Ten Incarnations of Lord Vishnu

- DASHAVATAR - 

"Whenever Dharma, or the situation of law & order, is endangered on this world, I shall incarnate onto this world to re-establish Dharma, law & order, to protect the good people and to destroy the evil elements of the society – (Lord Vishnu)”

Yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati bharata

Abhyutthanam adharmasya tadaatmanam srjamy aham. (Bhagavad Gita)

When when (yada yada), O Arjuna (bharata), there is (bhavati) a decline (glani) of dharma and the rise (abhyutthanam) of adharma, then (tada) I (aham) manifest (srjam) myself (atmanam).

Whenever adharma rises and dharma is subdued, god takes avatara to restore the balance. In fact, he may even take multiple incarnations to fulfill a single task.

Lord Vishnu is the protector and preserver of the world and restorer of dharma. Dharma means peace and justice - its the order in the universe.

It is believed that Lord Vishnu has incarnated himself many times. But its ten of his avatars which has had the maximum effect on human life and these ten avatars are called - ‘Dasha Avatar’. The ten avatars are:

1.     Matsya – (The Fish) - Life starts in water (600 – 400 million years ago) 

2.      Kurma – (The Tortoise) - The first amphibians emerge (100 million years ago) 

3.     Varaha – (The Boar) - The first mammals evolve (60 million years ago)

4.     Narasimha – (The Man-Lion) - Half man half lion appear (30 million years ago) 

5.     Vamana – (The Dwarf) – Homor, Erectus, upright yet short and weaponless (5 – 2 million years ago) 

6.     Parashuram – (The Warrior) -  Homo Sapiens (300,000 – 100,000 years)

7.     Ram – (The King)

8.     Krishna – (The Cowherd)

9.     Buddha – (The Teacher)

10.                        Kalki – (The Slayer)

 Matsya (The fish, saviour of srishti or creation): Lord Vishnu takes the form of a fish to save Manu from a flood, after which he takes his boat to the new world along with one of every species of plant and animal, gathered in a massive cyclone in the Satya Yuga.

Through this form, Vishnu saved the four Vedas from destruction by flood.

Kurma (The turtle): When the Devas and Asuras were churning the ocean using the mount Mandara in order to get the nectar of immortality, as the churning staff started to sink and Lord Vishnu took the form of a tortoise to bear the weight of the mountain in the Satya Yuga.

Through this form, Vishnu helped the Devas, or pious celestial beings against the Asuras, or devils, when they tried to churn the mythical ocean for nectar that guaranteed eternal life.

Varaha (The boar): Hiranyaksha, a demon who had taken the Earth/ Prithvi, and carried it to the bottom of the cosmic ocean. The battle between Varaha and Hiranyaksha is believed to have lasted for a thousand years, which the former finally won. Varaha carried the Earth out of the ocean between his tusks and restored it to its place in the universe in the Satya Yuga.

Through this form, Vishnu saved the earth by lifting it on his tusks from the bottom of the ocean where it lay submerged during the fight between the Devas and the Asuras.

Narasimha (The half-man/half-lion): The rakshasa Hiranyakashipu was granted a powerful boon from Brahma, not allowing him to be killed by man or animal, inside or out, day or night, or in earth or the stars, with a weapon either living or inanimate. Vishnu descended as an anthropomorphic incarnation, with the body of a man & head and claws of a lion. He then disembowels the rakshasa at the courtyard threshold of his house, at dusk, with his claws, while he lay on his thighs in the Satya Yuga.

In this form, Vishnu saved his devotee Prahlad from his evil father Hiranyakashyapu.

Vamana (The dwarf): In the Treta Yuga, the fourth descendant of Hiranyakashyap, Bali, with devotion and penance was able to defeat Indra, This humbled the other deities and extended his authority over the three worlds. The gods appealed to Vishnu for protection and he descended as the dwarf Vamana. During a yagna of the king, Vamana approached him in the midst of other Brahmins. Bali was happy to see the diminutive holy man, and promised whatever he asked. Vamana asked for three paces of land. Bali agreed, and the dwarf then changed his size to that of a giant. He stepped over heaven in his first stride, the netherworld with the second. Bali realized that Vamana was Vishnu incarnate. In deference, the king offered his head as the third place for Vamana to place his foot. Then in appreciation to Bali and his grandfather Prahlad, Vamana made him ruler of Patala, the netherworld.

