Hello everyone,
This comes in as a continuation from the article "Story telling - The Navarathri Kolu" which focused on the various dolls that we usually buy for a kolu.
While arranging for one such kolu season, my daughter grew curious to understand the "Dasavatharam" set of dolls that I have. I tried explaining to her as much, but I am not sure if she could understand everything. So I decided to jot down the 10 different avatars of Lord Vishnu, thus it will help me the next time, she asks me similar question
The dolls of Dasavatharam are arranged in a regular fashion, starting from "Matsya" avatar of Vishnu until the "Kalki" avatar of Vishnu, something like below
It is believed that Lord Vishnu incarnates on earth from time to time to eradicate evil forces and to liberate the worthy ones from the cycle of life and death. These incarnations of Lord Vishnu were taken during the "Satya Yuga", "Treta Yuga", "Dwapar Yuga", and "Kali Yuga". Basically the first 4 avatars were during the Satya Yuga, then the next 3 during Treta Yuga, the next 2 during Dwapar Yuga and the last one is now, during the Kali Yuga.
These things are very interesting to listen to and more than "need to know" I would classify these beliefs to be in the "nice to know" category. I still recollect when my mother, or grandmother would tell me these stories, I would listen in apt attention. Read on....
Below are the 10 incarnations of the Lord, in the order shown in the above photo:
1) Matsya avatar: In this avatar, the Lord had taken the form of a fish (Matsya) to save King Manu and he takes his boat to a new world along with one of every species of plant and animal
2) Kurma avatar: In this avatar, the Lord had taken the form of a tortoise to save the devas from asuras and to grant them immortality
3) Varaha avatar: In this avatar, the Lord had taken the form of a wild boar, to save the earth from Hiranyaksha, a demon
4) Narasimha avatar: In this avatar, the Lord had taken the form of a half man and half lion being to save his ardent devotee Prahalad from his father Hiranyakashyapu
5) Vamana avatar: In this avatar, the Lord had taken the form of a short man, and had given immortality to King Bali
6) Parashurama avatar: In this avatar, the Lord was a warrior with the axe and had gone on a killing spree to remove the Kshatriyas on earth, because one such Kshathriya had killed his father and mother, and also destroyed the ashram he was in
7) Rama avatar: In this avatar, the Lord had taken the form of Lord Rama, who is worshiped by the hindus. This was during the Satya yuga, and resulted in another mythological story "Ramayana"
8) Krishna avatar: In this avatar, the Lord had taken the form of Lord Krishna, again, he is worshiped by the hindus. Many know the pranks Krishna played as a little boy and then as he grew the story of Mahabharatha and Bhagwad Gita
9) Balarama avatar: This was during the same time as Krishna avatar, he appeared as the brother of Lord Krishna and is believed to be the incarnation of Sheshnaag (the 5 headed snake - see the photo above)
10) Kalki avatar: is the final incarnation of Vishnu, foretold to appear at the end of Kali Yuga (the present era). He will sit atop a white horse and will have a nice sword.
In some of the beliefs, there is no Balarama, and the ninth incarnation is believed to be Buddha, but usually down south, it is still believed as Balarama and that is what shows up in most of the kolu dolls that we purchase. That is the reason I have placed Balarama as the ninth incarnation.
Further on, I will add more stories on each of these avatars to know what each avatar did and some more interesting "nice to know" articles
I welcome your comments on this and feel free to add on your suggestions.
Have a nice day
Gracias :)
This comes in as a continuation from the article "Story telling - The Navarathri Kolu" which focused on the various dolls that we usually buy for a kolu.
While arranging for one such kolu season, my daughter grew curious to understand the "Dasavatharam" set of dolls that I have. I tried explaining to her as much, but I am not sure if she could understand everything. So I decided to jot down the 10 different avatars of Lord Vishnu, thus it will help me the next time, she asks me similar question
The dolls of Dasavatharam are arranged in a regular fashion, starting from "Matsya" avatar of Vishnu until the "Kalki" avatar of Vishnu, something like below
It is believed that Lord Vishnu incarnates on earth from time to time to eradicate evil forces and to liberate the worthy ones from the cycle of life and death. These incarnations of Lord Vishnu were taken during the "Satya Yuga", "Treta Yuga", "Dwapar Yuga", and "Kali Yuga". Basically the first 4 avatars were during the Satya Yuga, then the next 3 during Treta Yuga, the next 2 during Dwapar Yuga and the last one is now, during the Kali Yuga.
These things are very interesting to listen to and more than "need to know" I would classify these beliefs to be in the "nice to know" category. I still recollect when my mother, or grandmother would tell me these stories, I would listen in apt attention. Read on....
Below are the 10 incarnations of the Lord, in the order shown in the above photo:
1) Matsya avatar: In this avatar, the Lord had taken the form of a fish (Matsya) to save King Manu and he takes his boat to a new world along with one of every species of plant and animal
2) Kurma avatar: In this avatar, the Lord had taken the form of a tortoise to save the devas from asuras and to grant them immortality
3) Varaha avatar: In this avatar, the Lord had taken the form of a wild boar, to save the earth from Hiranyaksha, a demon
4) Narasimha avatar: In this avatar, the Lord had taken the form of a half man and half lion being to save his ardent devotee Prahalad from his father Hiranyakashyapu
5) Vamana avatar: In this avatar, the Lord had taken the form of a short man, and had given immortality to King Bali
6) Parashurama avatar: In this avatar, the Lord was a warrior with the axe and had gone on a killing spree to remove the Kshatriyas on earth, because one such Kshathriya had killed his father and mother, and also destroyed the ashram he was in
7) Rama avatar: In this avatar, the Lord had taken the form of Lord Rama, who is worshiped by the hindus. This was during the Satya yuga, and resulted in another mythological story "Ramayana"
8) Krishna avatar: In this avatar, the Lord had taken the form of Lord Krishna, again, he is worshiped by the hindus. Many know the pranks Krishna played as a little boy and then as he grew the story of Mahabharatha and Bhagwad Gita
9) Balarama avatar: This was during the same time as Krishna avatar, he appeared as the brother of Lord Krishna and is believed to be the incarnation of Sheshnaag (the 5 headed snake - see the photo above)
10) Kalki avatar: is the final incarnation of Vishnu, foretold to appear at the end of Kali Yuga (the present era). He will sit atop a white horse and will have a nice sword.
In some of the beliefs, there is no Balarama, and the ninth incarnation is believed to be Buddha, but usually down south, it is still believed as Balarama and that is what shows up in most of the kolu dolls that we purchase. That is the reason I have placed Balarama as the ninth incarnation.
Further on, I will add more stories on each of these avatars to know what each avatar did and some more interesting "nice to know" articles
I welcome your comments on this and feel free to add on your suggestions.
Have a nice day
Gracias :)
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