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In Hinduism, an avatar (pronounced as Hindustani: [əʋt̪aːr]; pronounced as English: /ˈæv.ə.tɑːr/, from Sanskrit avatāra अवतार in the Devanagari script, meaning "descent") is a deliberate descent of a deity to earth, or a descent of the Supreme Being (i.e., Vishnu for Vaishnavites) and is mostly translated into English as "incarnation," but more accurately as "appearance" or "manifestation".

The term is most often associated with Vishnu, though it has also come to be associated with other deities. Varying lists of avatars of Vishnu appear in Hindu scriptures, including the ten Dashavatara of the Garuda Purana and the twenty-two avatars in the Bhagavata Purana, though the latter adds that the incarnations of Vishnu are innumerable. The avatars of Vishnu are a primary component of Vaishnavism. An early reference to avatar, and to avatar doctrine, is in the Bhagavad Gita.

Shiva and Ganesha are also described as descending in the form of avatars. The various manifestations of Devi, the Divine Mother principal in Hinduism, are also described as avatars or incarnations by some scholars and followers of Shaktism. The avatars of Vishnu carry a greater theological prominence than those of other deities, which some scholars perceive to be imitative of the Vishnu avatar lists.

Etymology and meaning

The Sanskrit noun avatāra is derived from the verbal root tṝ "to cross over", joined with the prefix ava "off , away , down". The word doesn't occur in the Vedas, but is recorded in Pāṇini (3.3.120). Avatāra was initially used to describe different deities, then around the 6th century AD it began to be used primarily to describe the manifestations of Vishnu. While earlier texts mention deities taking on different forms, the Bhagavad Gita (4.5-9) is the first text to discuss the doctrine associated with the term even though the word avatāra itself is not mentioned.

According to some scholars like Parrinder, Oduyoye, Vroom and Sheth, the common translation "incarnation" due to its christological implications is somewhat misleading as the concept of avatar corresponds more closely to the view of Docetism in Christian theology, as different from the idea of God 'in the flesh' in mainstream Christology.

Related to the idea of avatar is that of vibhūti, that is, the idea of manifestations of the divine in various aspects of human life and the natural world.

Avatars of Vishnu

The concept of avatar within Hinduism is most often associated with Vishnu, the preserver or sustainer aspect of God within the Hindu Trinity or Trimurti or the one and only supreme God for followers of Vaishnavism.

Vishnu's avatars typically descend for a very specific purpose. An oft-quoted passage from the Bhagavad Gita describes the typical role of an avatar of Vishnu—to bring dharma, or righteousness, back to the social and cosmic order:

Whenever righteousness wanes and unrighteousness increases I send myself forth.

For the protection of the good and for the destruction of evil,
and for the establishment of righteousness,

I come into being age after age. (Gita:4.7–8)

The descents of Vishnu are also integral to His teaching and tradition, whereas the accounts of other deities are not so strictly dependent on their avatar stories. Although it is usual to speak of Vishnu as the source of the avatars, within the Vaishnavism branch of Hinduism Narayana, Vasudeva, and Krishna are also seen as names denoting divine aspects which descend as avatars.

The Bhagavata Purana describes Vishnu's avatars as innumerable, though there are ten incarnations (Dasavatara, Sanskrit: ten avatars) that are widely seen as his major appearances. Krishna and Rama are the two mostly widely known and worshiped avatars of Vishnu, with their stories told in the two popular epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. Different lists of Vishnu's avatars appear in different texts, including: the dasavatara from the Garuda Purana; lists of twenty-two, twenty-three, and sixteen avatars in the Bhagavata Purana; thirty-nine avatars in the Ahirbudhnya saṃhitā; the dasavatara again in Agni Purana; the first eight of the dasavatara in Padma Purana. The commonly accepted number of ten was fixed well before the 10th century CE. In addition, various Vaishnava saints and founders are considered to be partial avatars.

