How Many Avatars Of Lord Vishnu – There is a dialogue between Lord Krishna and Arjun in Shrimad Bhagwat Gita, where Lord tells Arjun that whenever there is a loss of religion and the dominance of unrighteousness starts increasing, then God takes incarnation. The main three reasons for the incarnation of Lord Krishna are to save the saints, destroy the wicked and re-establish the religion properly. For this reason, Lord Vishnu has also incarnated on this earth many times.
In religious texts, there is a description of 24 incarnations of Lord Vishnu from Satyayug to Kaliyug. What are these 24 incarnations of Lord Vishnu and what is the story and purpose of these incarnations? Let’s know Incarnations Of Vishnu (Total Avatars Of Vishnu) –
How Many Avatars Of Lord Vishnu
Lord Vishnu has had a total of 24 incarnations, out of which 10 are considered to be the main incarnations. Out of these, only 23 incarnations have taken place till now, one more and the last incarnation is yet to take place in the name of Kalki at the end of Kalyug. So let us know about these 24 incarnations –
1) Shri Sankadi Muni Avatar
The description of the first incarnation of Lord Vishnu is found in religious texts, when Lok Pitamaha Brahma wished to create the worlds, then Brahma ji did severe penance of Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu, pleased with the penance, took incarnation in the form of 4 sages – Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatana and Sanatkumara, these sages are among the seven Manas Putras of Brahma. All four were Nitya Parayan, engrossed in meditation, Nityasiddha, Nityavirakta and lived on the path of salvation.
2) Varaha Avatar
Varaha Avatar is the second incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Varaha is called pig or Sukar in Hindi, according to religious texts, the demon Hiranyaksha had hidden the earth in the sea. Then Lord Vishnu took the Varaha avatar to save the earth. Lord Varaha Deva had found the earth with his nostrils and pulled it out by placing it on his teeth and made the water numb with his hooves. When Hiranyaksha came to know about this incident, he challenged Varaha Deva for a battle. In the battle, Hiranyaksha was killed by Varaha Deva. And all the gods started praising Varaha Deva.
3) Narad Muni Avatar
Devarshi Narad Muni is the third avatar of Lord Vishnu. He is one of the seven Manas Putras of Brahma Ji and is an exclusive devotee of Lord Vishnu. He attained the position of Devarshi through hard penance and was always ready to propagate religion and do public welfare.
4) Nar-Narayan Avatar
Nar-Narayan is the fourth avatar of Lord Vishnu. Nar-Narayan’s aim was to establish religion. Nar-Narayan wore the attire of ascetics and wore matted locks on his head.
5) Shri Kapil Muni Avatar
Kapil Muni is one of the ancient great sages. He was a Yogic ascetic. He is said to be the originator of Sankhya-shastra. Kapil Muni was the tenth child of mother Devbhooti and father Kardam Rishi. In his childhood itself, Kapil Muni had imparted knowledge of 24 elements of the universe to his mother. Bhakti, Yoga, Yagya, Tirtha and Daan should be considered superior to all religions, these were his words.
6) Shri Dattatreya Avatar
Shri Dattatreya Prabhu was the son of Atri Rishi and mother Anusuya, one of the Sapta Rishis. Shri Dattatreya Prabhu had three faces and six arms. This Trimukhi form of Shri Dattatreya Prabhu is also said to be the combined form of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh. He remained an Avdoot and a celibate throughout his life.
When the Tridevis became proud of their chastity, Lord Vishnu sent a playful sage, Devarshi Narad ji, to praise the chastity of Mata Anuaya in front of the Tridevis. Hearing this, the Tridevis sent Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh to the ashram of Atri Rishi and Mata Anusuaya to test the chastity of Mata Anuaya.
When Atri Rishi was not in the ashram, the Tridevs took the form of Brahmins and started asking for alms from Mata Anusuaya, and laid down the condition that they would accept alms naked. Mata Anusuaya got scared on hearing this. To avoid insult to the Brahmin God, she took an oath on her chastity and said that these three Brahmins should become six-month-old babies. Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh started crying as six-month-old babies and later, becoming the mother of the Tridevs, Mata Anusuaya fed milk to those children.
