ev:\Nv:v:t:araH

Vis'n'u descends in the form of different avataaras when a necessity arises. As it is explained by Kr's'n'a in the Bhagavad-giitaa: "Even though I am unborn and unchangeable, even though I am the supreme God of the living beings, I enter into my own nature by my own power after governing it, (6) for whenever there occurs a reluctance of duty and an elevation of unrighteousness, o descendant of Bharata, then I emit myself. (7) With the aim of protection of virtuous people and of annihilation of evil-doers, and for the sake of restoration of duty I arise in every yuga. (8)" (Bhagavad-giitaa 4:6-8)

The avataaras of Vis'n'u are actually unlimited, but there are some lists of the most important ones. There are especially ten different avataaras that are usually called the das''aavataara, which means the ten descents. Here is a brief description of the ten avataaras: (more detailed descriptions will follow later)

1) Matsya(m:tsy:): The avataara in the shape of a very large fish. When the Vedas were stolen and hidden under water, Vis'n'u descended as Matsya to recover them. First, he descended as a very small fish, and asked Vaivasvata (the first Manu) to put him in a suitable reservoir of water, but he grew so quickly that soon, the ocean was the only suitable reservoir for him. (Similar stories to Matsya also exist in other religious traditions.)

2) Kuurma(kÝm:ü): The avataara in the shape of a turtle. When the devas churned the ocean of milk to get nectar, Vis'n'u descended as Kuurma to support the Mandara mountain, which was used as a churn-drill.

3) Varaaha(v:rah): The avataara in the shape of a pig. When the demonic ruler Hiran'yaaks'a tipped the balance of the earth, so he earth fell into the ocean, Vis'n'u descended as Varaaha to recover the earth. Varaaha first appeared from the nostril of Brahmaa, and Brahmaa then understood that this was the avataara that would rescue the earth. (The story about Hiran'yaaks'a's rule has similarities in today's society. The story of Varaaha should be interesting for modern day environmentalists.)

4) Nr'sim'ha(n:àes:öh) (also known as Narasim'ha): The avataara in the shape of a man-lion. When the demonic ruler Hiran'yakas''ipu (the brother of Hiran'yaaks'a) tortured his son Prahlaada, who was a vais'n'ava, Vis'n'u descended as Nr'sim'ha to kill Hiran'yakas''ipu. Hiran'yakas''ipu thought he was immortal due to the boons that he was granted by Brahmaa, but Vis'n'u found a way to get around those boons.

5) Vaamana(v:am:n:): The avataara in the shape of a dwarf. When Mahaabali had conquered some heavenly planets, Vis'n'u descended as Vaamana to conquer them back and hand the rule over to Indra. He came as a dwarf to Mahaabali's residence, and was granted a boon to receive three steps of land. He then expanded his body to cover the universe in two steps, and put the third step on Mahaabali's head.

6) Paras''u-raama(p:rS:Øram:): When the kings and rulers became very crooked, Vis'n'u descended as Paras''u-raama to kill every crooked ruler all over the world.

7) Raama-candra(ram:c:ndÒ) (also known as Raama): When Raavan'a terrorized the inhabitants of the earth, Vis'n'u descended as Raama-candra to kill Raavan'a. The story about Raama-candra is told in great detail in the lengthy epic Vaalmiiki-raamaayan'a, and also in a smaller epic Adhyaatma-raamaayan'a.

8) Bala-raama(b:l:ram:) (also known as Balabhadra-raama, or Bala-deva): When Dvaapara-yuga was soon to end and Kali-yuga was to start, Vis'n'u descended as Bala-raama to perform various activities, together with Kr's'n'a. The stories about Bala-raama and Kr's'n'a are told in great detail in the epic Mahaabhaarata, and also in many Puraan'as, especially Bhaagavata Puraan'a.

9)^* Kr's'n'a(ká\Na): Kr's'n'a appeared together with Bala-raama and about the same time. Kr's'n'a did, however, perform many activities that Bala-raama did not perform. When Indra was angry with the inhabitants of the Vr'ndaavana village for following Kr's'n'a's advice by not performing their sacrifice to Indra, Indra let it rain heavily on Vr'ndaavana. Then, Kr's'n'a lifted the Govardhana mountain and used it as an umbrella to protect the villagers from the rain. Kr's'n'a also spoke the Bhagavad-giitaa to Arjuna.

10) Kalki(k¡lk): The future avataara. When Kali-yuga ends, the people of the earth will be very degraded. Then, Vis'n'u will descend as Kalki to restore piety and the doctrines of dharma. (The end of Kali-yuga will not happen for a very long time. Thus, anybody who nowadays claims to be Kalki avataara is not the real Kalki.)

Note: Sometimes Buddha appears in the list instead of Kr's'n'a. This is because Kr's'n'a is not only considered an avataara, but the source of all avataaras, and therefore some vais'n'avas consider it improper to list Kr's'n'a among the ten avataaras. The story of the Buddha avataara is that Vis'n'u descended as Buddha to attract atheists to some pious teachings. Some vais'n'avas say that the founder of Buddhism is not the same Buddha as the avataara, but some say that he is the same. Since Vis'n'u's avataaras are unlimited, there might actually have been more than one Buddha avataara, just as there is more than one Raama avataara. Regardless of whether the vais'n'avas accept the founder of Buddhism as an avataara or not, we must be aware that the Buddhists don't accept the Buddha as an avataara of Vis'n'u.

There is a mantra for the avataaras:

m:tsy:H kÝm:<ü v:rahÁ: n:res:öhÁ: v:am:n:H .
ram:< ram:Á: ram:Á: ká\NaH k¡lkj:ün:adün:H /
  matsyah' kuurmo varaahas'' ca narasim'has'' ca vaamanah'
  raamo raamas'' ca raamas'' ca kr's'n'ah' kalkir janaardanah'

Note: the name "Janaardana" in the above mantra is another name of Mahaavis'n'u.