24 Avatars of Lord Vishnu: Divine Incarnations Across Time

24 Avatars of Lord Vishnu: Whenever evil increases on earth, Lord Vishnu takes an Avatar. In this way, it is said that he has taken 24 Avatars.

Only a few of his incarnations are popular among familiar people, but being nourishing, all 24 Avatars of Lord Vishnu have always saved the earth and humanity.

Lord Ram and Lord Krishna are incarnations of Lord Vishnu. Every avatar of Lord Vishnu has different qualities.

The quality of the Ram Avatar is that he is Purushottam, which means ‘supreme being.’ Like Lord Ram, the qualities of Lord Krishna are forgiveness and justice.

According to the Puranas, Lord Vishnu has 24 Incarnations, of which 23 have occurred so far, and the 24th Incarnation is yet to happen in the form of ‘Kalki Avatar.’

Out of these 24 incarnations, 10 are considered the main Avatars of Vishnu ji. They are popular among the people but provide very little information about the remaining 14 incarnations.

Lord Vishnu has taken many incarnations to protect the people and earth from evil. Today, we will tell you about the 24 incarnations Lord Vishnu took on earth to protect religion.

In this blog, we will discuss the qualities of the 24 Avatars of Lord Vishnu and learn the importance of these Avatars.

What is the Purpose of the 24 Avatars of Lord Vishnu?

The 24 Avatars of Lord Vishnu are said to come down to the planet to give power to good, defeat evil, lighten the load of the world, and bring peace. Each Avatar has a different purpose, which is to provide peace to society.

It is thought that “Avatar” or divine descendant means the Supreme Divine, assuming a temporary human form for his purposes, which are supposed to point towards the well-being of the world, which is his creation. Possibly,

Bhagwan Vishnu has taken birth on earth 23 times, and the 24th avatar is yet to be recognized as the ‘Kalki Avatar.’

Among these 24 avatars, 10 avatars, known as Dashavatara, are regarded as the prominent incarnations of Vishnu.

These Dasavatar are Matsya avatar, Kurma avatar, Varaha avatar, Narasimha avatar, Vamana avatar, Parashuram avatar, Rama avatar, Krishna avatar, Buddha avatar and Kalki avatar.

Among all the Avatars, Shri Krishna is the only one considered a Purna Avatar, a direct and full embodiment of the Supreme Divine Himself.

24 Avatars of Lord Vishnu

In this section, we will discuss the 24 Avatars of Lord Vishnu. These 24 Avatars of Lord Vishnu are– ​Shri Sankadi Muni, Varaha Avatar, Narada Avatar, Nar-Narayan, Kapil Muni, Dattatreya Avatar, Yajna, Lord Rishabhdev, Adiraj Prithu, Matsya Avatar, Kurma Avatar, Lord Dhanvantari, Mohini Avatar, Lord Narasimha, Vamana Avatar, Hayagriva Avatar, Shrihari Avatar, Parshuram avatar, Maharishi Vedvyas, Hans avatar, Shri Ram avatar, Krishna Avatar, Buddha Avatar, and Kalki Avatar.​

These Avatars are described as follows:

1. Shri Sankadi Muni Avatar

According to the Hindu scriptures, Lord Brahma underwent intense penance in the early stages of creation with a wish to form many worlds.

Gratified with Lord Brahma’s penance, Lord Vishnu incarnated as four sages, Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatana, and Sanatkumara, from the Manas Putras of Brahma Ji.

The prefix ‘San’ indicates penance. These four were devoted to salvation from the beginning, involved in contemplation, always accomplished, and forever detached. They are regarded as the first avatars of Lord Vishnu.

2. Varaha Avatar

As per the religious texts, the second Avatar of Lord Vishnu is Varaha Avatar. The mythological tale associated with Varaha Avatar is as follows-

In the ancient period, when the demon, Hiranyaksha, stole the earth and hid it in the ocean, Lord Vishnu incarnated as Varaha (the boar) from Lord Brahma’s nose.

All the gods and sages praised this form of Lord Vishnu. Lord Varaha began to look for the earth on all people’s insistence.

