Lord Vishnu and Avatar

Lord Vishnu is one of the main Gods considered in Hinduism. In Hinduism, three Gods are considered to be important, which are Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma. These three Gods are called Trimurti. Lord Vishnu is considered the preserver and protector of the earth. Lord Vishnu has taken different incarnations many times to eradicate evil from the earth so that there may be peace on earth. Know further about Lord Vishu and Avatar ahead.

Lord Vishnu is usually pictured with four arms. In one of his four arms, he is shown holding a conch shell, the Sudarshan Chakra in one arm, a lotus flower in one arm and a mace in one arm. Also, Lord Vishnu is shown resting on a snake known as “Sheshnag”.

Incarnations of Lord Vishnu

Lets us understand one by one about Lord Vishnu and Avatar or incarnation in detail. Lord Vishnu has already taken 9 avatar on earth one is still pending to taken. As per hindu mythology, now lets we know the name of incarnations of lord Vishnu and Yuga. Basically there are four Yuga as per hindu mythology naming Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga and Kal Yuga. Avatar of Lord Vishnu are Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha. All these incarnations has been taken by Lord Vishnu in Satya Yuga. Others are Vamana, Parashurama and one of the knows avatar is Rama, all these avatars has been taken in Treta Yuga. Then Lord Vishnu has taken other avatar well knows as Krishna in Dvapara Yuga followed by Budhha in Kal Yuga. 10th avatar will be taken as Kalki in last phase of Kal Yuga.

Matsya Avatar: The Fish Avatar

Once upon a time, a man named King Vaivasvata Manu offered water to his ancestors during some rituals for his ancestors. Suddenly he found a tiny fish in his hand , then that fish asked Manu for a shelter where the fish could survive. Manu did so but after some time that fish was growing more and more. Then Manu realised that he wasn’t so wealthy and powerful. Eventually , that fish came into Lord Vishnu.

Lord Vishnu told to Manu that there would be great flood coming soon, which would destroy the entire world. Lord Vishnu asked for big boat from Manu so that whole creature could survive during the flood.

When the flood came , Lord Vishnu took giant Matsya avatar with a horn. Manu tied his boat with the horn of fish and then that fish drop all creatures to the safe land. In this way with the help of Lord Vishnu (in Matsya avatar) , Manu was able to save the entire creatures and start a new world after that flood.

Kurma: The Giant Tortoise Avatar

Once upon a time, there was a battle going on between Gods and Demons for drink called “Amrit”. Amrit is a drink which make anyone immortal. To get this drink all Gods and Demons decided to churn the ocean of milk.

They used a big mountain called Mandara to churn the ocean, but that mountain was too big and heavy, causing this started to sink in the ocean. So , to help Gods , Lord Vishnu changed his form into a big tortoise and started to help them by the way of holding that mountain on his back so the churning could continue and Gods could get the drink called “Amrit”.

So this was an another avatar of Lord Vishnu called as Kurma.

Varaha: The Giant Boar Avatar

As per Hindu mythology, there was two brothers named Jaya & Vijay. They stopped a sage Sanaka from seeing the Lord Vishnu. Sanaka got angry and cursed both them as they would be born as demons three times and both of them would be killed by Lord Vishnu.

In their first demon birth, they became Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashyap. Hiranyaksha carried the  Earth to the bottom of the cosmic ocean. Then, to save the earth , Lord Vishnu took “Varaha avatar”.Varaha avatar was a very giant avatar taken by Lord Vishnu.

Both Hiranyaksha and Varaha fought for a very long time, until Varaha finally won the battle. Then Lord Vishnu in form of Varaha carried the Earth between his tusks and brought it back to its place in the universe.

Narsingha: Half Man & Half Animal Avatar

Hiranyakashyap was a king who considered himself to be the God. Hiranyakashyap had hatred for Lord Vishnu, he did not like Lord Vishnu at all. Hiranyakashyap got a boon as he would not be killed in night , not in day , not by animal , not by human, not by God, not by demons, not in home , not at outside of home, not on upper body and not on lower body.

Then, a baby boy was borned named Prahlad as the son of Hiranyakashyap. Prahlad is the biggest devotee of Lord Vishnu and he unites day and night in the worship of Lord Vishnu. This disturbed Hiranyakashyap a lot and he tried to kill Prahlad in many ways but all his attempts got failed.