When the Tridevis came to know about this, they went to the ashram and started asking forgiveness from Mata Anusuya and started praying to bring their husbands back to their original form.
Pleased with Mata Anusuya, the Tridevs gave the boon that their part would be born from the womb of Mata Anusuya. And Chandrama was born from the part of Brahma, Dattatreya from the part of Vishnu and Durvasa, the incarnation of Lord Shiva, was born from the part of Mahesh and he was called a great sage.
7) Yagya Avatar
Yagya Avatar is the seventh incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Yagya Avatar is described in religious texts. Yagya Avatar was born to Swayambhu Manmantar, Aakuti was born from the womb of Swayambhu’s wife Shatarupa, she was the wife of Ruchi Prajapati, Lord Vishnu incarnated in the house of Aakuti with the name Yagya. Lord Yagya and his wife Dakshina gave birth to twelve very bright sons and they were called the deities of Manmantar named Yam.
8) Lord Rishabhdev Avatar
Maharaj Nabhi and his religious wife were not getting the happiness of children, due to which they performed Yagya to please Lord Yagya Purush and to ask for the boon of getting children, Lord Vishnu was pleased with the Yagya and gave the boon of being incarnated as their son.
And after some time Lord Vishnu took the Rishabhdev avatar as the child of Maharaj Nabhi and his religious wife. After some time, the parents saw that the signs of Vajra, Ankush etc. had appeared on the feet of the child.
As the child was growing up, he was developing qualities like peace, equality, godliness, detachment, attractive appearance, etc., due to which the child was named Rishabh (best).
9) Adiraj Prithu Avatar
Adiraj Prithu is the ninth incarnation of Lord Vishnu, we find the story of Adiraj Prithu in Brahma Purana, in ancient times there used to be a king named Ang, King Ang was a very religious and virtuous person, King Ang had a son named Ven. Unlike his father, Ven was very wicked and an enemy of religion.
Many efforts were made by the Maharishis to bring Ven on the right path but it had no effect on Ven, rather Ven refused to worship God and asked to worship himself. The Maharishis got angry at Ven and killed Ven with mantras and the Maharishis churned Ven’s right arm. From which Adiraj Prithu, who was as bright as fire, was born. Due to Ven, the people had to suffer a lot, in contrast to which Adiraj Prithu ruled with excellence.
10) Matsya Avatar
When the end of Satyayug was near, a terrible flood was about to come on earth and the demon Hayagriva stole the Vedas from Brahma ji and hid in the deep sea and the knowledge of Vedas started disappearing from the world.
To take back the Vedas from the demon Hayagriva and to protect the Sapta Rishis and Manu from this flood and to take them to the mountain safely, Lord Vishnu created his leela by taking the Matsya Avatar.
11) Kurma Avatar
Kurma Avatar is the eleventh incarnation of Lord Vishnu, in which Lord Vishnu takes the form of a tortoise for the welfare of the gods.
Once Rishi Durvasa gifted Indra a garland and Indra put this garland on his elephant, this garland fell from the elephant’s neck and the elephant was crushed under the feet, seeing this Rishi Durvasa got very angry and he cursed the gods due to which the gods lost their powers.
All the gods went to Lord Vishnu for help, Lord Vishnu asked them to churn the Mandara mountain. The gods started churning, on one side the demons and on the other side the gods were pulling Vasuki snake wrapped around the mountain.
After some time the mountain range was about to sink during the churning then Lord Kurma takes the avatar and saves the mountain from sinking by resting on his back. The gods get Amrit and 14 divine gems from this churning.
12) Lord Dhanvantari Avatar
Lord Dhanvantari is said to be the god of health, after the Samudra Manthan, Lord Dhanvantari appeared on the day of Kartik Krishna Triyodashi with Amrit in his hand.
Lord Dhanvantari was a great physician and in religious texts he is said to be the twelve incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Lord Dhanvantari has four arms, in these arms the Lord holds conch, Ayurveda, Amrit Kalash and medicine.
Dhanvantari festival is celebrated because of the appearance of Lord Dhanvantari.
13) Mohini Avatar
When the demons and the gods churned the ocean together, Amrit was extracted from the churning. The demons snatched Amrit from the gods by deceit, then the gods started praying to Lord Narayana, hearing the prayers Lord Narayana took the form of Mohini, a very beautiful and attractive woman, and by the effect of his Maya, fascinated the demons and retrieved the Amrit.
