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14. THE CONCEPT OF AVATARS
The first option is to take seven births on Earth as a devotee of Vishnu, while the second is to take three births as His enemy. After serving either of these sentences, they can re-attain their stature at Vaikuntha and be with Him permanently. Jaya and Vijaya cannot bear the thought of staying away from Vishnu for seven lives. As a result, they choose to be born three times on Earth even though it would have to be as enemies of Vishnu.
In the first life they were born as Hiranyakashipu and Hiranyaksha. Vishnu takes the avatar of Varaha to kill Hiranyaksha, and the Narasimha avatar to kill Hiranyakasipu. In the second life, they were born as Ravana and Kumbhakarna, being defeated by Rama avatar as depicted in the great Hindu epic Ramayana. Finally, in their third life, they were born as Sishupala and Dantavakra during the time of Krishna.
Evidently as a class both the Suras and the Asuras are the same. But there is an ethnic difference indicated. Daityas are identified with the Dravidians. If Diti was Dravidian and Aditi was Aryan then this is the struggle between Dravidians and the Aryans with Vishnu as the Aryan leader who uses trickery and deceit to defeat the Dravidians. Apparently Dravidian faith was not the same as the Aryan faith. Asuras had more direct relationship with Syria on a constant on going basis. Daityas got tremendous strength through their austerities and religious practices. The story of St. Thomas plays around the Dravidan centers mostly except for Kerala where Vedics joined them as a group which was a minority in that area.
Who are the Dravidians?
We usually take Dravidians as people who are native to India and it is considered that they were the original inhabitants of the Mohen Jodero Harappa Civilization. According to the present Dravidian Scholarship they are the descendants of Abrahm of the Old Testament originaly from the Ur of Chaldea. The word Ur indicating village still forms part of the Dravidian languages. In the Old Testament Abraham had another wife other than Sara (which forms the root for Saraswathi) called Keturah. At the the time of partition of properties, Keturah's children were send to the East after given them gifts. These people are said to have settled in the Saraswathi and Sind Area. Their father Abrahm was a sojourner of great power and he was the Father figure for the nation.
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