The 'dashavatara' or the ten avataras or incarnations of Lord Vishnu is a well known part of Hindu mythology. The ten incarnations of Vishnu, in common order, are the Matsya (fish), Kurma (tortoise), Varaha (boar), Narasimha (the man-lion), Vamana (the dwarf), Parashurama, Rama, Krishna, Buddha and Kalki. This order of incarnations seems to be a logical progression along the evolutionary path in a way. The first of the incarnations is of aquatic life, followed by amphibious reptilian life, to mammals, half-men and half-beast to man. Furthermore, in the human incarnations, the first is that of a brahmana, the second is that of a kshatriya born as a brahmana, Parashurama, the third is that of Rama, a kshatriya, while Krishna was a Yadava, a pastoralist non-elite sect. Buddha was a shramana and Kalki is a portent for the future.
The Dashavatara is widely known and portrayed in art, sculpture and drama. The ten avataras or incarnations of Vishnu are worshipped widely, chief among them, Rama and Krishna, as well as Buddha who founded a religion that would spread beyond the traditional Hindu lands.
The Bhagavata Purana, also known as the Srimad Bhagavatam or Bhagavatam is one of the prime texts of the Vaishnavas, probably second only to the Bhagavad Gita. This text provides a slightly different list of avataras, as also a chronology for the incarnations of Vishnu. In the third chapter of the first canto of the Bhagavatam, exists a list of twenty-two incarnations of Vishnu or Narayana. The same list is repeated or portrayed in some of the other chief Puranas as well. The following paragraphs list the incarnations of Vishnu as listed in the Bhagavata.
The first incarnation of Vishnu, is as the mind-born son or sons of Brahma, called the Kumaras. At the beginning of all creation, Brahma is said to be born from the navel of Vishnu. The Kumaras are Brahma's first sons, created by thought, even before he creates the first man, Swayambhuva Manu. Vishnu is thought to have first incarnated as the Kumaras, eternal brahmacharins or bachelors. The creation of the Kumaras is repeated as Brahma's first creation in several texts which contain the genealogy of gods and kings, although they are not always shown as incarnations of Vishnu.
The second incarnation of Vishnu is said to be that of the Yajnavaraha, the might boar that lifts the earth from the depths of the ocean and brings it to the surface, causing it to float, thereby bringing land into existence. In this instance at least , the slaying of Hiranyaksha is not mentioned in the Bhagavata.
Vishnu's third incarnation is said to be Narada, the celestial bard and seer, mischief maker in various mythological tales and a great devotee of Vishnu prone to exclaim "Narayana! Narayana!" in popular imagination. The Puranic and epic Narada is, however a seer who is accorded great respect as another of Brahma's mind-born sons. Narada does play some mischief, albeit not mischievously. He is in many circumstances, the prime mover, coaxing the characters of the mythologies, sometimes to take on the gods, sometime to adhere to dharma, sometimes to look out for themselves. He is also seen at times as the foil to Indra's pride and hubris, causing the king of the gods to be humbled, only to be saved by Vishnu, or rarely Shiva. He is said to be the author of the Narada Bhakti Sutra and the Naradasmriti. One of the eighteen Mahapuranas, the Narada Purana is also attributed to him
In the fourth instance, Vishnu is born as the twins, Nara and Narayana, sons to Dharma, the god of righteousness and his wife, Murti. Nara and Narayana are the legendery founders of the ashrama or hermitage at Badari, and Arjuna and Krishna, the legendary heroes of the Mahabharata are said to be incarnations of these twins.
Kapila, an ancient sage and a proponent and possible founder of the rationalist and school dualist Sankhya school of philosophy is the fifth incarnation of this list. This is partly attested to in the Bhagavad Gita, when Krishna says that among the sages, he is Kapila.
Vishnus's sixth incarnation is Dattatreya, a son of the sage Atri and his wife, the chaste Anusuya, one of the famed matriarchs of puranic lore. Kartavirya Arjuna, the arch enemy of Parashurama, further down the incarnation list, is a devotee of Dattatreya. Dattatreya, in the Bhagavata Purana, is said to have revealed the Vedic philosophy to Alarka, Prahlada and others.