14) Lord Narasimha Avatar
Lord Narasimha is the fourteenth incarnation of Lord Vishnu. The demon Hiranyakashyap pleased Brahma Ji with his hard penance. And Brahma started asking for the boon of immortality but Brahma Ji could not give him the boon of immortality. So he said these words to Brahma Ji, I should not die in the day or night, “I should not die inside the house or outside the house, neither I can die on the earth nor in the sky or the sea, no animal, bird, human, god, Gandharva can kill me, no weapon can kill me.” Brahma Ji said ‘Tathastu’ and gave this boon to Hiranya Kashyap with his own will. As soon as he got the boon, Hiranyakashyap started creating havoc in the universe and started spreading unrighteousness.
Prahlad was the son of Hiranyakashyap and was an ardent devotee of Lord Vishnu. Knowing this, Hiranyakashyap tried to give death penalty to his son but he failed every time.
When Hiranya Kashyap asked Prahlad about the whereabouts of Lord Vishnu, he replied that Lord Vishnu is present in every particle. Hiranya Kashyap pointed towards a pillar and said that your Lord is also present in this pillar. Prahlad said, go, he is also present in this pillar.
Hearing this, he broke the pillar in anger and Lord Nrusinha came out of the pillar. Lord Nrusinha was in the form of half man and half lion. Lord Nrusinha killed Hiranya Kashyap by tearing him apart with his nails at sunset.
15) Vamana Avatar
The king of demons Bali was the son of Prahlad, the great devotee of Lord Vishnu. He defeated the earth and the gods and established his kingdom on Indralok. All the gods started praying to Lord Vishnu, then Lord Vishnu took incarnation in the form of Vamandev from the womb of mother Aditi and promised to return the kingdom to the gods.
Once Asuraraj Bali was performing a great yagya and was giving donations to Brahmins. Lord Vamandev reached there and started demanding three steps of land from Bali. Demon Guru Shukracharya suspected that Vamandev was Lord Vishnu and refused to give donation to Asuraraj Bali but Asuraraj Bali did not listen to Demon Guru Shukracharya and without any worry agreed to take a vow to donate three steps of land to Vamandev. Demon Guru Shukracharya took a subtle form and went and sat near the pipe of the kamandal. Due to which, while taking the vow, he did not take out water from the kamandal. Vaman Dev put a stick in the pipe of the kamandal due to which one eye of Shukracharya got hurt and he came out immediately.
Then Bali took a vow. As soon as he took the vow, Vaman Dev came in his huge form and kept one step on earth and the other on heaven and asked Bali for the third step, then Bali asked to keep the third step on his head. God was very pleased with Bali’s generosity and made Bali the king of the netherworld. And he took the gods back to Indralok.
16) Hayagriva Avatar
Devi Bhagwat Purana describes the Hayagriva avatar of Lord Vishnu, in ancient times there was a demon named Hayagriva, his torso was like that of a human and the head was like that of a horse. This demon performed a tough penance to please the goddess. Pleased with the penance, Adishakti asked Hayagriva to ask for a boon. Hayagriva asked the goddess for the boon of immortality, but he did not get this boon, so he asked for the boon that he could be killed only by another Hayagriva.
On getting the boon, Hayagriva started creating a ruckus in all the three worlds and stole the Vedas from Brahma ji. Then a fierce war took place between Lord Vishnu and Hayagriva. The war continued for a long time but there was no result of the war. When Lord Vishnu got tired of fighting, a worm named Varmi cut the string of his bow on the orders of Brahma ji. This bowstring hit Lord Vishnu’s neck with great speed due to which his head got separated from the body.
Later Brahma attached the head of a horse to Lord Vishnu’s body. And Lord Vishnu’s Hayagriva avatar was born. Then Lord Hayagriva avatar cut off the head of the demon Hayagriva with the Sudarshan Chakra and killed him and regained the Vedas.