He found the world with his snout, entered the sea, and took it out by placing it on his teeth.

When the demon, Hiranyaksha, witnessed this, he provoked Lord Vishnu’s Varaha incarnation into a battle. There was a terrible battle between the two.

Ultimately, Lord Varaha slew Hiranyaksha. Then, Lord Varaha halted the water and set the earth upon it with his hooves.

3. Narada Avatar​

According to the Puranas, Devarshi Narada is also one of Lord Vishnu’s incarnations and is considered the Manas Putra of Brahma Ji.

Lord Vishnu took incarnation on earth through the Narada Avatar to give his teachings.

He has achieved the status of Devarshi through severe penance and is one of the select devotees of Lord Vishnu.

Devarshi Narad always works to spread religion and ensure the well-being of the people.

In the scriptures, he is also referred to as the mind of God. In the 26th verse of the tenth chapter of Shrimad Bhagwat Geeta, Lord Krishna himself acknowledges his significance and says, “Devarshi Namchan Narad.” That is, I am Narad among the Devarshis.

4. Nar-Narayan

Nar-Narayan is the fourth Avatar of Lord Vishnu. At the beginning of creation, Lord Vishnu took two incarnations to establish religion.

In this incarnation, he wore matted locks on his head. He had a swan in his hands, a chakra in his feet, and a Shrivatsa symbol on his chest.

His entire appearance was like that of an ascetic. According to religious texts, Lord Vishnu took this incarnation in the form of Nar-Narayan.

5. Kapil Muni Avatar

Kapil Muni Avatar is said to be the fifth incarnation of Lord Vishnu. He was a great Hindu saint who developed the Sankhya philosophy.

His father’s name was Maharshi Kardam, and his mother’s name was Devahuti. When Bhishma Pitamah died, Bhagwan Kapil, along with Vedgya Vyas and other sages, was present on his deathbed.

Because of Bhagwan Kapil’s anger, sixty thousand sons of King Sagar were reduced to ashes.

Bhagwan Kapil is the founder of the Sankhya philosophy. Kapil Muni is one of the twelve main Acharyas of the Bhagwat religion.

6. Dattatreya Avatar

Dattatreya Avatar is also one of the 24 Avatars of Lord Vishnu. Once, Goddess Lakshmi, Parvati, and Saraswati became excessively arrogant about their chastity towards their husbands. God arranged a Leela to deflate their pride.

In accordance, one day, Naradji arrived at Devlok while wandering and visited the three goddesses individually and informed them that their virtue was nothing compared to Anusuiya, wife of sage Atri.

The three goddesses informed their husbands and requested them to test Anusuiya’s fidelity to her husband.

Then, Lord Shankar, Vishnu, and Brahma went to Atri Muni’s ashram disguised as sages. Maharishi Atri was not present at the ashram at that time.

All three requested alms from Devi Anusuiya but also mentioned that you would have to offer us alms by becoming naked.

Anusuiya was surprised to learn this initially, but then, not wishing to offend the sages, she recalled her husband.

She stated that if my loyalty to my husband were absolute, then these three sages should turn into babies six months old.

The moment she uttered these words, the Tridev began weeping like infants. Then Anusuya turned into a mother and embraced them in her lap, nursed them, and began to rock them in the cradle.

The goddesses grew worried when the three gods failed to return to their positions. Then, Narada arrived there and narrated the entire incident.

The three goddesses approached Anusuya and apologized. Then Goddess Anusuya transformed the Tridev into their former shape.

Satisfied, Tridev granted her a boon that stated all three of us would be born as sons from your womb with our parts.

Then Chandrama was born from Brahma’s part, Durvasa from Shankar’s part, and Dattatreya from Vishnu’s part.

7. Yajna Avatar

Yagya was the seventh Avatar of Lord Vishnu. As per the religious texts, Lord Yagya was born during the Swayambhuva Manvantar.

Aakuti was delivered by Swayambhuva Manu’s wife, Shatarupa, from her womb. She was the wife of Ruchi Prajapati.