The various avatars categorized in many different ways. For example: Purusavatara is the first avatara; Gunavataras are represented by the Trimurti (Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva) who each preside over one of the gunas (rajas, sattva, and tamas); Lilavataras are the well-known ones, and include Avesavataras (beings into whom part of God Himself has entered) and saktyamsavesa (into whom only parts of His power enter); Kalpa-, Manvantara-, and Yuga-avataras descend during different cosmic ages. Some Vaishnavism schools consider Krishna to be the source of all avatars (Krishnaism).

Dashavatara

The ten best known avatars of Vishnu are collectively known as the Dasavatara (a dvigucompound meaning "ten avatars"). This list is included in the Garuda Purana (1.86.10"11).

The first four are said to have appeared in the Satya Yuga (the first of the four Yugas or ages in the time cycle described within Hinduism). The next three avatars appeared in the Treta Yuga, the eighth descent in the Dwapara Yuga and the ninth in the Kali Yuga. The tenth, Kalki, is predicted to appear at the end of the Kali Yuga.

1. Matsya, the fish-avatar who saved Manu – the progeniter of mankind from the great deluge and rescued the Vedic scriptures by killing a demon. Story can be found in the Matsya Purana.
2. Kurma, the tortoise-avatar, who helped in the Samudra manthan – the churning of the ocean. Story can be found in the Kurma Purana.
3. Varaha, the boar-avatar, who rescued the earth from the ocean, by killing her kidnapper-demon Hiranyaksha. Story can be found in the Varaha Purana.
4. Narasimha, the half man-half lion avatar, who killed the tyrant demon-king Hiranyakashipu, to rescue the demon's son Prahlada, who was a Vishnu-devotee
5. Vamana, the dwarf-avatar, who subdued the king Maha Bali. Story can be found in the Vamana Purana.
6. Parashurama, sage with the axe who killed the thousand-armed king Kartavirya Arjuna
7. Rama, the king of Ayodhya and the hero of the Hindu epic Ramayana
8. Krishna, the king of Dwarka, a central character in the Bhagavata Purana and the Mahabharata and reciter of Bhagavad Gita. However, in the original Dasavatara stotra, Balarama, the elder brother of Krishna, is stated as the eight incarnation, while Krishna (Lord Kesava) is the source of all the incarnation.
9. Gautama Buddha
10. Kalki ("Eternity", or "time", or "The Destroyer of foulness"), who is expected to appear at the end of Kali Yuga. Story can be found in the Kalki Purana.

In the Bhagavata Purana

As many as forty specific avatars of Vishnu are mentioned in the Bhagavata Purana, though the book adds that the number is innumerable. Twenty-two avatars of Vishnu are listed numerically in the first book:

1. Four Kumaras (Catursana) – the four Sons of god Brahma and exemplified the path of devotion.
2. Varaha the Lord lifted the earth out of the ocean and battled Hiranyaksa.
3. Narada the divine-sage who travels the worlds as a devotee of Vishnu
4. Nara-Narayana – the twin-sages
5. Kapila – a sage and one of the founders of the Samkhya school of philosophy
6. Dattatreya – the combined avatar of the Hindu trinity Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. He was born to the sage Atri became a great seer himself.
7. Yajna – the lord of fire-sacrifice, who took was the Indra – the lord of heaven
8. Rishabha – the father of King Bharata and Bahubali
9. Prithu – the sovereign-king who milked the earth as a cow to get the world's grain and vegetation and also invented agriculture
10. Matsya , he appeared to Manu and saved him from the flood.
11. Kurma , he supported the process of amrit-manthan.
12. Dhanvantari – the father of Ayurveda medicine and a physician to the Devas.
13. Mohini – the enchantress
14. Narasimha, he vanquished Hiranyakasipu to save Prahlada, his devotee.
15. Vamana , he was born to Aditi and brought out the humility in Mahabali.
16. Parashurama , he cleaned the earth of all Kshatriyas three times over.
17. Vyasa 1.3.21] – the compiler of the scriptures – Vedas and writer of the scriptures Puranas and the epic Mahabharata
18. Rama , he vanquished the Rakshasa Ravana.
19. Balarama
20. Krishna , he participated in the Mahabharata and is the protagonist of many stories and parables.
21. Buddha
22. Kalki , he will incarnate at the end of the current Kaliyuga with Parashurama as his guru.

