Introduction to the Dashavatars

1. What is Dashavatar? ‘Das’ means ten, and ‘Avatar’ means a planned arrival (descent) of God from heaven to earth. Therefore, dashavatar means ten planned arrivals of God from heaven to earth.

2. Why does God come to earth?

“For the protection of the good, for the destruction of the wicked, and for the establishment of righteousness, I come into being from age to age” Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 4, shloka 8.

So, when good people seek the help of the Lord because of cruelty of bad people, the Lord comes down to earth in a life form, and we call this an Avatar. The purpose of an avatar is to restore good values and help society to respect and accept them.

This may be accomplished by the avatar through a single act such as the killing of the evil doer or by many acts showing how people must live respecting the right moral codes.

3. What are the various avatars? In Hinduism, we believe Lord Vishnu will take ten avatars (dashavatars) to clean the earth of evil doers and restore righteousness. Hindus also believe that Lord Vishnu has already taken nine avatars and are awaiting his descent to earth for the tenth avatar.

4. What are the ten avatars of Lord Vishnu? The nine avatars already completed are – 1) Matsya, 2) Koorma, 3) Varaaha, 4) Narashima, 5) Vaamana, 6) Parashurama, 7) Rama, 8) Krishna, and 9) Buddha. The tenth avatar yet to come is Kalki.

5. Can this theory stand the test of science? While religion attempts to explain the ‘why’, science attempts to explain the ‘how’. Therefore, it is not easy to explain religion with science. However, the ten avatars readily fit the modern theory of evolution developed by Darwin. They show the ten avatars sequentially changing from very simple life forms to more complex ones. Even in the human forms, these avatars show changes in life forms from a child to a young man, to a family man, to enlightened being.