This page is about the avatars, or incarnations of Vishnu, a Hindu god.This website is based on the book Dashavataras by my grandfather Sri B. Aga Reddy. On this page you will find a list of all the avatars, their pictures, and their stories.Thank you.
Click on the image for quotes from Dashavataras
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1. Matsya 
Whenever there is fear of destruction of Dharma or the Vedas or the world itself, the Lord then descends on the earth to protect them. When Brahma was sleeping, an asura by name Hayagriva stole the Vedas from him and disappeared into the waters. There was a Mahapralaya and in consequence thereof, the world became completely submerged in the oceans.
At that time a king by the name Satyavratha,a great devotee of Lord Narayana, was ruling the world. While he was performing ablution on the banks of the river Kritamala, a small fish came into his palms. This fish was nothin but Narayana himself in disguise. In the course of time, it grew larger and larger and no vessel or pond was large enough to contain this strange fish. The king was wonder-struck at this sight. One day, the fish suddenly disappeared. But King Satyavratha remained sitting by the oceanside. When the fish surfaced, the king recognized its original form and asked him to tell him as to why he had assumed this form. The Lord, in the form of a fish, then told him that he had this form for a purpose. He explained, that after seven days, the World would be submerged under the waters and Mahapralaya was coming. Then a boat would appear and the King should enter the boat with all the Rishis, etc., and then tie the boat to his horn. The King did as he was told to do and saluted the Lord and said that it was with his grace that the human beings attain salvation. Then Narayana in the form of a fish fought with the asura Hayagriva and restored the Vedas to Brahma at the end of Pralaya.
2. Kurma 
The two hosts, Devas and Asuras made their own efforts to churn the ocean. Narayana was there. The Asuras preferred to hold the head of Vasuki(the serpent god), while Devas were given its tail to hold. Both the groups made great efforts to churn the ocean, but it would not come up. In spite of many efforts, the mountain Mandara sank into the ocean because of its great weight. There was depression in the hearts of the two hosts. But, Narayana knew that this had happened because they had all ignored Lord Vighneshwara. So He went under the waters. Lord Narayana took the form of an immense TORTOISE(KURMA) and lifted the mountain on to his back.Thus,the Mandara mountain rose out of the water and all were happy.
3. Varaha 
At the instance of Brahma, Manu was engaged in creation. This was a continuous process, but the regular task was hindered because the earth was submerged during the great deluge. She was now in the netherlands,where she was hidden by the demon Hiranyaksha. It had to be brought back. Brahma thought of Lord Narayana. While he was in meditation, all of a sudden, out of his nostrils jumped out a tiny boar and gradually it assumed immense proportions. Everybody realized that it was Narayana himself who assumed the form of a wild Boar(VARAHA).
The magnificent boar entered the waters with a great cry and swimming and running inside the water, he reached the bottom, fought with and killed the demon Hiranyaksha and brought the earth out on his tusks and to the astonishment of all, disappeared from the scene. This is another instance of the glory of Narayana.
4. Narasimha 
During Kritayuga, Hiranyakashyapa was an all powerful Rakshasha King. By intense tapas, he had secured a boon from Brahma that he would not be killed by any Deva or Danav. Thus, he gained not only much power but also grew arrogant and called himself invincible and a supreme authority. But, he failed to understand that a divine child called "Prahalada" was born to his second wife, who in a course of time, grew and became a devotee of Lord Narayana. Prahlada was a real Bhakta of Sri Vishnu Bhagwan. His father Hiranyakashyapa inflicted many hardships on him in a number of ways, because he considered his son who uttered the name of Narayana as his enemy. Hiranyakashyapa was so much enamoured of his position and powers that he considered Vishnu Bhagwan Himself as his opponent. As the time passed, Hiranyakashyapa grew arrogant and challenged his young son Prahalada, who was a Narayan Bhakta( devotee of Narayana)and always had the name of Narayana on his lips, to show him where his beloved Bhagwan resided, so that he would destroy him that very moment.
As it happened, at the recitation of His name, Bhagwan Vishnu instantaneously emerged from one of the pillars of the palace in the form of Narasimha Swamy i.e., man with lion's features and killed Hiranyakashyapa.Thus,the wicked Rakshasha King met his death at the hands of Maha Vishnu in the garb of a lion, i.e., Simham. Hence, it came to be called as 'Narasimh Avatara'.