Besides these, another four avatars are described later on in the text as follows:

1. Prshnigarbha – the son of Prshni
2. Hayagriva – the horse-faced avatar
3. Hamsa – the swan, he expounded on the Vedas to Sage Narada.
4. Golden avatra – the avatara in Kali-yuga for propagating hari-namasankirtan.

Avatars of Ganesha

The Linga Purana declares that Ganesha incarnates to destroy demons and to help the gods and pious people. The two upapuranas – Ganesha Purana and Mudgala Purana – detail the avatars of Ganesha. Both these upapuranas are core scriptures of the Ganapatya sect – exclusively dedicated to Ganesha worship.

Four avatars of Ganesha are listed in the Ganesha Purana:Mohotkata, Mayūreśvara, Gajanana and Dhumraketu. Each avatar corresponds to a different yuga, has a different mount and different skin complexion, but all the avatars have a common purpose – to slay demons.

The Mudgala Purana describes eight avatars of Ganesha:

1. Vakratunda (Vakratuṇḍa) ("twisting trunk"), his mount is a lion.
2. Ekadanta ("single tusk"), his mount is a mouse.
3. Mahodara ("big belly"), his mount is a mouse.
4. Gajavaktra (or Gajānana) ("elephant face"), his mount is a mouse.
5. Lambodara ("pendulous belly"), his mount is a mouse.
6. Vikata (Vikaṭa) ("unusual form", "misshapen"), his mount is a peacock.
7. Vighnaraja (Vighnarāja) ("king of obstacles"), his mount is the celestial serpent Śeṣa.
8. Dhumravarna (Dhūmravarṇa) ("grey color") corresponds to Śiva, his mount is a horse.

Avatars of Shiva

Although Puranic scriptures contain occasional references to avatars of Shiva, the idea is not universally accepted in Saivism. As an avatar requires residence in a womb, Shiva as ayonija (not of a womb) cannot manifest himself as an avatar. The Linga Purana speaks of twenty-eight forms of Shiva which are sometimes seen as avatars. In the Shiva Purana there is a distinctly Saivite version of a traditional avatar myth: Shiva brings forth Virabhadra, one of his terrifying forms, in order to calm Narasimha, an avatar of Vishnu. When that fails, Shiva manifests as the human-lion-bird Sharabha. The story concludes with Narasimha becoming a devotee of Shiva after being bound by Sharabha. However, Vaishnava followers including Dvaita scholars, such as Vijayindra Tirtha (1539–95) refute this Shaivite view of Narasimha based on their reading of Sattvika Puranas and Śruti texts.

The monkey-god Hanuman who helped Rama – the Vishnu avatar is considered by some to be the eleventh avatar of Rudra (Shiva). Some regional deities like Khandoba are also believed by some to be avatars of Shiva.

Other stated avatars of Shiva, according to some sources, are 8th century non-dualist Vedanta philosopher (Advaita Vedanta) Adi Shankara. He was named "Shankara" after Lord Shiva and is considered by some to have been an incarnation of the god and Virabhadra who was born when Shiva grabbed a lock of his matted hair and dashed it to the ground. Virabhadra then destroyed Daksha's yajna (fire sacrifice) and severed his head as per Shiva's instructions.

Avatars of Devi

Avatars are also observed in Shaktism, the sect dedicated to the worship of the Goddess (Devi), but they do not have universal acceptance in the sect. The Devi Bhagavata Purana describes the descent of Devi avatars to punish the wicked and defend the righteous—much as the Bhagavata Purana does with the avatars of Vishnu. Like Vishnu, his consort Lakshmi incarnates as Sita and Radha – the consorts of Rama and Krishna avatars. Nilakantha, an 18th century commentator on the Devi Bhagavata Purana – which includes the Devi Gita – says that various avatars of the Goddess includes Shakambhari and even the masculine Krishna and Rama – generally thought to be Vishnu's avatars. Mahalakshmi and Mahasaraswati are also goddesses worshipped as Devi avatars.

