Origin story
Anasuya, wife of the sage Atri, pleased the Trimurti by her devotion, and they were born to her as the single child Dattatreya. He grew up as a wandering avadhuta, and the tradition says he learned wisdom from twenty-four teachers in nature.
Dattatreya is the unified form of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva and the eternal guru of the Nath and Avadhuta lineages. His three heads are the Trimurti, the four dogs are the Vedas, and the cow is the earth and abundance. His followers seek not ritual purity but the freedom of a mind at rest.
Source: Wikipedia: Dattatreya — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dattatreya
