Dashavatar – The Ten Incarnations of Lord Vishnu
Why Avatars ? – Why not God just appear on this planet and preach what He has to preach or better still why not just restore the right order (like magic), why go through all this effort? Good question…Here is my answer –
When in Avatar, God is like one of us….He is born on this planet, he grows up here and then when the time is right imparts His knowledge upon us. It is always easier to understand and appreciate someone who is one of us, someone who is among us – Its like when as a parent you are trying to teach good things in life to your child, the best way to do this is by example – by living a good life.
It is believed that Lord Vishnu has incarnated himself many times. But its ten of his avatars which has had the maximum effect on human life and these ten avatars are called – ‘Dasha Avatar’ (’Dasha’ means ten in Sanskrit). The ten avatars are:
Matsya – The Fish
Kurma – The Tortoise
Varaha – The Boar
Narsimha – The man lion
Vamana – The Dwarf
Parasurama – The Warrior
Sri Rama – The King
Sri Krishna – The Cowherd
Buddha – The Teacher
Kalki – The Slayer
It can also be said that these avatars represent evolution of human life on earth. This is what the top six avatars mean
Matsya (Fish) – Life starts in water (600 – 400 million years ago)
Kurma (Turtle)–The firstamphibians emerge (100 million years ago)
Varah (Boar) – The first mammals evolve (60 million years ago)
Narasimha (half man – half lion) – Half man half animal appear (30 million years ago)
Vamana (short man) – Homor Erectus, upright yet short and weaponless (5 – 2 million years ago)
Parashurama (Parashu – axe & Rama – name of God) – Bronze age, the coming of Ramapithecus, development of firs weapons such as axe.