Anasuya and the Three Gods
Three gods arrived as guests and set a condition that would break any householder. Anasuya neither refused nor submitted — she found a third way.
Anasuya, wife of the sage Atri, was spoken of across the three worlds for her purity and her hospitality. It was said no guest ever left her ashram unfed.
Hearing this praise, Lakshmi, Parvati and Saraswati grew curious — was it really so? Each asked her husband to go and test it.
Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva came to the ashram disguised as mendicants. Atri was away.
Anasuya bowed and laid out seats for a meal. Then the three set their condition: "We will accept alms only if you serve us unclothed."
On one side stood the guest who must not be turned away; on the other, her own dignity. Anasuya was silent for a moment. Then she said, "As you wish."
She took water from her pot, called on the truth of her own life, and sprinkled it over them — "If my devotion is true, let these three become my infants."
In an instant the three gods were babies six months old, lying in a cradle and crying. Anasuya picked them up, fed them, sang to them and put them to sleep — unclothed, exactly as a mother tends her child.
Days passed. The three goddesses came searching for their husbands, found them in the cradle, and understood. They asked her forgiveness.
Anasuya restored the three to their own forms. Pleased with her, they gave a boon — and from their combined essence Dattatreya was born to her, the sage in whom all three are present at once.
The spirit of it: Anasuya neither insulted her guests nor surrendered her dignity. When only two paths are visible and both are wrong, intelligence looks for the third.
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