10th avatar of vishnu , Dashavatar
Lord Shrihari Vishnu incarnated in every age to protect the religion.
Although there have been many incarnations of Lord Vishnu, but there are 10
avatars among them, who predominantly find the place. Here are presented for
readers 10 mythological and authentic stories of 10 incarnations of Lord
Shrihari Vishnu i.e. Dashavatar.
List 10th avatar of vishnu :
- Matsya
- Kurma
- Varaha
- Narasimha
- Vamana
- Parashurama
- Rama
- Krishna
- Buddha
- Kalki
1. Matsyavatar
According to the Puranas, Lord Vishnu had taken a matsyavatar to save the
world from the Holocaust. Its story goes like this - King Satyavrata was
born in the beginning of the era. King Satyavrat was bathing in the river
one day and giving Jalanjali. Suddenly a small fish came to his Anjali. When
he saw it, I thought I would put it back in the ocean, but that fish said -
Do not put me in the ocean, otherwise big fish will eat me. Then King
Satyavrat kept the fish in his kamandal. When the fish became bigger, the
king kept it in his lake, then on seeing it, the fish became bigger.
The king understood that this is not an ordinary creature. The king pleaded
with the fish to come in real form. Hearing the king's prayer, Lord Vishnu
appeared, and he said that this is my mermaid. God told Satyavrat - listen
King Satyavrat! There will be a catastrophe seven days from today. Then a
huge boat will come to you with my inspiration. Take the subtle body of
sapta sages, medicines, seeds and creatures and sit in it, when your boat
starts to waver, then I will come to you in the form of a fish. At that time
you tie that boat with my horn by Vasuki Nag. At that time, I will answer
you by asking questions, so that my glory which is known by the name of
Parabrahma will be revealed in your heart. Then, when the time came, the
fishery god Vishnu preached philosophy to King Satyavrat, who is famous by
the name Matsyapuran.
2. Kurma avatar(turtle)
|
| Kurma avatar(turtle) |
According to religious texts, Lord Vishnu had helped in churning the sea
by taking the avatar of Kurma (turtle). The Kurma avatar of Lord Vishnu is
also called the Kachhap avatar. The story goes like this: Once Maharishi
Durvasa cursed Indra, the king of the gods, to dehumanize him. When Indra
went to Lord Vishnu, he asked him to churn the ocean. Then Indra agreed to
churn the ocean together with the demons and gods, as told by Lord
Vishnu.
To churn the sea, the Mandarachal mountain was made a churner and Nagraj
Vasuki was netted. The gods and the demons, forgetting their differences,
uprooted Mandarachal and took him towards the sea, but they could not take
him far. Then Lord Vishnu placed Mandarachal on the beach. The gods and
demons made Mandarachal into the sea and made Nagaraja Vasuki a leader.
But due to no base below Mandarachal, he started drowning in the sea.
Seeing this, Lord Vishnu took the form of a giant kurma (turtle) and
became the basis of Mandarachal in the sea. Mandarachal started moving
fast on the huge back of Lord Kurma and thus the sea churning was
completed.
3. Varaha Avatar
According to religious texts, the second incarnation was taken by Lord
Vishnu in the form of Varaha. The story related to the Varaha incarnation
is as follows - In ancient times when Lord Hiranyaksha took the earth and
hid it in the sea, then Lord Vishnu appeared in the form of Varaha from
the nose of Brahma. Seeing this form of Lord Vishnu, all the gods and
sages praised him. On the insistence of everyone, Lord Varaha started
searching for the earth. With the help of his snout, he found the earth
and by going inside the sea and placing it on his teeth, he brought the
earth out.
When Hiranyaksha demon saw this, he challenged the Varaha form of Lord
Vishnu to battle. A fierce battle ensued in both. In the end, Lord Varaha
killed Hiranyaksha. After this, Lord Varaha pillaged the water with his
hooves and set the earth on it.
4. Narasimha avatar
|
| Narasimha avatar |
Lord Vishnu had killed Narasimha incarnation, Hiranyakashipu, the king of the demons. The story of
this incarnation is as follows- According to religious texts,
Hiranyakashipu, the king of the demons, considered himself stronger than
God. He had the blessing of dying from man, god, bird, animal, neither in
day, nor at night, nor on earth, nor in the sky, nor by weapon, nor by
weapon. Whoever worshiped Lord Vishnu during his reign was punished. His
son's name was Prahlad. Prahlada was an ardent devotee of Lord Vishnu since
childhood. When Hiranyakashipu came to know about this, he was very angry
and tried to convince Prahlada, but even when Prahlada did not believe
Hiranyakashipu gave him the death penalty.
Every time he survived the miracle of Lord Vishnu. Hiranyakashipu's sister
Holika, who had the boon of not burning with fire, sat in a blazing fire
with Prahlada. Even then by the grace of Lord Vishnu Prahlad survived and
Holika was burnt. When Hiranyakashipu was about to kill Prahlad himself,
Lord Vishnu appeared from the pillar with the incarnation of Narasimha and
killed Hiranyakashipu with his fingernails.