Lord Vishnu was born to Aakuti as Yagya. Lord Yagya also gave birth to twelve extremely intelligent sons from his wife, Dakshina.

During the Swayambhuva Manvantar, they were known as the twelve gods named Yam.

8. Rishabhdev Avatar

The eighth incarnation of Lord Vishnu is Rishabhdev. Religious texts say Maharaj Nabhi had no children.

Hence, he did a yagya along with his wife Merudevi with the aspiration of having a son.

Being satisfied with the yagya, Lord Vishnu himself manifested and blessed Maharaj Nabhi, saying that he would be born as his son.

As a blessing, after a few years, Lord Vishnu was born as a son of Maharaj Nabhi. Seeing the son’s immensely beautiful and healthy body, Maharaj Nabhi named him Rishabh (the best) because he possessed fame, oil, strength, wealth, glory, valor, and bravery.

9. Adiraj Prithu Avatar

The name of another incarnation of Lord Vishnu is Adiraj Prithu. Religious texts state that in Swayambhuva Manu’s lineage, Prajapati, named Ang, was wedded to Sunitha, the mental daughter of death.

They had a son named Ven. He did not believe in God and requested worship of himself.

Then, the sages killed him with mantra-imbued Kusha grass. Then, the sages churned the arms of childless King Ven, from which a son named Prithu was born.

When the sages saw the chakra in Prithu’s right hand and the lotus mark on his feet, they declared that an incarnation of Shri Hari himself had come in the form of Prithu.

10. Matsya Avatar

The 10th Incarnation of Lord Vishnu was Matsya Avatar (fish) to rescue the world from doom.

According to the tale, King Satyavrat was bathing Jalanjali in the river one day. Suddenly, a tiny fish approached his Anjali.

When he planned to release it in the sea, that fish said – Don’t send me to the sea. Otherwise, the big fish would devour me, and King Satyavrat would put the fish in his Kamandal.

When the fish grew more significant, the king kept it in his lake. When the fish saw it, it grew larger.

The king realized that this was not a normal creature. The king begged the fish to come in actual form. When the king prayed, the lord Vishnu came and said, “This is my mermaid.”

God informed Satyavrat—O King Satyavrat, there will be a tragedy seven days henceforth. Subsequently, a mighty ship would approach you with my inspiration.

Take the subtle body of the Sapta sages (Sapta Rishi), medicines, seeds, and animals and enter it. Once your vessel begins to waver, I will visit you in the guise of a fish.

Then you fasten that boat with my horn by Vasuki Nag. At that time, I will respond to you by questioning so that my glory, which goes by the name of Parabrahma, will be exposed in your heart.

Then, when the hour arrived, the fishery god Vishnu expounded philosophy to King Satyavrat, who is renowned by the name Matsyapuran.

11. Kurma Avatar

According to religious scriptures, Lord Vishnu took the form of a Kurma (tortoise) and helped churn the ocean.

Lord Vishnu then assumed the shape of a gigantic Kurma and became the foundation of Mount Mandara into the sea.

Maharishi Durvasa cursed Indra, the king of gods, to dehumanize him at one point in time.

When Indra approached Lord Vishnu, he requested him to churn the ocean. Then, Indra also consented to churn the ocean along with the demons and gods.

Mandarachal Mountain was converted into a churner to churn the sea, and Nagraj Vasuki was netted.

The gods and demons, forgetting their past enmity, pulled up Mandarachal and moved him towards the sea, but they were not able to take him far. Then Lord Vishnu put Mandarachal on the seashore.

The demons and gods transformed Mandarachal into the sea and transformed Nagaraja Vasuki into a leader.

But with no foundation below Mandarachal, he began to drown in the ocean. Lord Vishnu saw this, took the form of a gigantic Kurma (turtle), and became the foundation of Mandarachal in the sea.

Mandarachal began moving very quickly over the massive back of Lord Kurma, and thus, the sea churning was done.

12. Lord Dhanvantari

Lord Dhanvantri is another incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Dhanvantri is the god who appeared with a pot of nectar in his hand after the gods and demons churned the ocean. He is also known as the god of Ayurveda and is worshipped for good health.

