The Dashavatara (, ) are the ten primary of Vishnu, a principal Hindus god. Vishnu is said to descend in the form of an avatar to restore cosmic order.
The list of included avatars varies across sects and regions, particularly with respect to the inclusion of Balarama (brother of Krishna) or the Buddha. In traditions that omit Krishna, he often replaces Vishnu as the source of all avatars. Some traditions include a regional deity such as Vithoba
The order of the ancient concept of Dashavataras has also been interpreted to be reflective of modern Darwinian evolution, as a description of the evolution of consciousness.
Etymology
"Dashavatara" or
"" (दशावतार) means "ten avatars" or "ten incarnations":
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"Dash" or "Daśā" (दश) means "ten"
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"Avatara" (अवतार) means "incarnation"
List of Avatars
According to Swami Parmeshwaranand, although the avatars of Vishnu are countless in number and include
, Manus, sons of Manus, and other Devas (
Hindu deities), due to a curse by the
Rishi Bhrigu, most are only partial (i.e. incomplete) incarnations. The Dashavatara is a list of the ten complete (i.e., full) incarnations.
Lists
Various versions of the list of Vishnu's avatars exist, varying by region and tradition. Some lists mention Krishna as the eighth avatar and the
The Buddha as the ninth avatar, while others, such as the Paripāṭal (c. 3rd-4th CE), which is the fifth of the Eight Anthologies (
Ettuthokai) in the Sangam literature, and the
Yatindramatadipika, a 17th-century summary of
Sri Vaishnavism doctrine, list Balarama as the eighth avatar and Krishna as the ninth. The latter version is followed by some Vaishnavas who do not accept the Buddha as an incarnation of Vishnu. One list in the
Mahabharata gives Rama (
Bhargava), Rama (Dasharathi), Satvata (Krishna or Balarama), the Tri-Rama. The Tantric
Prapanchasara (attributed to
Adi Shankara, but disputed,) also omits the Buddha. Though no list can be uncontroversially presented as standard, the "most accepted list found in
Puranas and other texts is ... Krishna, Buddha."
The following table summarises the position of avatars within the Dashavatara in many but not all traditions:
|
| Position | Balarama, Krishna
Smarta tradition, Shaiva Siddhanta, Sri Vaishnavism | Krishna, Buddha
North Indian Bhagavata, Sadh Vaishnavism, ISKCON | Balarama, Buddha
Gaudiya Vaishnavism, ISKCON | Balarama, Jagannatha
Govardhan Math | Krishna, Vithoba
Warkari | Yuga |
| 1 | | Matsya (fish) | Satya Yuga |
| 2 | | Kurma (turtle, tortoise) |
| 3 | | Varaha (boar) |
| 4 | | Narasimha (man-lion) |
| 5 | | Vamana (dwarf-god) | Treta Yuga |
| 6 | | Parashurama (Brahmin warrior) |
| 7 | | Rama |
| 8 | Balarama | Krishna | Balarama | Balarama | Krishna | Dvapara Yuga,
Kali Yuga in case of Buddha |
| 9 | Krishna | Buddha | Buddha | Jagannatha | Vithoba |
| 10 | | Kalki (prophesied 10th avatar who ends the Kali Yuga) | Kali Yuga |
File:KINGS of BAKTRIA. Agathokles. Circa 185-170 BC. AR Drachm (3.22 gm, 12h). Bilingual series. BASILEWS AGAQOKLEOUS with Indian god Balarama-Samkarshana.jpg|alt=Balarama-Samkarshana, holding the gada and plough, and Vasudeva-Krishna,holding the sankha (a conch) and chakra, the half-brother avatars of Vishnu, are the earliest representations of avatars. Mint of the non-Hindu coinage of Agathocles, an Indo-Greek ruler, circa 185-170 BCE|Balarama-Samkarshana, holding the gada and plough, and Vasudeva-Krishna,holding the sankha (a conch) and chakra, the half-brother avatars of Vishnu, are the earliest representations of avatars. Mint of the non-Hindu coinage of Agathocles, an Indo-Greek ruler, circa 185-170 BCE
File:Dashavtar closeup national museum india.JPG|alt=Hindu god Vishnu's ten major avatars (Balarama-Krishna version) Dasavatara shrine, 18th century ivory (National Museum, New Delhi). From top descending: Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Parashurama, Rama, Balarama, Krishna, and Kalki.|Hindu god Vishnu's ten major avatars (Balarama-Krishna version) Dasavatara shrine, 18th century ivory (National Museum, New Delhi). From top descending: Matsya; Kurma; Varaha; Narasimha; Vamana; Parashurama; Rama; Balarama ; Krishna and Kalki.