Other Vaishnava avatars

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There are many senses and shades of meaning of the term avatar within Hinduism.

Purusha avatars

Purusha avatars are sometimes described as the original avatars of Vishnu or Krishna within the Universe:

• Vasudeva
• Sankarshan
• Pradyumna
• Vamana

Guna avatars

The personalities of the Trimurti (Hindu trinity) are also sometimes referred to as Guna avatars, because of their roles of controlling the three modes (gunas) of nature, even though they have not descended upon an earthly planet in the general sense of the term 'avatar'.

• Vishnu – As controller of the mode of goodness (sattva)
• Brahma – Controller of the mode of passion and desire (rajas)
• Shiva – Controller of the mode of ignorance (tamas)

Manvantara avatars

Manvantara avatars are beings responsible for creating progeny throughout the Universe. There are said to be unlimited numbers of these avatars. ""During the hundred years of Brahmā's life, there are 504,000 manvantara-avatāras." (Śrī Caitanya Caritāmṛta Madhya 20.322)

Shaktyavesa and Avesa avatars

Avataric incarnations are classified as two kinds

• direct (sakshat)
• indirect (avesa)

When Vishnu himself descends, he is called sakshat or shaktyavesa-avatara, a direct incarnation of God. But when he does not incarnate directly, but indirectly empowers some living entity to represent him, that living entity is called an indirect or avesa avatar.

There are said to be a great number of avesa avatars. Examples include Narada Muni, Sugata Buddha, and Parashurama. Parashurama is the only one of the traditional ten avatars that is not a direct descent of Vishnu.

According to the Sri Vaishnavism sect of Hinduism, there are two types of primary or direct avatars, Purna avatars and Amsarupavatars:

1. Purna avatars are those in which Vishnu takes form directly and all the qualities and powers of God are expressed, (e.g. Narasimha, Rama and Krishna).,
2. Amsarupavatars are those in which Vishnu takes form directly but He is manifest in the person only partially. (e.g. avatars from Matsya, Kurma etc.).

The avesa or indirect avatars are generally not worshiped as the Supreme being. Only the direct, primary avatars are worshiped in this way. In practice, the direct avatars that are worshiped today are the Purna avatars of Narasimha, Rama and Krishna. Among most Vaishnava traditions, Krishna is considered to be the highest Purna avatar. However, followers of Chaitanya (including ISKCON), Nimbarka, and Vallabha Acharya differ philosophically from other Vaishnavas, such as Ramanujacharya and Madhvacharya, and consider Krishna to be the ultimate Godhead, not simply an avatar. That said, all Hindus believe that there is no difference between worship of Vishnu and His avatars as it all leads to Him. According to Madhvacharya (chief proponent of Dvaita or school of differential monism), all avatars of Vishnu are alike in potency and every other quality. There is no gradation among them, and perceiving or claiming any differences among avatars is a cause of eternal damnation. See Madhva's commentary on Katha Upanishad.

See also

• Avatars in Mahabharata
• Gautama Buddha in Hinduism
• Incarnation: similar conceptions in other religions
• List of avatar claimants