Vishnu asked King Bali for a mere three steps of the earth. When he assumed his real form, he covered the whole earth in one step, thus humbling the king.

Parashurama (Rama with the axe): He is the first Brahmin-Kshatriya in Hinduism, or warrior-saint, with duties between a Brahmana and a Kshatriya. Parashurama is son of Jamadagni and Renuka (His mother was from the Kshatriya Suryavanshi family that ruled Ayodhya, of the line of Rama.). He received an axe after a penance to Shiva in the Treta Yuga.

King Kartavirya Arjuna and his army visited the father of Parashurama at his ashram, and the saint was able to feed them with the divine cow Kamadhenu. The king demanded the animal, Jamadagni refused, and the king took it by force and destroyed the ashram. Parashurama then killed the king at his palace and destroyed his army. In revenge, the sons of Kartavirya killed Jamadagni. Parashurama took a vow to kill every Kshatriya on earth twenty-one times over, and filled five lakes with their blood. Ultimately, his grandfather, the great rishi Rucheeka, appeared and made him halt. He is a Chiranjivi, and believed to be alive today in penance at Mahendragiri.

In this avatar, Vishnu annihilated the demons in their battle with the gods.

Rama (Ramachandra - the prince and king of Ajodhya): He is commonly worshiped avatar in Hinduism, as the ideal heroic man. While in exile from his own kingdom with his brother Lakshman and the monkey king Hanuman, his wife Sita was abducted by the demon king of Lanka, Ravana. He travelled to Ashoka Vatika in Lanka, killed the demon king and saved Sita in the Treta Yuga.

Through this form, Vishnu led the victory of good over evil.

Krishna (the eighth son of Devaki & Vasudev): He appeared in the Dwapara Yuga alongside his brother Balarama. He was the central character of the Bhagavad Gita, the most published Hindu principle. He is mentor to Arjuna, delivering him the Gita at the Battle of Kurukshetra. He is often depicted playing the murali and having a mischievous spirit. The appearance of Krishna coincided with the beginning of Kali Yuga. His name means 'dark' or 'attractive' so he was the centre of attractive of Gopa-Nari.

As Krishna, Vishnu became the hero of the battle between warring brothers, the Pandavas and the Kauravas, as related in the epic Mahabharat.

Buddha also known as Gautama Buddha. With the departure of Lord Krishna, the Kali Yuga set in. In this age, the true devotion to Vedas was replaced by empty rituals. To enlighten the world, Lord Vishnu descended the earth as Buddha, the enlightened one. He was born as the crown prince of the Kapilavastu to King Suddhodana and Maya. He was named Siddhartha, meaning "All things fulfilled". But his mother died soon after his birth and was brought up by Prajapati, the sister of Maya. Buddha was saddened by death of living creatures, and vices like poverty. He wasn't happy with any answers that were provided to him and he decided to find out the meaning and the absolute truth and he left his wife and child to a hermit's life in the forest and became the enlightened one. Buddha advocated the Middle Path, in which he offered a balanced, harmonious way of life, steering between two extremes of self-indulgence and total abstinence.

Gautam Buddha, the Enlightened One, who showed the path of righteousness and set the course for a new religion-Buddhism.

Kalki ("Eternity", or "White Horse", or "Destroyer of Filth"), is the final incarnation of Vishnu, foretold to appear at the end of Kali Yuga, our present epoch. He will be atop a white horse and his sword will be drawn, blazing like a comet. He is the harbinger of end time in Hindu eschatology, and will destroy all unrighteousness and evil at the end of Kali Yuga.

Kalki, the tenth incarnation of Vishnu is yet to manifest itself. It is believed that it will be in the form of a horseman who will appear when the world is near its end and save it from extinction.