Puranas --> 10 main incarnations of Lord Vishnu

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Hinduism and the belief in the reincarnation of God

Hindus believe that whenever there is an ascendance of adharma

(injustice and disorder), God reincarnates Himself on earth in an

earthly form to restore balance and reestablish Dharma.

 

The belief is as old as the Vedic religion as is evident from the

numerous references available to us in the Vedas, Puranas, the epics

and also the Bhagavad-Gita (4.7 and 8).

 

The epic Ramayana is based on the life story of Lord Rama who was an

incarnation of Lord Vishnu. In Bhagavatapurana and the Mahabharata

we come across the miraculous life and achievements of Lord Krishna

who was also considered to be an incarnation of Lord Vishnu only.

Most of the Puranas deal with the accounts of creation of the worlds

and a particular incarnation of God.

 

Among the Trinity only Lord Vishnu, being the preserver and upholder

of creation, incarnates, to ensure that righteousness and the world

order are well maintained. But whenever there is a disorder that

starts troubling the worlds, He descends directly into a physical

body and removes it. There is a main difference between an

incarnation and other manifestations of God. In an incarnation He

retains His full potentialities and consciousness while assuming the

mortal birth and maintains a firm hold over the play of the gunas of

Prakriti (Nature). Some times if the need is not that urgent or

acute, He may either manifest Himself partially in a physical body

or may just materialize without any physical body.

 

The Puranas describe ten main incarnations of Lord Vishnu of which

His last incarnation is yet to manifest. The ten incarnations are

briefly described below:

 

Matsyavatara (The incarnation as a fish): The purpose of this

incarnation was to save Manu (the first born) and the seven sages

from a deluge.

 

Kurmavatara (The incarnation as a tortoise): The purpose was to save

mount mandara at the time of churning of the oceans by the demons

and the devas for Amrit, the elixir of life.

 

Varahavatara (The incarnation as a boar): The purpose was to slay a

demon called Hiranyakasipu and save the earth from flood waters into

which it had submerged.

 

Narasimhavatara (The incarnation as part man and part lion): The

purpose was to slay Hiranykasipu who was subjecting his son Prahlada

who was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu to great harassment and to

prove to the world that God would be always willing to help His dear

devotees.

 

Vamanavatara (Incarnation as a dwarf brahmin): The purpose was to

assist and help Indra to retain his lordship over the heavens by

eliminating his rival Bali, the famous demon king from the

competition.

 

Parasurama: The purpose was to destroy some warrior kings

(kshatriyas) who were becoming a menace to the society and restore

the social order.

 

Ramavatara: The purpose was to slay demon king Ravana who had

obtained a boon from Lord Shiva to the effect that no god or demon

or any creature in any of the worlds would be able to kill him. He

forgets to mention the human beings while seeking the boon. Ravana

captures Sita, the wife of Rama, who them proceeds with his brother

Lakshmana and with the help of innumerable forest tribes, releases

the world and his own wife from the clutches of Ravana.

 

Balarama: He was the elder brother of Sri Krishna. The main purpose

of this incarnation was to kill the demon king Dhenuka, the ape

Dvivida and change the course of Yamuna. The plough was his main

weapon which is suggestive of the fact that probably he played a key

role in the introduction of agriculture among the people.

 

Srikrishna: The purpose was to restore order by killing many demon

kings who were troubling the earth and also help the Pandavas of the

Mahabharata fame in their against their own cousins the Kurus headed

by the famous warrior and egoistic king Suyodhana or Duryodhana. His

teachings are now available to us in the form of the Bhagavad-Gita,

which provide inspiration to millions of Hindus even today.

 

Kalki: This incarnation is yet to take place. God would descend upon

the earth on a while horse probably at the end of Kaliyuga to

restore order and destroy evil people whose number would gradually

increase during this phase.

 

Variations: The above ten incarnations are among the most acceptable

list of Vishnu's incarnations. Some variations are also worth

mentioning. According to some accounts the Great Buddha was also an

incarnation of Lord Vishnu, but this idea is not acceptable to many

Buddhists. Others like Hamsa, Satvata, Yagna, Dattatreya, Vedavyasa

are also said to be His incarnations only and are sometimes included

in the list of the first ten. Among his partial manifestations

(amsavataras) the most important are kapila, Hayagriva, Dhanvantari,

Mohini and Naranarayana who are worth mentioning.

 

Incarnations of Brahma and Shiva: We do not hear much about the

incarnations of either Brahma or Shiva. The reason being that among

the three it is only Lord Vishnu who is the preserver and maintainer

of the creation and whose primary responsibility it is to maintain

law and order. Lord Shiva is also credited with many manifestations

in the mortal world, but they are not referred as incarnations in

the strictest sense of the word.

 

Shakti Incarnations: The incarnation of Lord Vishnu is mostly

concurrent with the incarnation of His consort and principal Shakti,

Shri Lakshmi, the goddess of opulence and abundance. Thus for each

of His incarnation we have corresponding incarnation of this

goddess: Padma or Kamala for Vamana, Dharani for Parasurama, Sita as

the consort of Lord Rama, and Rukmini of Sri Krishna. She is also

worshipped as Varahi and Narasimhi in some parts of India.

 

Conclusions from the Incarnation: We can draw many conclusions from

the incarnations of Lord Vishnu. They are briefly stated below:

 

1. God is not a mere mute witness, but an active and dynamic

principle maintaining a firm hold on the process of His creation.

 

2. The evil somehow has the tendency to prevail over good from time

to time and cannot be dealt with on our own without the help and

assistance of God.

 

3. Just as there are incarnations in the external worlds, there can

be incarnations of God within the human consciousness. Sometimes God

may descend into the lower consciousness of a being in His full

intensity to purify him. But this can happen only when there is an

intense aspiration for the divine and a feeling of complete

surrender by the lower self.

 

4. The stories of incarnations help the ordinary mortal to know how

to conduct themselves in their day to day lives. Just as God

incarnates and assumes many forms and roles to help the good and

destroy the unrighteous, man too has to assume many roles in his

family to help his relations and ancestors, and in his society to

help the poor and the needy.

 

5. God is righteous, a wielder of moral law, not a neutral Being

unconcerned with the virtues of the mankind.