaateetaaya Namah
89. Om Nihsprihaaya Namah
90. Om Nirmalaatmakaaya Namah
91. Om Maayaadheeshaaya Namah
92. Om Mahaatmane Namah
93. Om Mahaadevaaya Namah
94. Om Maheshvaraaya Namah
95. Om Vyaaghracharmaambaradharaaya Namah
96. Om Naagakundalabhooshanaaya Namah
97. Om Sarvasiddipradaayakaaya Namah
98. Om Sarvajnyaaya Namah
99. Om Karunaasindhave Namah
100. Om Sarpahaaraaya Namah
101. Om Sadaashivaaya Namah
102. Om Sahyaadrivaasaaya Namah
103. Om Sarvaatmane Namah
104. Om Bhavabandhavimochanaaya Namah
105. Om Vishvambharaaya Namah
106. Om Vishvanaathaaya Namah
107. Om Jagannaathaaya Namah
108. Om Jagatprabhave Namah
Iti Shree Dattaatreya Ashtottara Shatanaamaavali
Meaning
A hundred and eight names of Dattatreya, opening Om Anasuyasutaya Namah, Om Dattaya Namah, Om Atriputraya Namah. Thursday is his day and Datta Jayanti falls on Margashira Purnima. For Karnataka the centre of this worship is Ganagapur in Kalaburagi district, at the meeting of the Bhima and the Amarja, where the padukas rather than an image are the object of daily service.
Significance
Look at the order of the first three names. Before anything about three heads, six arms or yogic power, the list says whose son he is: Anasuya's son, the one given, Atri's son. Datta means given, and the name carries the story. The Puranas tell it with differing details, but the shape is constant: the three gods came to test Anasuya's steadfastness, she turned them into infants, and the child who came of it was the gift.
He is worshipped as a guru rather than as the granter of any particular boon, and that changes how the namavali is used. People come to Datta with the kind of problem you would take to a teacher rather than to a court. Thursday, guruvara, is his day for that reason. The image itself is read the same way: three faces for the trimurti, the cow behind him understood as the earth, the four dogs at his feet as the four Vedas.
Ganagapur is where this becomes concrete for Kannada devotees. Narasimha Saraswati is held to have stayed there, the nirguna padukas are worshipped in place of a murti, and the practice of madhukari survives, where devotees beg a little food at five houses before eating. A major kshetra that asks its visitors to go begging is worth noticing; it says something about what the sampradaya thinks a guru's devotee is. The Guru Charitra, read in a seven-day saptaha, is the text most households pair with this namavali.
How and when to chant
Thursday morning, after bathing, is the standard slot. Datta Jayanti on Margashira Purnima is the year's main day and is usually kept in the evening. Households that fast do so on Thursdays, and some keep it only through the Margashira month.
For the archane, keep flowers or tulasi to your right and offer one at each name. Where a family has padukas, whether brought from Ganagapur or not, the offering goes at the padukas. An audumbara, the cluster fig, is associated with Datta, and where one grows people will do the pradakshina there rather than indoors.
The Guru Charitra is the other half of the practice for most Datta households. Its fifty-one chapters are read over a seven-day saptaha, often ending on a Thursday, and the ashtottara archane is done at the close of each day's reading. If you are new to this, the simpler route is to do the archane weekly for some months before attempting the saptaha, which is demanding and traditionally observed with rules about food and sleep.
No initiation is needed for a namavali. If you have a guru in a Datta line, follow whatever they told you, since this sampradaya takes such instructions seriously.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the Dattatreya Ashtottara open with Anasuyasuta and Atriputra?
Which names in the Dattatreya Ashtottara Shatanamavali show him as the trimurti?
What does Kartaviryavarapradaya mean in the Dattatreya namavali?
On which days is the Dattatreya Ashtottara Shatanamavali recited?
Are any names repeated in this Dattatreya Ashtottara Shatanamavali?
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