References

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20. O Keshava! O Lord of the universe! O Lord Hari, who have assumed the form of Balarama, the yielder of the prowl All glories to You! On Your brilliant white body You wear garments the color of a fresh blue rain cloud. These garments are colored like the beautiful dark hue of the River Yamuna, who feels great fear due to the striking of Your plowshare Dasavatara stotra
21. List of Hindu scripture that declares Gautama Buddha as 9th Avatar of Vishnu as follows [Harivamsha (1.41) Vishnu Purana (3.18) Bhagavata Purana (1.3.24, 2.7.37, 11.4.23 name="Bhagavata Purana 1.3.24">Bhagavata Purana 1.3.24
22. Garuda Purana (1.1, 2.30.37, 3.15.26) [Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi 1982.
23. Agni Purana (160.Narada Purana (2.72)Linga Purana (2.71) Padma Purana (3.252) etc. (Dhere Ramchandra Chintaman) [Dhere Ramchandra Chintaman, Shri Vitthal: ek maha samanvaya, Shri Vidya Prakashan, Pune, 1984 (Marathi
24. Bhagavata Purana, Canto 1, Chapter 3 – SB 1.3.24: "Then, in the beginning of Kali-yuga, the Lord will appear as Lord Buddha, the son of Anjana, in the province of Gaya, just for the purpose of deluding those who are envious of the faithful theist." ... SB 1.3.28: "All of the above-mentioned incarnations are either plenary portions or portions of the plenary portions of the Lord "
25. O Keshava! O Lord of the universe! O Lord Hari, who have assumed the form of Buddha! All glories to You! O Buddha of compassionate heart, you decry the slaughtering of poor animals performed according to the rules of Vedic sacrifice.] [http://www.salagram.net/Dasavatara-page.htm#Sri Dasavatara stotra
26. Lecture 1974 by founder of ISKCON – A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada "Because people were addicted so much in violence, in killing the animals, therefore Buddha philosophy was needed"'
27. Vivekananda: May he who is the Brahman of the Hindus, the Ahura Mazda of Zoroastrians, the Buddha of Buddhists, the Jehovah of the Jews, the Father in Heavens of Christians, give strength to you to carry out your noble ideas!] Hinduism, in The World's Parliament of Religions, J. H. Barrows (Ed.), Vol. II, Chicago 1893, p. 978.
28. Radhakrishnan: If a Hindu chants the Vedas on the banks of the Ganges, ... if the Japanese worship the image of Buddha, if the European is convinced of Christ's mediatorship, if the Arab reads the Koran in the mosque ... It is their deepest apprehension of God and God's fullest revelation to them.] Eastern Religions and Western Thought, New York 1969, pp. 326–7.
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35. Bhag-P 1.3 Canto 1, Chapter 3
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59. DLSHQ.org

Further reading

• Daniélou, Alain (1991) . The myths and gods of India. Inner Traditions, Vermont, USA. ISBN 0-89281-354-7. pp. 164–187.

External links

• Avatars (Incarnations or Descents) of Vishnu
• New York Times on origin and use of word avatar
• Meher Baba's interpretation of the Avatar's origin

v t e Avatars of Vishnu
Dashavatara (for example)	Matsya Kurma Varaha Narasimha Vamana Parashurama Rama Balarama Krishna Buddha Kalki
Other avatars	Four Kumaras Narada Nara-Narayana Kapila Dattatreya Yajna Rishabha Prithu Dhanvantari Mohini Vyasa Prsnigarbha Hayagriva Hamsa
The list of the "ten avatars" varies regionally. Two substitutions involve Balarama, Krishna, and Buddha. Krishna is almost always included; in exceptions, he is considered the source of all avatars.

v t e Hindu deities and texts
Gods	Trimurti Brahma Vishnu Shiva Agni Ashvins Chandra Dattatreya Ganesha Hanuman Indra Kama Kartikeya Krishna Kubera Rama Shasta Surya Varuna Vayu Vishvakarma Yama more
Goddesses	Tridevi Saraswati Lakshmi Parvati Aditi Bhumi Chhaya Durga Ganga Shachi Kali Mahadevi Mahavidya Matangi Matrikas Radha Rati Rohini Rukmini Sanjna Sati Shakti Shashthi Sita more
Other deities	Apsaras Asuras Daitya Danava Devata Dikpāla Gandharvas Gana Kuladevatas Gramadevatas Rakshasas Vahanas Yakshas / Yakshini
Texts (list)	Vedas Rig Sama Yajur Atharva Upanishads Puranas Ramayana Mahabharata Bhagavad Gita Yoga Sutras of Patanjali more
Hinduism Hindu mythology

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