The Vishnu Avatars – looking through the glass

Last night we were watching the movie "Dashavtaram" for the umpteenth time. We love the movie and also have many good memories attached with the song – "Mukunda Mukunda". My wife taught dance to this number and the kids performed beautifully on the stage. Now that we watched it again and again, we tried to make sense of the name – "Dashavtaram" which undoubtedly refers to the 10 incarnations of Lord Vishnu.

Interestingly enough, Lord Vishnu is known to have descended upon the earth many a times to uphold the dharma or the laws of nature. Though our scriptures and wise learned people have often differed on the number of times Vishnu took different forms, there is no difference in understanding the common themes and the principles in each of these avatars. My attempt shall be to just have a look at those and understand the same.

As per the most well-read purana scripture – Bhagwat Purana describes 22 avatars of Sri Vishnu. While the most commonly known 10 avatars of Vishnu referred in multiple purana scriptures as per their appearance on earth are categorized as -

Yuga	Avatar Name	Story
Sata Yuga	Matsya	Vishnu appeared as the fish who saved Manu and the accompanying creatures on a boat during the great deluge.
	Kurma	The tortoise or the turtle on whose back, the mount Mandar was set so that it could be used as a stirrup to churn the ocean.
	Varaha	The boar who fought Hiranyaksh and rescued the mother earth (Bhudevi)
	Narsimha	The half man, half animal with the characteristics of lion infused into a man – appeared to save Prahlad and kill Hiranyakashyap
Treta Yuga	Vamana	A dwarf Brahmin appearance who went to the Asura king Bali asking for land covered in his three steps
	Parashurama	Another Brahmin appearance who vowed to free the earth of Kshatriyas with diminishing values and even beheaded his own mother when she digressed from her values
	Rama	The king of Ayodhya who laid the rules and established an order of living for the society
Dwapara Yuga	Krishna	The most colorful appearance of Lord Vishnu, where he plays roles of rule breaker, upholder of values, romancing the people and guiding them through the intricacies of the society
	Buddha	Well known as Gautam Buddha, who enlightened the man kind of a middle path to attain salvation while fulfilling their worldly duties
KaliYuga	Kalki	Kalki avatar is expected to appear in Kaliyuga or the present era. He is expected to end the world of its miseries and establish the laws again.

 

Now that we have the ten most important avatars categorized, let's look at the evolution in them.

• Number of avatars
  
  • SatYuga saw four avatars
    
  • Treta saw three
    
  • Dwapara saw two
    
  • Kaliyuga is supposed to see only one.
    
• Form of avatara
  
  • The Satayuga's avatars were evolving from the body of an animal and slowly developing as a human.
    
  • The Treta avatars were well formed humans who displayed their supremacy over other forms of nature.
    
  • The Dwapara avatars displayed supremacy over other humans or self.
    
  • The Kalyuga avatar is yet to be determined
    
• State of society at the time of avatara
  
  • During the Sata Yuga, there was no society. The nature was just forming and taking shape. The need was to develop the laws and set the principles based on which the further creations can live and coexist.
    
  • As the nature evolved, the different groups of people formed and so did their beliefs. The avataras played the role of binding them together
    
  • During the Treta Yuga, the society was formed however in the initial stages. The concepts of settlement and developing the culture was taking form. At the same time, the need was to move from the barbarian or animal instinct to a more humane instinct. This is seen in the act of Parashuram killing the Kshatriyas when they debased themselves using their power and refused to protect the other forms of the society. Sri Rama at the same time, took help from the animals (mainly monkeys and bears) to fight with Ravana – the king of Asuras. Thus displaying the growth or evolution of the human being from the animals.
    
  • During the Dwapara Yuga, the society was well formed and the human kind had progressed much further. The laws set by Sri Rama for the society were well followed. However, the requirements of the society and the nature were changing yet again. The laws applicable in the Treta Yuga were no longer applicable. They were still being followed though only in the form of letter and not in principle or philosophy. This is where the advent of Krishna infuses the fresh air. Sri Krishna, often viewed as rule breaker, broke the unmanageable rules and laws and taught to follow what you understand and what is right. In his teachings to Arjun (Sri Madbhagwat Gita), he lays the principles for the human beings. This is the same theme seen in Gautama Buddha. When the rules of the society became too rigid and impractical to follow, he infused a new path breaking all beliefs to lead life in a better manner.
    
  • The society today is the most advanced as compared to what we have seen in the past yugas. At the same time, we have seen the degeneration as well. Which is nothing but the turn of the time. Time runs in a cycle. What is up today will go down tomorrow and what is down today will come up someday.
    

I also wanted to touch upon a very sensitive yet important aspect in here, along with the evolution and maturity of the society we should also notice the change in the way the incarnations have appeared. At the time, when society was yet forming, the incarnations took the form of Brahmin as the source of knowledge. When the society was a little mature, they appeared as kings or Kshatriya as protectors. When the maturity reached even higher and society was looking for their path on deeds, Sri Krishna appeared – born as a Kshatriya, lived as a Viashya (cowherd in Vraj) and acted like a Shudra (Charioteer for Arjuna). I understand the forms of the society are a touchy topic and I may be hurting someone's sentiments, but when God himself made no difference, how can we?