Atri

Atri is a sage encountered at his forest retreat during Ráma's journey with Sítá and Lakshmaṇ. His brief appearance is defined by the reception he gives the travelers: he welcomes Ráma with the warmth of a fond father, making the hermitage a place of refuge and human kindness within the forest journey.

Identity and Setting

Atri is identified in the narrative as the sage whose pure retreat the travelers reach while seeking a home. The passage gives no further account of his origins or powers; it establishes him through his role as a resident sage and host.

The Meeting at the Retreat

Ráma arrives with Sítá and Lakshmaṇ at Atri's retreat and pays reverence to him. Atri returns that respect with a welcome likened to a father's reception of his son. The comparison gives the meeting its emotional character: the travelers are not merely admitted to a hermitage but received with familial affection.

Anasuya and the Scene's Significance

The narrative next brings Atri's wife, Anasuya, into the encounter at Ráma's call. Her introduction extends the scene beyond the greeting between the sage and the travelers, while the evidence here chiefly establishes Atri's place as host and husband. In the larger movement through the forest, his welcome offers a moment of shelter and courteous human connection; the text does not describe further actions by Atri in this passage.