© Richard Randall

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Avataars

There are ten avataars of Vishnu, apart from other smaller incarnations.

They are (in order of avataar)

• Matsya (Fish)

• Kurma (Turtle)

• Varaha (Pig/Boar)

• Narasimha (Lion man / from the torso upwards lion, below, human)

• Vamana (Pygmy / Shot man)

• Parasurama (Fierce man / Hunter)

• Rama (Developed man / Ideal man)

• Krishna (Mentally advanced man)

• Different branches of Hindu tradition accept two different figures as the 9th avatar of Vishnu:

• Balarama (Physically advanced man)

• Buddha (Intellectual and scientific man)

• Kalki (Prophesied, yet to take place)

Interpretation:

Steps of evolution: from a single ovum from the water, to a fish (Matsya); then to a reptile, a turtle (Kurma); then to a wild land animal, like a boar (Varaha); then to a half man and half beast (Narasimha); then to a pygmy (Vamana), a hunter type man (Parasurama), and idealistic man with building and food gathering capacities (Rama); then to a man with great thinking and planning capacities (Krishna); and then possibly to a mutant warrior (Kalki).

Vishnu's Avatars and Evolution:

The Line of Ten Avatars has often, with no scientific basis, been linked to Darwin's Theory of evolution.

Cosmologist Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet contends that the 10 Avatars of Vishnu (the Preserver) are a parable of evolution related to the Astrological Ages of fixed signs of the Zodiac (Aquarius, Scorpio, Leo, and Taurus). This controversial teaching implies that an ancient zodiacal knowledge is embedded in the Hindu myth of the Ten Avatars of Vishnu.

Names

Vishnu has a number of names, collected in the Vishnu sahasranama ("Vishnu's thousand names"), which occurs in the Mahabharata. In Vishnu Sahasranama Vishnu is praised as the Supreme God.

The names are generally derived from the anantakalyanagunas (infinite auspicious attributes) of the Lord. Some names are:

• Acyutah (infallible)

• Ananta (endless, eternal, infinite)

• Kesava (slayer of Keshi, having long or much or handsome hair, from Atharvaveda viii , 6 , 23)

• Hyagrivar(giver of knowledge)

• Narayana (said to mean "He who is the abode of nār (= ether)", i.e., the whole world's shelter. There are two more meanings of Narayana found in a stuti of child-Krishna by Brahma).

• Madhava (relating to the season of spring)

• Govinda (leader of cowherds: a name of Krishna)

• Vishnu

• Madhusudana (He who destroyed the demon called Madhu)

• Trivikrama (He who strides out three times)

• Vamana (dwarfish, small or short in stature, a dwarf: a name of one of his avatars)

• Sridhara

• Hrsikesha (lord of the senses)

• Padmanabha (lotus-naveled one, from whose navel sprang the lotus which contained Brahma, who created the universe)

• Damodara (having a rope (dama) around his belly (udara): a name of Krishna)

• Krishna (born during the third epoch or yuga, His deeds range from cow protection (go rakshya) to absolving the earth of load of sins)

• Rama (born during the second epoch of yuga, His deeds primarily established the ideal living principles of a man)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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