Historically, Sripad SriVallabh has been regarded as the first incarnation of Lord Dattatrey. The Guru Charitra^[1], written in Marathi is regarded as the first and foremost composition on the traditional doctrine of Lord Dattatrey. This book entails a number of miracles conducted by Sripad SriVallabh and Shree Narasinha Saraswati, the incarnations of Lord Dattatrey.

The miracles of Sripad SriVallabh have been described in the fifth, eighth, ninth and tenth chapters of Gurucharitra. In the Eastern Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh State, there is a town called Pithapuram near Kakinada. Pithapuram is one of the five pitruteerth where performance of a Shraddha^[2] in honour of the manes is considered to be particularly beneficial.

A pious Brahmin^[3] couple, Aparaj and his wife Sumati lived in this village. There was a Shraddha ceremony in their house on an Amavasya day^[4]. Aparaj and Sumati were the devotees of Lord Dattatrey. Unfortunately, none of their offspring’s other than two sons had survived after birth. Even the two sons that survived were unfortunate since one of them was blind and the other was crippled. Hence Sumati was always distressed. On the afternoon of that Shraddha day, Lord Dattatrey came to her house disguised as a mendicant. The food was yet to be served to the Brahmins present in the Shraddha ceremony. However, out of hospitality Sumati fed the guest, Lord Dattatrey to his fullest satisfaction. Lord Dattatrey was highly pleased with her devotion and manifested before her in the form of Trinity^[5].

Lord Dattatrey said, “Mother, I am pleased with your devotion. Tell me your wish and I shall fulfil your wish”. Sumati laid herself on the lotus feet of Lord Dattatrey and washed them with her tears of affection. Then Sumati prayed to Lord Dattatrey “Oh Lord! You have addressed me as a mother and this itself has made me content. My offspring’s do not survive. Only two sons survived, out of which one is blind and the other is crippled. Hence with your Divine grace, please bless me a son endowed with knowledge like you!”

Lord Dattatrey replied, “Your wish shall be fulfilled. A son will be born to you as per your wish; he will uplift your entire family. He will be gifted with the knowledge, but he would not stay with you for too long. Do not stop him from leaving your home”. Granting such a blessing to Sumati, Lord Dattatrey disappeared. The virtuous Sumati told about this entire incident in detail to her husband Aparaj when he arrived at home and asked him “Have I accrued any sin by feeding the guest before feeding the Brahmins? ”. Aparaj was a wise Brahmin. He said, “Sumati, you have done a virtuous action. For the satisfaction of the manes of the deceased ancestors, the ceremony is performed and the offerings are dedicated to Lord Vishnu. Today due to our good fortune, Lord Dattatrey himself came and blessed us by accepting our offerings. Certainly the manes of our deceased ancestors will be very pleased with this”.

In due time, Sumati gave birth to a baby boy on Bhadrapada Shukla Chaturthi^[6] day. His feet carried the holy signs of Vajra (thunderbolt of God Indra), Ankush (an elephant goad), Dhwaj (an ensign) and a Kamal (Lotus). Hence they named him as Sripad. The astrologer, after due calculations predicted that their son Sripad is an incarnation of God who would become a great ascetic and a Jagadguru. With his childish plays and miracles, Sripad pleased his parents. When he was seven, his parents performed his thread ceremony. After staying in the Ashram of a Guru and following the Brahmacharya-ashram^[7] . Sripad very soon read the four Vedas and six Shastras. Then he started speaking to people about the real meaning of the established rule of conduct, behaviour, usage, and atonement for sin and Holy Scriptures. When Sripad became sixteen year old, his parents started thinking about his marriage. That’s when Sripad reminded them, “I am born to be an ascetic, not for marriage. I want to be free from worldly attachments or to enjoy worldly pleasures. I am married to all the 27 yoga’s^[8] in this universe. For the accomplishment of the yoga’s, I would like to travel to the north. ”.

Sumati spoke to Sripad, “My son, you are Datta, the Divine Trinity incarnate and you are born as my son according to your own promise to me. We shall not go against your wish. However, in this old age who will look after us? Who will look after your blind and crippled brothers? ”. Sripad wiped his mother’s tears and then called his brothers near him. He blessed them both with his Divine grace and miraculously they both became perfectly normal. Then Sripad told his mother “Mother, both of these brothers would live for one hundred years and serve both of you throughout your life. Also, Goddess Laxmi will live in this house forever. There would be no place for worries.  Please bless me now and give your kind permission to leave this house and go from here”. Sripad Srivallabh fell at the feet of his parents and took their blessings to leave the house. Then Sripad Srivallabh, the incarnation of Lord Dattatrey disappeared from that house and manifested himself at Kashi-Banaras^[9]. From there, he went to Badrikedar³⁸ and performed deep penance. While returning from Badrikedar, he went to Gokarn Mahabaleshwer^[10], stayed there and performed penance. From Gokarn, he arrived at a small island on Krishna river called Kuruvpur (Kuruvatti). This island was located about sixteen Kilometers away from Raichur in Karnataka State.

Sripad Srivallabh stayed in Kuravpur guised as an ascetic. He was seen with wooden sandals in his feet, wearing just a langoti^[11] around his loins, his body covered with saffron coloured garment, Kamandalu in his hand, a rudraksha^[12] Mala around his neck, forehead marked with holy ash, matted and braided hair on his head. After bathing he would worship Goddess Gayatri. In the afternoon, he would go out to collect alms. Observing his Divinely gracious figure, people all around started respecting him. Sripad, the incarnation of Lord Dattatrey performed a number of miracles during his stay on this island.