File:Dasavatar, 19th century.jpg|Hindu god Vishnu's ten major avatars (Balarama-Buddha version). From left: Matsya; Kurma; Varaha; Narasimha; Vamana; Parashurama; Rama; Balarama; Buddha; and Kalki
In the Puranas
The
Agni Purana,
Padma Purana,
Garuda Purana,
Linga Purana,
Naradiya Purana,
Skanda Purana and
mention the common (Krishna, Buddha) Dashavatara list. The
Garuda Purana has two lists, one longer list with Krishna and Buddha, and a list with Balarama and Buddha, which substitutes Vamana for Rama. The
Shiva Purana has Balarama and Krishna. The list with Krishna and Buddha is also found in the Garuda Purana
Saroddhara, a commentary or 'extracted essence' of the Garuda Purana (i.e. not the
Puranas itself, with which it seems to be confused):
Description of the avatars
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Matsya: The fish avatar. King Vaivasvata Manu finds a little fish in the palm of his hands when performing the tarpana (water-offering). The fish asks Manu if his riches and power was enough to give the fish a nice home. Manu keeps the fish to give it a home, but the fish keeps expanding, which breaks Manu's pride about his wealth. Eventually, he releases it into the ocean, realizing it is Vishnu himself. Vishnu informs Manu of the coming destruction of the world, by means of fires and floods, and directs Manu to collect "all creatures of the world" and keep them safe on a boat built by the gods. When the Flood myth (Pralaya) occurs, Vishnu appears as a great fish with a horn, to which Manu ties the boat, which leads them into safety.
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Kurma: The tortoise/turtle avatar. In the legend of the Samudra Manthana, the devas and were churning the Ocean of Milk in order to obtain amrita, the nectar of immortality. They used the mountain Mount Mandara as the churning shaft, which started to sink. Vishnu took the form of a tortoise to bear the weight of the mountain to allow them to complete their task.
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Varaha: The boar avatar. The gatekeepers of Vaikuntha, the abode of Vishnu, Jaya-Vijaya, are cursed by the Four Kumaras when they stop them from seeing Vishnu. They choose to be reborn three times as as adversaries of Vishnu. In their first birth, they are born as the brothers Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu. Varaha appeared to defeat Hiranyaksha, who had abducted the earth, and by extension the earth goddess, Bhumi, 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.
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Narasimha: The half-man/half-lion avatar. Hiranyakashipu persecuted everyone for their religious beliefs including his son, Prahlada, who was a devotee of Vishnu. The boy was protected by the god and could not be killed, thus being saved by the several attempts of getting harmed.
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Vamana: The dwarf avatar. The grandson of Prahlada, Bali, with devotion and penance was able to defeat Indra, the king of Svarga. This humbled the other deities and extended his authority over the Trailokya. The gods appealed to Vishnu for protection and he descended as a boy Vamana.
[, Wikisource of Griffith's translation ]
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Parashurama: The warrior avatar. He is the son of Jamadagni and Renuka and was granted as a boon, an axe after a penance to Shiva. Once, the king Kartavirya Arjuna and his hunting party halted at the of Jamadagni, the father of Parashurama. The sage was able to feed them all with the aid of the divine cow Kamadhenu. The king demanded the cow, but Jamadagni refused. Enraged, the king took it by force and destroyed the ashrama and left along with the cow. 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 travel across the world twenty-one times and kill every kshatriya king on earth filled five lakes with their blood. Ultimately, his grandfather, the rishi Ricika, appeared before him and made him halt. He is a chiranjivi (immortal), and believed to be alive today in penance at Mahendragiri. He is also credited with creating the coastal belt of Karnataka and Kerala by throwing his mighty axe as per Hindu mythology. The place the axe landed in the sea got its water displaced and the land which emerged thus came to be known as the coast of Karnataka and whole of Kerala. with Lakshmi, his ten avatars above him (annotated), 6th – 8th century Badami, Karnataka]]
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Rama: The King of Ayodhya. He is a commonly worshipped avatar in Hinduism, and is thought of as the ideal man, and the embodiment of Dharma.
