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14. THE CONCEPT OF AVATARS
In the Krita (Satya Yuga) there is no adharma and dharma stands on all four legs (4), in the Treta Yuga it stands on three legs(3) - adharma is only little. In fact there was no adharma to be destroyed in the first three avatars if at all the other had any. In the Dwapara Yuga(2) it stands on two legs and in the Kali Yuga (1) it stands on one leg. If adharma was the reason for incarnation the number of incarnations in each age should have been the other way round. There is no reason for the first four avatars at all since there is no evil in the first Satya Yuga.
101 TIME
AVATARA
YUGA
3.9M BC
Fish Tortoise Boar Man-Lion
SATYA
2.2M BC
Vamana Parasurama Rama
TRETA
0.9 MBC
Balarama Krishna
DWAPARA
0.03 MBC
KALI
0.4 M AD
The following table summarizes the meaning of Vishnu's past 9 avatars: http://www.comparativereligion.com/avatars.html
Topic
Which avatar's case fits into this scenario
A demon performed austerities and gained too much power over the gods
3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9
The avatar came to save the gods
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9
The avatar came to save humans
1, 3, 4, 6, 7,8
The avatar kills a demon
3,4,7,8
The avatar's form of embodiment
Animal (1, 2, 3), half-beast, half-human (4), human (5, 6, 7, 8, 9) according to how the demon had to be deceived.
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