5. Vamana 
In the later period, another Rakshasa King called 'Bali Chakravarthi', who was the grand son of Prahalada,was a pious man unlike other Rakshasas. He had amassed enormous wealth and property. But, in a course of time, he grew proud of his wealth and considered none as his equal. This had made the gods in heaven a bit worrisome and they wanted to wipe-off King Bali by hook or crook. They worked out a plan to rob the great king of his large property and enormous wealth and the result was the Avatara of 'Vamana' a dwarf youngster. Vamana appeared before Emperor Bali and asked him for some alms. The King ,without any hesitation, accepted the request by the boy and advised him to ask for anything he wanted and it would become his. The crafty boy Vamana asked for only three foot lengths of land. The King was surprised, but agreed to grant him that much land, which was nothing for him. The King Bali did not comprehend the real meaning in asking for such a small piece of land and the purpose behind the request of Vamana. The function for donating the land followed. To the surprise of one and all, Vamana assumed huge proportions,measured the whole earth with one foot length, by another foot, he covered the whole sky and asked the King Bali as to where he should put the third foot. Then the King opened his eyes and understood the real meaning of the whole drama. But, he was steadfast in his commitment and without any hesitation asked Vamana to put his third foot on his head, and was crushed to the nether world.
Thus, the purpose of Vamanavatara was fully accomplished.
6. Parasurama 
In the line of Pururavas was born a king named Gadhu. His daughter was Satyavathi. She was married to Ruchika a Brahman. In the course of time, Satyavathi gave birth to a son Jamadagni, who rose to be a great saint. He married Renuka and they had five sons: Vasuman, Vasu, Vasushena, Rumanvan and Rama.It was this Rama who had been born with the qualities of a Kshatriya. He came to be known as the vanquisher of the Kshatriyas later on. He was the avatara of the Lord born to rid the world of sinful kings like the Hehayas. It was well known that the smallest insult was felt enormous by Rama and he would not rest until he had punished the offender. He was a Kshatriya by nature.But,he was a Brahmin by birth. He was bent upon punishing Kshatriyas who did not respect Brahmins.He
killed a powerful but evil king called Sahasrarjuna.
Thus,it was the period of Parushrama, the terrible.
7. Rama
During Tretha yuga, Sri Rama was born in the solar dynasty to the famous King Dasharatha. He had three brothers, Laxmana, Bharatha and Shatrughna. They were given proper education in early life and when they came of age, they were trained in state craft and warfare. Being the eldest ,Rama was chosen to be the crown prince, as King Dasharatha grew old. The day and time was fixed to celebrate the formal ceremony.But Fate willed otherwise. The third Rani Kaikayee,under the evil influence of her maid Manthara, changed her mind and wanted to see that her son Bharatha was made Yuva Raja(crown prince), instead of Rama.To acclompish this, she exerted pressure on her husband King Dasharatha to do so by reminding the king of the two boons he granted her sometime back and which she could use anytime she wished. Thus, utilising the opportunity, Kaikayee put forward two conditions: that Rama should be sent to the forests for fourteen years and in his place, her son Bharatha should be made Yuva Raja.
Consequently, the old king became helpless and the result was that Rama, accompanied by wife Sita and brother Laxmana had to leave for the forests. At the behest of the Rishis in the forests, Rama killed a large number of Rakshasas and then lived peacefully for some time. Meanwhile, as fate would have it, Sita was abducted by the Rakshasa King Ravana who took her to his kingdom--Lanka.
After a long search, he incidentally met Hanuman at Kishkinda and also befriended Sugreeva, the brother of Vali who was King of Vanaras (monkeys). Rama killed Vali and with the help of Sugreeva, Hanuman and the great army of monkeys, built a bridge across the ocean, invaded Lanka, killed Ravana and recovered Sita.
Soon after, Rama with Laxmana, Sita, Sugreeva, Hanuman and Vibhi-shana, the brother of Ravana, returned to Ayodhya and became the king of Ayodhya.
During the absence of Rama, Ayodhya was provisionally administered by his brother Bharatha who in fact never wanted to be a King.
Rama had two sons, Lava and Kusha who were born in the Ashram of Rishi Valmiki. Thus ended Trethayuga.
