Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c4.1140

c4.1140

(7) How Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Maheśvara (Śiva) were born as sons of Atri. There is no other woman in the Purāṇas who surpasses Śīlāvatī in her fidelity to her husband. In order to enable Ugraśravas, her husband, to satisfy his passion, she once carried him on her shoulders to a prostitute's house. On the way, Māṇḍavya Muni pronounced a curse that Ugraśravas should die before sunrise. The grief-stricken Śīlāvatī pronounced a counter-curse that the sun should not rise on the next day. As the sun failed to rise, the Trimūrtis (Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva), accompanied by Anasūyā, Atri's wife, went to Śīlāvatī. Anasūyā persuaded Śīlāvatī to withdraw her curse. The Trimūrtis who were happy at the success of their mission (of bringing about the Sunrise) asked Anasūyā to demand any boon she wanted. Anasūyā expressed her wish that the Trimūrtis (Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva) should be born as her sons and they agreed.