According to religious texts, when the gods and demons churned the ocean together, the first thing that came out of it was a deadly poison that Lord Shiva drank.

After this, the Ucchaishrava horse, Goddess Lakshmi, Airavat elephant, Kalpa tree, Apsaras, and many other gems came out of the ocean churning.

At last, Lord Dhanvantari appeared with the Amrit Kalash. This Dhanvantari is considered to be the incarnation of Lord Vishnu, the lord of medicine.

13. Mohini Avatar

According to the religious texts, when Lord Dhanvantari came out from the ocean with the pot of nectar, the discipline between gods and demons was lost.

The gods declared we should take it; the demons said we should take it. In this tug-of-war, Indra’s son Jayant stole the pot of nectar. There was a violent battle between the demons and the gods.

The Gods got worried and approached Lord Vishnu. So, Lord Vishnu took the form of Mohini. God bewitched all in the form of Mohini.

Mohini heard the Gods and Demons and told them that if they offered me this pot of nectar, I would let the Gods and Demons drink nectar one by one. Both agreed to it. The Gods sat on one side and the Demons on the other.

Then Lord Vishnu, as Mohini, began distributing Amrit to the Gods and Demons by singing pleasant songs and dancing.

Mohini was distributing Amrit only to the Gods, and the demons believed that they were also drinking Amrit. Thus, Lord Vishnu did a good thing to the Gods by becoming Mohini.

14. Narasimha Avatar

Lord Narasimha Avatar is the fourteenth incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Lord Narasimha is the half-human and half-lion incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Narasimha is a half-human and half-lion incarnation of Vishnu.

Lord Narasimha was conceived to end the demonic reign of King Hiranyakashyapu and ensure peace, order, righteousness, and other things constituting dharma on planet Earth.

Lord Vishnu descended to earth on his fourteenth avatar in the form of Narasimha, with a body similar to a lion on his top half and a human lower body.

In this form of Lord Vishnu, Narasimha defended Prahlada from his father, Hiranyakashipu, who was a demon.

Narasimha slew Hiranyakashipu by ripping apart his body using his nails. Lord Vishnu was forced to acquire this form because Lord Brahma had sanctified Hiranyakashipu so that no Human creature could kill him.

15. Vamana Avatar

Vamana was a brahmin. This avatar of Lord Vishnu appears and verifies King Mahabali’s increasing strength by cheating him during a sacrificing ritual when Bali, the demon king, had taken over the whole three worlds.

For the restoration of the gods’ power over heaven, Lord Vishnu, in the form of a dwarf, approached Bali when he was engaged in performing a ‘Yagya‘ and requested land covered by his three steps.

When Bali agreed, he transformed his form from a tiny dwarf to a giant. Consequently, he covered all three worlds with his two steps. Ultimately, he regained heaven for the deities.

16. Hayagriva Avatar

According to religious scriptures, two mighty demons named Madhu and Kaitabh stole the Vedas from Brahma once upon a time and achieved Rasatal.

Brahma was extremely sad because of this theft and approached Lord Vishnu. Then, God incarnated himself in the form of Hayagriva.

In this form, Lord Vishnu had a horse-like face and neck. Then Lord Hayagriva arrived in Rasatal, killed the Madhu-Kaitabh, and restored the Vedas to Lord Brahma.

17. Shrihari Avatar​

The seventeenth incarnation was Shri Hari. According to the legend, a mighty Gajendra resided along with his arms in the valley of the Trikuta mountain.

One day, he went for a bath to the pond along with his arms. A crocodile caught his leg and began pulling it into the water.

The battle between Gajendra and the crocodile lasted for one thousand years. Finally, Gajendra falls, and he thinks of Lord Srihari.

Upon hearing Gajendra’s eulogy, Lord Srihari appeared and slew the crocodile with his chakra. Lord Srihari rescued Gajendra and appointed him as his counsellor.

18. Parshuram Avatar

The eighteenth avatar of Lord Vishnu was Parshurama. According to the tale, Haiyavanshi Kshatriya Kartavirya Arjuna, the powerful one (Sahastrabahu), ruled the city of Mahishmati.