Then, one day Lord Vishnu came in avatar of “Narsingha” to kill the Hiranyakashyap. At that time Lord Vishnu was not fully human nor fully animal. He took the king Hiranyakashyap at middle of gate in evening time and attack by his big nails on Hiranyakashyap stomach not on upper body nor lower body. In this way Lord Vishnu killed another demon and saved the earth for mankind.

Vamana: Dwark Avatar

A long time ago, there was a man named Bali who defeated one a god naming “Indra” with his penance. After defeating Indra, Bali has become most powerful and ruled the three worlds. Due to this, all other gods were worried and asked the Lord Vishnu for help.

Then Lord Vishnu came to the earth in another avatar called “Vamana”. Then Vamana went to see Bali in during a religious ceremony at his place. Here Vamana asked only three pieces of land from Bali and Bali also agreed to.

However, then Vamana turned into Giant dwarf. With his first two steps , Vamana covered the earth and the heaven. Then Vamana asked to Bali where he could step next, then Bali offered his head as a third place for Vamana because Bali has realized the Vamana is none other than Lord Vishnu. After this Lord Vishnu gave immorality to Bali and made his ruler of netherworld.

Parshurama

Parshurama was another avatar of Lord Vishnu. Parshurama was a biggest devotee of “Lord Shiva”. With his penance to Lord Shiva, he earned a axe from him. Parshurama was the warrior-sage who was very angry in nature.

Rama: The Avatar of Peace

About Lord Rama, there is no word to explain him. Almost everyone in the world well known to Lord Rama. Lord Rama is the prince of Ayodhya. Lord Rama is the elder son of King Dasharatha and Queen Kaushalya. In Dvapara yuga, Ravana (the king of Demons) was a very powerful and evil on all above of Demons and he used to trouble all the gods , sages as well as peoples.

Then Ravana forcefully kidnapped the Goddess Sita (wife of Rama) and took her to his palace as Goddess Sita was so beautiful and attractive. Then Lord Rama started searching of Goddess Sita. At last Lord Rama’s search completed when he came to know that Goddess Sita was kept at Ramana’s palace.

Lord Rama asked Ravana to return his wife but Ravana denied the proposal and accepted the way of war. Ravana was very haughty, and he didn’t bow down to anyone. Then Lord Rama started a war of “Good over Evil” with Ravana to save his wife. After many days , Lord Rama killed the Ravana and won the war as well as his wife. And when Lord Rama return to Ayodhya with his wife Site, that day is celebrated as the festival of “Diwali”.

Krishna: Avatar of Love

Krishna Avatar is another avatar of Lord Vishnu, who took birth at earth to kill Kansa. Krishna is the eighth children of Vasudeva and Devaki. But because of Kansa, and to save from Kansa, Vasudeva shifted Krishna after his birth to Yashoda and Nandlal’s place where he was grown up.

Kansa was a very cruel king, and he loved himself only. He was wants to be immortal so he was wants to kill Krishna because there was a prophet occurred that Devki’s eight Son (who is Krishna) would kill Kansa.

Krishna is the one who started a “Holi” festival in India, and he is known for love and playfulness. Krishna plays flute and he always shown with holding a flute in his hand. Krishna is very attractive and everyone fall in love with Krishna because of his kindness and love.

Krishna killed Kansa at the age of thirteen and he freed Devki and Vasudeva from the captivity of Kansa.

Budhha

Buddha well known as Gautam Buddha, was a prince who never sees any kind of grief , death , people’s persecution in his life. He brought up in royal environment where there was only happiness.

One day he went for trip in his state where he saw a dead body and people was crying behind it, first time in his life. Then he saw people’s grief in their life due to lots of problems. After seeing all these, he realized that in this world there is not only happiness but there are grief too. Then he left all royal environment and went to forest to gain knowledge about life and started preaching to people.

People started getting very impressed by his discourses and started getting attracted towards him. In this way he increased the knowledge of life among the people.

Kalki:The last Avatar

Kalki is the last and final avatar of Lord Krishna. He will come to earth at the end of Kal yuga. When evil, sins and persecution will increase at earth and Kali named demon take birth on earth. Then Kalki will come to earth on his white horse with big sword.

Kalki will kill demon Kali and again Lord Vishnu re-start the first Yuga called Satya Yuga on earth and cycle goes on.