DASAVATARA – THE 10 MAIN FORMS OF SRIMAN NARAYANA

The scriptures speak of the 10 important Avatars of Sriman Narayana – different incarnations that take the form of divine intervention provided by Sriman Narayana during the various stages of human evolution.

“Whenever Dharma, or the situation of law and order, is endangered on this world, I shall incarnate onto this world to re-establish Dharma, law and order, and to protect the good people and to destroy the evil elements of the society.” (Vishnu Purana).

These incarnations are termed as the ‘avatars’ of Sriman Narayana. Each avatar of Sriman Narayana shall be presented in the other tabs with appropriate details of the situation under which the Lord was compelled to appear on the earth.

Sriman Narayana is the name given to the protector and sustainer of the universe. Sriman Narayana has incarnated in various life forms through different yugas (ages or eons) in situations where Dharma was in danger, because of certain evil elements that were pesent in the world.

While many explanations are given for the 10 Avatars of Sriman Narayana, one can see striking similarity of these stories with the theory of evolution of life. The Dasavatara (ten avatars) is meant to re-establish dharma or righteousness and destroy tyranny and injustice on earth.

​The 10 Avatars are Matsyavatara (fish), Koorma (tortoise), Varaaha (boar), Narasimha (the man-lion), Vaamana (the dwarf), Parasurama (the sage), Lord Rama (the perfect human of the Ramayana), Lord Krishna (the divine diplomat and statesman), Bala Krishna / Gautama Budha (the prince)and the yet to appear 10th incarnation called the Kalki avatar.