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14. THE CONCEPT OF AVATARS
It appears that the number of incarnations increased, till finally an infinite number of incarnations was accepted. It may be an attempt to express the fact that the whole cosmos is permeated with God. After all God is the only reality.
Text Reference Agni Purana II-XVI 8C AD Varaha Purana XXXIX,XLVII 160 AD Satapath Brahmana 1.2.5
Incarnations 10 Avatars including Buddha & Kalki
Fish, Tortoise These were actually the forms of Brahma which later was associated with vishnu Boar, Vamana, Narasimha, and Krishna
Deified heroes Rama-Bhargava, Rama Dasharathi
Narayaneeya of Mahabharata MBh XII 349.37 Mahabharatha XII 338 77-99 4C AD MBh XII 339 104 Bhagavatha Purana 1.3 6/7 C AD
The Garuda P. I.202 10C AD
Visnu Purana Bk I Ch 8 4C AD
Visnu Purana Bk I Ch 21
Hamsa, Kurma, matsya Kalki Brahma, Varaha, Nanda, Nara and Narayana, the philosopher Kapila, Dattareya, Yajna, the Jaina Tirthankara Rsabha, the ancient king Prthu, Matsya, Kurma, the physicin Dhanvantari, Mohini, Narasimha, Vamana, Rama- Jamadagnya Parsurama ), Veda-Vyasa, Rama-Dasaratha, Rama Haladhara, Krishna, Buddha and Kalkin 19 avatars Matsya, Trivikrama, Vamana, Narasimha, Rama, Varaha, Narayana, Kaplia, Datta, Hayagriva, Mahradhvaja, Narada, Kurmi, Dhanvantari, Sesha, Yajna, Vyasa, Buddha and Kalkin that of gods, animals and men, Hari is all that is male; Laksmi is all that is female; there is nothing else than they.' "This Hari, who is the most immediate of all the energies of Brahma, is his embodied shape" 'The Vedas, and their divisions; the institutes of Manu and other lawgivers; traditional scriptures, and religious manuals; poems and all that is said and sung; are the body of the mighty Vishnu, assuming the shape of sound.' 'The delusion of the false teacher paused not with the conversion of the Daityas to the Jaina and Bauddha heresies, but with various erroneous tenets he prevailed upon them to apostatize, until the whole were led astray, and deserted the doctrines and observances inculculated bythe 3 Vedas. [The teacher was an illusory form of Vishnu, while the Daityas could not be destroyed whilst they performed the sacred rites and were slain by the gods]
Visnu Purana Bk I Ch 22
Visnu Purana Bk III Ch 18
KINDS OF AVATARS
Since the number of avatars have been growing and since in most cases, it would be foolish to say that Vishnu incarnated into forms that are defective, and very often unsuitable in character and
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