He used to be highly proud and tyrannical, too. After one requested Agnidev to have food, Sahastrabahu entered loudly and boasted that where you wish to take food, everywhere I dominate. Then, Agnidev began burning forests.

In a forest, there was sage Aapava performing penance. Agni also destroyed his ashram.

The sage, angry with Sahastrabahu, cursed that Lord Vishnu would take birth as Parashurama and destroy Sahastrabahu and all Kshatriyas.

Lord Vishnu was thus born as the fifth son of Maharishi Jamadagri of the Bhargava clan.

19. Maharishi Vedvyas Avatar

The nineteenth Avatar of Lord Vishnu is Maharishi Vedvyas. Maharishi Ved Vyas is also part of Lord Vishnu in the Puranas.

Lord Vedvyas was the avatar of Narayan. He manifested as the son of the great sage Maharishi Parashar.

He was born on the island of Yamuna from the Satyavati womb and was the foster daughter of Kaivartraj.

His complexion was black, so one of his names was Krishnadvaipayana. He separated the Vedas based on the strength and age of human beings. Hence, he is also referred to as Ved Vyas. He also wrote the Mahabharata.

20. Hans Avatar

One day, Lord Brahma was sitting in his court. Then, his Manas Putra Sankadi arrived there and began talking about the salvation of human beings with Lord Brahma.

Lord Vishnu arrived there in the form of Maha Hans, and he resolved the confusion of the Sankadi sages. Then, all the people began worshipping Lord Hans.

The Shri Bhagwan became invisible in the form of Maha Hans and departed for his sacred abode.

21. Shri Ram Avatar

During Treta Yuga, demon king Ravana was highly fearful. Even the gods used to fear him.

To slay him, Lord Vishnu took birth as the son of King Dasharath from Mother Kaushalya’s womb. In this avatar, Lord Vishnu slew numerous demons and obeyed the rules.

He took exile at his father’s behest. During his exile, the demon king Ravana abducted his wife, Mata Sita.

In search of Maa Sita, the Lord journeyed to Lanka, where a fierce war raged between Lord Rama and Ravana, in which Ravana was slain.

This way, Lord Vishnu emancipated the gods from terror by assuming the form of Rama.

22. Krishna Avatar

In Dwaparyug, Lord Vishnu killed the evil-doers by becoming Shri Krishna. Lord Shri Krishna was born in jail.

His father’s name was Vasudev, and his mother’s name was Devaki. Lord Shri Krishna showed many miracles in this birth and killed the evil-doers.

Lord Krishna also killed Kansa. He was Arjun’s charioteer during the Mahabharata war and taught the world the Gita.

He installed Dharma by enthroning Dharmaraja Yudhishthira as king. This form of Lord Vishnu is the finest of all incarnations.

23. Buddha Avatar

The 23rd incarnation of Lord Vishnu is Lord Buddha. There are several mythological tales about this avatar of Lord Vishnu.

He was born in Lumbini as Siddhārtha Gautama, later known as Gautama Buddha. He founded Buddhism and taught people the noble eightfold path to end all forms of suffering.

24. Kalki Avatar

Kalki is the last and 24th avatar of Vishnu, who has not yet been born. He is believed to destroy all evil by defeating the demon Kali and creating new elements personified into one.

Kalki is shown as a warrior mounted on a Satyayuga or Kalkiyuga. Kali is all the evil feelings, and a white horse carrying a radiant sword.

Despite the variation in form or era, all his avatars had one universal aim, i.e., to eradicate all evil and to restore Dharma, the path of salvation. This is why Lord Vishnu is referred to as the protector and preserver of the universe.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we have described the 24 Avatars of Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu has taken incarnations on this planet from time to time. To protect the Dharma and bring peace, he underwent several incarnations.

It is said that the 24th incarnation of Lord Vishnu’s coming in the form of ‘Kalki Avatar’ is inevitable.

So far, Vishnu Ji has had 23 incarnations on earth. Of these, 10 are considered the prominent incarnations.

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