5. vaman avatar
|
| vaman avatar |
In Satyayuga, Prahlada's grandson Daityaraj Bali took control of heaven.
All the gods went to Lord Vishnu to avoid this calamity. Then Lord Vishnu
said that I myself will be born from the womb of Devmata Aditi and will
give you the kingdom of heaven. After some time Lord Vishnu incarnated
Vamana.
Once when Bali was performing a great yajna, Lord Vaman went to the
sacrificial fire and asked for three feet of land from King Bali. King
Bali's guru Shukracharya understood the lila of God and refused to donate
to Bali. But Bali still pledged to donate three feet of land to Lord
Vamana. Lord Vamana took a huge form and measured the earth in one step
and the heaven in the second step. When there was no place left to keep
the third step, Bali asked Lord Vamana to keep the step on his head. He
reached Suthalok by placing a foot on Bali's head. Seeing the greatness of
the sacrifice, God also made him the lord of Suthaloka. In this way Lord
Vamana helped the gods and returned them to heaven.
6. Parashuram Avatar
|
| parshuram avatar |
According to Hindu religious texts, Parashurama was one of the major
incarnations of Lord Vishnu. There are two stories in relation to the
birth of Lord Parashurama. According to Harivanshpuran, one of those
stories is as follows:
In ancient times, the city of Mahishmati was ruled by the powerful
Haiyavanshi Kshatriya Kartavirya Arjuna (Sahastrabahu). He was very
arrogant and also tyrannical. Once, Agnidev urges him to have food. Then
Sahastrabahu came in arrogance and said that you can get food from
wherever you want, I rule all around. Then Agnidev started burning the
forests. In a forest, the sage Aapava was doing penance. Agni also burnt
his ashram. Enraged by this, the sage cursed Sahastrabahu that Lord Vishnu
would be born as Parashurama and destroy not only Sahastrabahu but all the
Kshatriyas. Thus Lord Vishnu was born as the fifth son of Maharishi
Jamadagri in the Bhargava clan.
7. Ram Avatar
|
|
| Ram Avatar |
The demon king Ravana had great terror in Tretayuga. Gods were also
afraid of him. For his slaughter, Lord Vishnu took birth as a son from the
womb of Mother Kaushalya at King Dasharatha. In this incarnation, Lord
Vishnu killed many demons and lived his life by following Maryada.
Went to exile at the behest of his father. While enjoying the exile,
Raksharaj Raja took away his wife Sita. In search of Sita, Lord reached
Lanka, where there was a fierce battle between Lord Rama and Ravana in
which Ravana was killed. Thus Lord Vishnu took the Rama avatar and freed
the Gods from fear.
8. Shrikrishna
|
| Shrikrishna avatar |
In Dwaparyug, Lord Vishnu took the Shrikrishna incarnation and destroyed
the unrighteous. Lord Krishna was born in a prison. His father's name was
Vasudev and mother's name was Devaki. Lord Krishna performed many miracles
in this incarnation and annihilated the wicked.
Lord Krishna also killed Kansa. In the war of Mahabharata, became the
charioteer of Arjuna and gave the knowledge of Gita to the world.
Dharmaraja established Dharma by making Yudhishthira king. This
incarnation of Lord Vishnu is considered to be the best of all
incarnations.
9. Buddha Avatar
|
| Buddha Avatar |
According to religious texts, Gautama Buddha, the originator of Buddhism,
was also an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, but Lord Buddha, described in the
Puranas, is said to have been born in Kikat near Gaya and his father's
name is said to be Ajna. This passage is of the Buddhavatar mentioned in
the Puranas.
At one time the power of the demons increased greatly. The gods also
started running away from their fear. With the wish of the kingdom, the
demons asked Devraj Indra that our empire should remain stable, what is
the solution for this. Then Indra told with a pure sense that Yajna and
Vedic conduct is necessary for stable governance. Then the demons started
performing Vedic conduct and Mahayagya, which further increased their
power. Then all the gods went to Lord Vishnu. Then Lord Vishnu took the
form of Buddha for the benefit of the gods. They had a margin in their
hands and they used to walk along the path.
Thus Lord Buddha approached the demons and preached to them that
sacrificing yagna is a sin. Yajna causes life violence. Many beings are
consumed by the fire of sacrifice. The demons were impressed by the
teachings of Lord Buddha. He stopped performing Yajna and Vedic conduct.
This reduced his power and the gods attacked him and regained his
kingdom.
10. Kalki Avatar
|
| kalki avatar |
According to religious texts, Lord Vishnu will incarnate in Kalki form in
Kali Yuga. Kalki avatar will be in the jurisdiction of Kali Yuga and
Satyuga. This avatar will consist of 64 arts. According to the Puranas, Lord
Kalki will be born as a son of an ascetic Brahmin named Vishnusisha at a
place called Shambhal in Moradabad district of Uttar Pradesh. Riding on a
horse named Kalki Devadatta will destroy the sinners from the world and
re-establish the religion, only then will the Satyuga begin.