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Krishna (sometimes at 9 or "0") or Balarama:
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Krishna was the eighth son of Devaki and Vasudeva and the foster-son of Yashoda and Nanda. A frequently worshipped deity in Hinduism, he is born to slay his tyrannical uncle, Kamsa. He is a major protagonist of the Mahabharata, most notably featured in his role as the charioteer of Arjuna in the Kurukshetra War. He embodies several qualities such as love, duty, compassion, and playfulness. Krishna's birthday is celebrated every year by Hindus on Krishna Janmashtami according to the lunisolar Hindu calendar, which falls in late August or early September of the Gregorian calendar. Krishna is usually depicted with a flute in his hand. Krishna is also a central character in Mahabharata, Bhagavata Purana, and the Bhagavad Gita.
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Balarama, the elder brother of Krishna, is regarded generally as an avatar of Shesha an extension of Ananta, a form of Vishnu. Balarama is included as the eighth avatar of Vishnu in the Sri Vaishnava lists, where Buddha is omitted and Krishna appears as the ninth avatar in this list. He is particularly included in the lists where Krishna is removed.
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Buddha; sometimes Krishna, (sometimes at 8 or "0"), Vithoba,
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Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, is commonly included as an avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism. Buddha is sometimes depicted in Hindu scriptures as a preacher who deludes and leads asuras and heretics away from the path of the Vedas, but another view praises him a compassionate teacher who preached the path of ahimsa (non-violence).
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Krishna; commonly at 8, sometimes at "0"
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In Maharashtra and Goa, Vithoba's image replaces Buddha as the ninth avatar of Vishnu in some temple sculptures and panchanga.
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In certain Odia literary creations from Odisha, Jagannath has been treated as the Ninth avatar, by substituting Buddha.
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Kalki is described as the final incarnation of Vishnu, who appears at the end of each Kali Yuga. He will be atop a white horse and his sword will be drawn, blazing like a comet. He appears when only chaos, evil and persecution prevails, dharma has vanished, and he ends the Kali Yuga to restart Satya Yuga and another cycle of existence.
Historical development
Buddha
The Buddha was included as one of the avatars of Vishnu under
Bhagavatism by the
Gupta period between 330 and 550 CE. The mythologies of the Buddha in the
Theravada tradition and of Vishnu in Hinduism share a number of structural and substantial similarities. For example, states Indologist John Holt, the Theravada cosmogony and cosmology states the Buddha covered 6,800,000 yojanas in three strides, including earth to heaven and then placed his right foot over Yugandhara – a legend that parallels that of the Vamana avatar in Hinduism. Similarly, the Buddha is claimed in the Theravada mythology to have been born when
dharma is in decline, so as to preserve and uphold the
dharma. These similarities may have contributed to the assimilation of the Buddha as an avatar of Vishnu.
The adoption of Buddha as an avatar in Bhagavatism was a catalyzing factor in Buddhism's assimilation into Vaishnavism's mythic hierarchy. By the 8th century CE, the Buddha was included as an avatar of Vishnu in several Puranas. This assimilation is indicative of the Hindu ambivalence toward the Buddha and Buddhism, and there is also a tradition that there were two Buddhas. According to this tradition, the first was the ninth avatar of Vishnu, while the second was the historical Buddha. Conversely, Vishnu has also been assimilated into Sinhalese Buddhist culture, and Mahayana Buddhism is sometimes called Buddha-Bhagavatism.
Krishna
Jayadeva, in his
Pralaya Payodhi Jale from the
Gita Govinda, includes Balarama and Buddha where Krishna is equated with Vishnu and the source of all avatars.