17) Shrihari avatar
Trikut mountain and an elephant named Gajendra were away with his female elephants. When Gajendra was taking bath with his female elephants in a lake, a crocodile caught Gajendra’s leg and started pulling him into the lake. This continued for many years. Later Gajendra remembered Lord Hari and Lord Hari appeared and killed the crocodile with his Sudarshan Chakra and saved Gajendra.
18) Lord Parshurama
Lord Parshuram is called the eighteenth avatar among the twenty-four avatars of Lord Vishnu. He was born in a Brahmin family on Janapav mountain to mother Renuka and father Jamadagni and was named Ram. After performing a tough penance of Lord Shiva, he asked for the boon of being proficient in the art of war and to get a divine weapon from Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva gave him an axe due to which he also came to be known as Parashurama. He killed many unrighteous kings and at one time he had made the earth free of Kshatriyas.
19) Maharishi Ved Vyas
In religious texts, Maharishi Ved Vyas is said to be the incarnation of Lord Vishnu. He was born on the banks of Yamuna in Hastinapur during the Mahabharata period. His mother was Saraswati and father was Parashar. Maharishi Ved Vyas was a great Vedic sage. He explained the Vedanta philosophy well, composed the Puranas and composed the Mahabharata epic with Ganeshji.
20) Hans Avatar
Brahma Ji was sitting in his divine assembly with Sankadi Muni among his Manas Putras. Sankadi Munis showed curiosity related to philosophy to Pitamah Brahma Ji. After this Brahma Ji prayed to Parabrahma Parmatma. Lord Vishnu appeared in the assembly in the form of a swan and shared the supreme philosophy with Brahma Ji and Sankadi Munis.
21) Shri Rama Avatar
In Treta Yuga, Lord Shri Rama descended on earth to kill Ravana and other demons. Lord Shri Rama was the first son of Maharaj Dashrath and Mother Kaushalya in Ayodhya. Lord Shri Rama had three brothers, Laxman, Bharat, and Shatrughan. In the swayamvar of Sita, daughter of Maharaj Janak, Shri Rama broke the Shiv Dhanush and married Sita. Mother Sita is said to be the incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi.
After some time, Shri Ram’s step mother Kaikeyi asked for a promise of fourteen years of exile for Shri Rama and Sita and to make Kaikeyi’s son Bharat the king.
When Lord Shri Rama and Mother Sita were going for fourteen years of exile, younger brother Laxman also urged to come to the forest with them. Despite many efforts of Shri Rama, Laxman did not agree and went with them to serve Mother Sita and Shri Rama. Maharaj Dashrath, Bharat, Shatrughan, Mother Kaushalya and the people of entire Ayodhya were in great sorrow.
In the forest, Mother Sita was kidnapped by the demon king, then Lord Rama fought with Ravana along with Laxman, Mahabali Hanuman, Vanaraja Sugriv, Jamwant and seven of the monkey army and killed Ravana and brought Mother Sita to Ayodhya after completing her exile after fourteen years.
22) Shri Krishna Avatar
Lord Shri Krishna is considered to be the complete incarnation, he was proficient in 64 arts. Lord Krishna was born as the eighth child of Devaki in the prison of Mathura. To keep the child away from Kansa, on the orders of Lord Vishnu, father Vasudev gave him to Nandji in Gokul.
Due to the sweet and divine leelas of Lord Shri Krishna, he is called Leelapurushottam. Lord Shri Krishna had subdued the illusionary demons Putana and Trinavat sent by Kansa in his infancy. Lord Shri Krishna used to graze cows in Vrindavan in his childhood, due to which he is called Gopal.
In Dwaparyug, Lord Krishna killed many demons including Narakasura, Kansa, Kalayavan.
In the war of Mahabharata, Lord Krishna became Arjun’s charioteer and imparted the knowledge of Karmayog, Bhaktiyog, Gyanyog along with Shrimad Bhagwat Gita.
23) Buddha Avatar
In Varaha Purana and Bhagwat Purana, Lord Buddha is said to be the incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Lord Buddha was a spiritual guru, he gave the path of salvation to his disciples and established Buddhism.
24) Kalki Avatar
In religious texts, there is a description of Lord Vishnu’s Kalki avatar, when the terrible Kaliyug will be at its peak, then Lord Kalki will be incarnated. Lord Kalki will end Kaliyug and establish Satyayug again.