Vishnu's seventh incarnation is that of Yajna, the son of the patriarch, Prajapati Ruchi and Akuti. Yajna becomes Indra, the king of gods in the age of Swayambhuva Manu, the first of the Manvantaras of creation. Hence, at least the first seven incarnations of Vishnu occur in the first Manvantara.
The eighth incarnation is that of Rishaba, the son of Meru Devi and Nabhi, the king of Ayodhya. Rishaba is also famous today as the first of the Jain Thirthankaras, a line of monks and sages culminating in the twenty-fourth Thirthankara and the founder of Jainism, Vardhamana Mahavira. Rishaba is well known in the Puranic and Vedic texts.
The ninth incarnation of Vishnu is Prithu, another king who occurs in almost all accounts of the genealogy of the great houses. Prithu is associated with the origins of agriculture and pastoralism, said to have 'cleared the forests and milked the earth' giving it the name Prithvi.
Matsya, the first incarnation of the Dashavatara, is the tenth incarnation. This is at the beginning of the present Manvantara, when Vishnu in the form of a fish appears to Vaivaswata Manu before the great deluge. He also retrieves the Vedas from the horse faced Hayagriva.
The eleventh is Kurma or Kamatha, the tortoise who supports the Mandara mountain on his back during the churning of the ocean by the Devas and the Asuras. On a side note here, in the Mahabharata, this Kurma is portrayed not as Vishnu himself, but as a king of the tortoises.
The twelfth and thirteenth incarnations occur directly as a result of the eleventh. They are Dhanvantari, the medicine man of the gods and Maya, the celestial damsel who arrives to seduce the Asuras and lure them into handing over the nectar of immortality. Both Dhanvantari and Maya are born from the churning of the ocean, as is Vishnu's consort, Lakshmi.
The fourteenth incarnation is Narasimha, the man-lion and slayer of Hiranyakashipu. Adored by Prahlada, he comes out of a pillar and solves the seemingly impossible riddle of Hiranyakashipu's mortality.
Vamana, the dwarf is the fifteenth incarnation. He tricks Bali, the Asura conqueror of the the worlds into giving them back to him.
The sixteenth is Parashurama, annihilator of the twenty one Kshatriya clans, born a Brahmana and an expert at arms, nephew to the sage, Vishwamitra.
Then comes the bard and seer, the author of the Mahabharata and several other texts, Krishna Dwaipayana, the Vyasa himself. The divinity of Vyasa is also attested to in several places, most commonly used among them is the hymn, 'vyasaya Vishnu rupaya vyasa rupaya Vishnave'.
The eighteenth incarnation is that of Rama, the prince.of Ayodhya who crossed the ocean to slay ten headed Ravana to rescue his wife.
The nineteenth form of Vishnu is that of Krishna, the most popular, the most worshipped and the most loved of Vishnu's incarnations. In the list of incarnations in thr Bhagavata he is paired with his half brother, Rama or Balarama as he is popularly known. Balarama, in many texts, is portrayed as an incarnation of Adisesha, the serpent who serves as Vishnu's bed. Krishna is one of the heroes of the Mahabharata who, although he remains unarmed in the Kurukshetra War, reveals the Bhagavad Gita to the world through Arjuna.
The twentieth incarnation is the Shakyamuni Buddha. Buddha is always portrayed as a future incarnation in the Puranas as they are supposed to have been composed much before his time. Although Buddha preached to everyone, in Puranic lore, he is said to preach the Vedas to the non-believers and the foreigners.
The twenty-first and future incarnation will be that of Kalki, he of the white mount, who will arrive to destroy the world at the end of creation.
The Dashavatara, as explained earlier portrays a natural progression of evolution. Although largely, the sequence of the ten avataras in the Bhagavata is similar to that of the Dashavatara, placing Varaha much ahead of Matsya breaks this perception. While ten also seems to be a perfectly rounded number to be the number of incarnations, twenty-one although seemingly arbitrary is not without some association with fortune in Hinduism.