8. Krishna 
Once upon a time, Kamsa, the son of Ugrasena, was the king of Mathura. He was a wicked person. There was a foretelling (Akashavani) that the eighth child of his sister Devaki and her husband would be the cause of his death. Kamsa, frightened as he was, imprisoned his sister Devaki and her husband Vasudeva and started killing all the seven children of Devaki one by one, soon after their birth. But, he could not catch hold of the eighth one, as he was a divine child. The locks of the prison door opened themselves and thus Vasudeva managed to take the child one dark night across the river Jamuna safely and handed-over Krishna to his friend Nanda, who in return gave away his female child to Vasudeva.
Thus, Krishna escaped death and was brought up by Nanda and his wife Yashodha at Gokul-Brindavan. When Krishna was growing up happily among the Gopis, his maternal uncle Kamsa came to know of it and tried many devious tricks to eliminate Krishna, but he failed to do so, because Krishna was an avatar(incarnation) of Lord Vishnu and was born to annihilate the wicked people in the world.
Kamsa later sent one of his nobles Akrura to fetch Krishna to Mathura to kill him, but he failed. At last, there ensued a fight between Krishna and Kamsa and in the end Lord Krishna killed Kamsa.
Krishna was the maternal cousin of the Pandavas,whose mother Kunthi was his father's sister. In later life he played a pivotal role on the side of the Pandavas and helped them annihilate the Kauravas and win the Kurukshetra War. During the war, he assumed the role of charioteer to his brother-in-law ( who was also his cousin), Arjuna. When Arjuna was reluctant to take up arms against his dear grandfather Bheeshma, his guru Dronacharya and innumerable relatives, Krishna gave a discourse in the form of the BHAGAVAD GITA and helped him to come out of his predicament and fight to the finish.
Thus, the Pandavas were able to defeat the Kauravas and win the Kurukshetra War.
Sri Krishna lived in the Dwapara Yuga, which virtually ended thereafter and it was followed by Kaliyuga, the present age.
9a. Budha* 
Gautama(also known as Siddhartha) was born at Luminivana in 563 B.C. in a lonely corner of India on the border of Nepal. His father Sudhodana was the Chief of the Sankya Clan which had its capital at Kapilavastu. His mother Maya died seven days after his birth and he was brought up by his mother's sister Mahaprajapati Gotami. Gautama settled down as a householder after marrying Bhaddakachchva (Yashodhara). A son was born of the marriage and he was called Rahula.
The idea of renunciation came into his mind on seeing four persons in four different stages -- an old, a cripple,an ascetic and a corpse. At the age of twenty nine, abandoning his wife and son and leaving behind all the princely pleasures, he left the palace secretly at night on his horse Kanthaka; took off his princely robes and embraced the life of a wanderer.
After living with a few Gurus like Arada Kalama and Rudra Ramaputra at Rajgriha, he took his seat under a pipal tree at Uruvela, where, after intense exertion, he finally realized the truth. Thus he became Budha ( the enlightened one). For seven days, he remained in blissful contemplation of his newly acquired knowledge and then he started delivering sermons which came to be known as 'Turning the Wheel of Law'. This way, Budha had succeeded in converting a number of prominent persons to Buddhism.
The teachings of Buddha were based on human suffering. It was to find a solution to the problem of suffering, to renounce the luxuries of worldly life. Budha told the lay people to observe the essential principles : not to lie, not to have illicit sexual relations, not to steal and not to take intoxicating drinks.
In course of time, Buddhism spread far and wide. There were a great number of followers not only in India but also in East Asian countries. Though Budha was no more, his teachings became eternal and assumed the shape of a distinct religion called 'Buddhism'.
It is interesting to note that Buddha was an agnostic.(one who neither believes in nor denies the existence of God).
9b.
Venkateshwara Swami*
10. Kalki 
No avatar such as Kalkiavatar is manifest as yet. But, it has all ramifications in Kaliyug. The present age has started following Dwaparayug. Now a few lines about the impact of Kaliyug in all its respects.
It was during the reign of King Parikshit that Kali raised his head. When he was tormenting the bulls, the King questioned Kali with a drawn sword as to why he was indulging in such evil deeds. Kali fell at his feet and begged for pardon, with a request to give over to him all parts of realm where flourished the four vices of gambling,drinking,inhuman treatment towards women and cruelty to animals. The king granted his request. Then, Kali asked for something more,whereupon,the King offered him the dominions of falsehood, pride, lust, jealousy and enmity.
Thus, we all see the impact of Kaliyuga in the present day.
*=In some parts of India, people believe that Venkateshwara Swami is the 9th avatara and some people believe that Budha is the 9th avatara.
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