The words from the poem describing ten avataras (translated) are as follows:
As a reviver of Vedas as a fish, bearer of this earth as tortoise, uplifter and supporter of earth as wild boar, slasher of Hiranyakashyapa as lion man, deluder of Bali as dwarf boy, annihilator of Kshatriya s as Parashu Rama, conqueror of Ravana, the legatee of Paulastya, as Rama, wielder of plough as bala raama, fosterer of non violence as Buddha, mangler of fractious races as Kalki, you alone can put on ten semblances, thus oh, Krishna, my reverences are unto you.
In traditions that emphasize the Bhagavata Purana, Krishna is the original Supreme Personality of Godhead, from whom everything else emanates. Gaudiya Vaishnavas worship Krishna as Svayam Bhagavan, or source of the incarnations.[ Iconography of Balarama By N.P. Joshi p.25]["Early Vaishnava worship focuses on three deities who become fused together, namely Vasudeva-Krishna, Krishna-Gopala and Narayana, who in turn all become identified with Vishnu. Put simply, Vasudeva-Krishna and Krishna-Gopala were worshiped by groups generally referred to as Bhagavatas, while Narayana was worshipped by the Pancaratra sect."][ Essential Hinduism S. Rosen, 2006, Greenwood Publishing Group p.124 ]
Thirty-nine avatars are mentioned in the Pañcaratra including the likes of Garuda.
Jyotisha interpretation
The term "
Jyotisha" refers to Hindu or Vedic
astrology, one of the six
or ancillary disciplines linked with the
Vedas. The
Brihat Parasara Hora Sastra mentions the Dashavatara as follows:
Notably, according to the Brihat Parasara Hora Sastra - an important Smriti Shastra or compilation of Indian astrology for prediction (i.e. fortune telling) - although all ten of the Dashavatara have corresponding astrological symbols, only four are considered as divine beings (i.e. Rama, Krishna, Narasimha and Varaha).
Evolutionary interpretation
Some modern interpreters interpret Vishnu's ten main avatars as an ascending order from simple life-forms to more complex life-forms, and see the Dashavataras as a reflection, or a foreshadowing, of the modern theory of evolution. Such an interpretation was first propounded by the Gaudiya Vaishnava saint Bhaktivinoda Thakura in his 1873 book Datta-kaustubha and again in his 1880 book Kṛṣṇa-saṁhita. Theosophist
Helena Blavatsky also reiterated this in her 1877 opus
Isis Unveiled.
Bhaktivinoda Thakura proposed the following ordering of the Dashavataras:
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Matsya - fish (Paleozoic era)
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Kurma - amphibious tortoise (Mesozoic era)
[
]
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Varaha - boar (Cenozoic era)
[
]
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Narasimha - man-lion, the last animal and semi-human avatar (Cenozoic era)
[
]
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Vamana - growing dwarf and first step towards the human form
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Parashurama - an early man who started using primitive weapons like Axe
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Rama - an ideal hero, physically perfect, befriends a speaking vanara deity Hanuman
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Krishna - Vishnu incarnating as a God
[
]
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Gautama Buddha - the founder of Buddhism, an enlightened man
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Kalki - the next step in evolution; yet to happen and the savior, and is like Christian Advent, which Helena Blavatsky believed Christians "undoubtedly copied from the Hindus"
[
]
Blavatsky believed that the avatara-related Hindu texts were an allegorical presentation of Darwinian evolution.
Some Orientalists and reformist Hindus in India picked up this idea to rationalize Hinduism as being consistent with modern science. Keshub Chandra Sen stated in 1882,
Similarly Aurobindo regarded "Avataric Evolutionism" as a "parable of evolution", one which does not endorse evolutionism, but hints at "transformative phases of spiritual progress".
The Dashavatara concept appealed to other scholars. Monier Monier-Williams wrote "Indeed, the Hindus were ... Darwinians centuries before the birth of Darwin, and evolutionists centuries before the doctrine of evolution had been accepted by the Huxleys of our time, and before any word like evolution existed in any language of the world."
Some Vaishnava Hindus reject this "Avataric Evolutionism" concept. For example, Prakashanand states that this apologeticism degrades the divine status of Rama and Krishna, unduly sequences Rama as inferior to Krishna, both to the Buddha. Rama and Krishna are supremely divine, each right and perfect for the circumstances they appeared in, states Prakashanand.
Notes
- Subnotes
Sources
External links
