24 AVATARAS

24 Avataras (Incarnation) of Lord Vishnu

There are three deities in Hindu religion; Lord Brahaman: the creator, Lord Vishnu: the Preservor; Lord Shiva: the Destroyer. Of all the three Deities only Lord Vishnu incarnates or avtars to save his devotees from the evil forces and reestablish religion. Lord Shiva and Lord Brahaman are not believed to incarnate. There are believed 24 incarnation of Lord Visnu of which 23 had already taken place and 24^th i.e. Kalki Avatar Is yet to take place in kaliyuga. These 24 Avatars include Popular Dashavtaras.

 The 24 Avatars are as under.

1.     Adi Purush Avatar (pre-eminent man)

2.     Sanat Kumara – Brahma Manasaputra

3.     Varaha Avatar (boar incarnation)

4.     Narada Avatar

5.     Nara Narayana Avatar

6.     Kapila Avatar

7.     Dattatreya Avatar (Datta Avatara)

8.     Yagya Avatar – Yagna born to Prajapati and Akuti

9.     Rishabh Avatar – Rishabhadeva Avatar

10.                        Prithu Avatar

11.                        Matsya Avatar – Fish incarnation

12.                        Kurma Avatar or Kachchap Avatar – Tortoise incarnation

13.                        Dhanvantari avatar – the Lord of medicine

14.                        Mohini avatar – incarnation as a most enchanting woman

15.                        Narasimha avatar – incarnation in the form of half-man and half-lion

16.                        Hayagreeva avatar – incarnation with horse face

17.                        Vamana avatar – incarnation as a dwarf

18.                        Parshurama avatar

19.                        Vyas avatar – Veda Vyasa incarnation

20.                        Sri Rama avatar

21.                        Balarama avatar

22.                        Sri Krishna avatar

23.                        Buddha avatar

24.                        Kalki avatar – Lord Vishnu will be incarnated as Kalki at the end of the Kaliyuga.

            Dashavataras

The popular dashavataras are as under

1.     Natysa or fish avatara which saved Manu and Vedas when the whole earth drowned in flood. Its story can be found in Matsya Purana

2.     Kurma or the Tortoise Avatar which helped in the Samundra manthan and its story comes in the Kurma Purana.

3.     Varah or the Boar Avatara which rescued the earth from its kidnapper Hiranyaksha by killing him. Story of varah is in Varah Purana.

4.     Narsimha the half man and half lion avatar. Lord Vishnu took this avatara to save his devotee Prahalad from his cruel father Hrianyakashipu.

5.     Vaman Avatar or The Dwarf, this avatara was taken to subdue Raja Bali (grandson of Prahlad) of Ashuras. Its story comes is Vaman Purana.

6.     Parsurama who killed Karatvirya Arjuna Having thousand arms also known as Sahasrabahu arjuna.

7.     Lord Rama

8.     Lord Krishna Narrated Bhagwad Geeta to Arjuna in the Famous battle of Maha Bharata.

9.     Gautam Budha

10   Kalki Avatar.