Lastly, a disclaimer. I have used here a recension or version of the Bhagavata Purana called the Eastern Recension or the Anand Adhar version, links below. Some puranic texts have several version, differing from each other to varying degrees. Other versions of the same Purana may have completely omitted this list or given a totally differing list that may even be the traditional Dashavatara.
Sources:
1. http://bhagavata.org/contents.html The Bhagavata Purana in English
2. https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/ The sanskrit transliteration of the Srimad Bhagavatam.
The ninth incarnation of Vishnu is Prithu, another king who occurs in almost all accounts of the genealogy of the great houses. Prithu is associated with the origins of agriculture and pastoralism, said to have 'cleared the forests and milked the earth' giving it the name Prithvi.
Matsya, the first incarnation of the Dashavatara, is the tenth incarnation. This is at the beginning of the present Manvantara, when Vishnu in the form of a fish appears to Vaivaswata Manu before the great deluge. He also retrieves the Vedas from the horse faced Hayagriva.
The eleventh is Kurma or Kamatha, the tortoise who supports the Mandara mountain on his back during the churning of the ocean by the Devas and the Asuras. On a side note here, in the Mahabharata, this Kurma is portrayed not as Vishnu himself, but as a king of the tortoises.
The twelfth and thirteenth incarnations occur directly as a result of the eleventh. They are Dhanvantari, the medicine man of the gods and Maya, the celestial damsel who arrives to seduce the Asuras and lure them into handing over the nectar of immortality. Both Dhanvantari and Maya are born from the churning of the ocean, as is Vishnu's consort, Lakshmi.
The fourteenth incarnation is Narasimha, the man-lion and slayer of Hiranyakashipu. Adored by Prahlada, he comes out of a pillar and solves the seemingly impossible riddle of Hiranyakashipu's mortality.
Vamana, the dwarf is the fifteenth incarnation. He tricks Bali, the Asura conqueror of the the worlds into giving them back to him.
The sixteenth is Parashurama, annihilator of the twenty one Kshatriya clans, born a Brahmana and an expert at arms, nephew to the sage, Vishwamitra.
Then comes the bard and seer, the author of the Mahabharata and several other texts, Krishna Dwaipayana, the Vyasa himself. The divinity of Vyasa is also attested to in several places, most commonly used among them is the hymn, 'vyasaya Vishnu rupaya vyasa rupaya Vishnave'.
The eighteenth incarnation is that of Rama, the prince.of Ayodhya who crossed the ocean to slay ten headed Ravana to rescue his wife.
The nineteenth form of Vishnu is that of Krishna, the most popular, the most worshipped and the most loved of Vishnu's incarnations. In the list of incarnations in thr Bhagavata he is paired with his half brother, Rama or Balarama as he is popularly known. Balarama, in many texts, is portrayed as an incarnation of Adisesha, the serpent who serves as Vishnu's bed. Krishna is one of the heroes of the Mahabharata who, although he remains unarmed in the Kurukshetra War, reveals the Bhagavad Gita to the world through Arjuna.
The twentieth incarnation is the Shakyamuni Buddha. Buddha is always portrayed as a future incarnation in the Puranas as they are supposed to have been composed much before his time. Although Buddha preached to everyone, in Puranic lore, he is said to preach the Vedas to the non-believers and the foreigners.
The twenty-first and future incarnation will be that of Kalki, he of the white mount, who will arrive to destroy the world at the end of creation.
The Dashavatara, as explained earlier portrays a natural progression of evolution. Although largely, the sequence of the ten avataras in the Bhagavata is similar to that of the Dashavatara, placing Varaha much ahead of Matsya breaks this perception. While ten also seems to be a perfectly rounded number to be the number of incarnations, twenty-one although seemingly arbitrary is not without some association with fortune in Hinduism.
Lastly, a disclaimer. I have used here a recension or version of the Bhagavata Purana called the Eastern Recension or the Anand Adhar version, links below. Some puranic texts have several version, differing from each other to varying degrees. Other versions of the same Purana may have completely omitted this list or given a totally differing list that may even be the traditional Dashavatara.
Sources:
1. http://bhagavata.org/contents.html The Bhagavata Purana in English
2. https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/ The sanskrit transliteration of the Srimad Bhagavatam.
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