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yajvan
19 February 2007, 09:49 PM
Hari Om
~~~~~

Namaste,

Does anyone have knowledge of avatar's being defined in the shastra's before the Puranas or the Mahabharata?
[Agnideva, please note item 7, this answers a question you had regarding Indra and visnu last week].

We usally think of the dasa-avatara of Visnu , yet there are 25 I believe… If we look to the Srimad Bhagavatam purana, Twenty-two avatars of Vishnu are called out:

1. Catursana - The Four Sons of Brahma or the 4 kumara's Sanaka, Sanatana, Sanandana and Sanat-Kumara who is also called Skanda . Jai Skandaye namaha! The remover of knots from the heart.
2. Varaha -The boar
3. Narada -The Traveling Sage
4. Nara-Narayana - The Twins; some even say they are Arjuna and Krsna!
5. Kapila - the wise philosopher
6. Dattatreya - Combined Avatar of the trimurthi
7. Yajna- Vishnu temporarily taking the role of Indra (divine mind)
8. Rishabha- Father of Bharata
9. Prithu - King who made earth beautiful and attractive
10. Matsya -The Fish
11. Kurma -The Tortoise
12. Dhanvantari -Father of Ayurveda
13. Mohini -(Beautiful/Charming Woman - ( I know little of her)
14. Narasimha -The Man-Lion; very devoted to is followers
15. Vamana- The Dwarf - yet is able to pace out creation in 3 steps
16. Parasurama - Rama with an Axe ; remover of injustice of the kasatriya (3 times!)
17. Vyasa - Ved Vyasa and composer of the Mahabrahata and organizer of the Vedas, preparing for Kali yuga
18. Ramachandra- The King of Ayodhya, and Brahm, the perfect man/leader ( Jai Sri Ram!)
19. Balarama -Krishna's Elder Brother
20. Krishna - (The Cowherder, Keshava and son of Vasudeva: Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya; The Universal Self, the Fountainhead of all
21. Buddha -The Middle Way, some call the reformer
22. Kalki-The Destroyer - yet to come in Kali yuga

Besides these, another three avatars are described later on in the text as follows and I knowe little about them:
23. Prshnigarbha -Born to Prshni
24. Hayagriva - The Horse
25. Hamsa -The Swan

This makes 25, yet, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is also listed as an avatar and recognized by the Vaishnava tradition.

pranams, and Hari Om Tad Sat

sm78
20 February 2007, 10:12 AM
Thanks for this, informative and interesting.

Hayagriva seems to cut thorugh Sri Vaishnavism, Sr Vidya lore to Tibetan Buddhism!! ... just a curious search in net.

I knew Hayagriva revealed Sri Vidya (right-handed path) to the sage Agastya.

Agnideva
20 February 2007, 12:18 PM
Namaste Yajvan,


Does anyone have knowledge of avatar's being defined in the shastra's before the Puranas or the Mahabharata?
[Agnideva, please note item 7, this answers a question you had regarding Indra and visnu last week].
Ah! Thank you so much Yajvan, now it comes together. It makes sense.

I once read that the pre-Mahabharata texts say that Matsya and Kurma are avatars of Brahmā and not Vishnu! I read this on some website, which I don't recall being very objective, so I am not sure if this is true or not.


1. Catursana - The Four Sons of Brahma or the 4 kumara's Sanaka, Sanatana, Sanandana and Sanat-Kumara who is also called Skanda . Jai Skandaye namaha! The remover of knots from the heart. Thanks for this too :). I was going to ask you a question on your other post whether the Sanat-Kumara = Skanda-Kumara is the same as one of the four Kumaras, sons of Brahmā, who are seated at the foot of Shiva-Dakshināmurti.


This makes 25, yet, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is also listed as an avatar and recognized by the Vaishnava tradition. Swami Narayana (Sahajananda) is also recognized as an Avatar, but only by his followers, as is the case with Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

OM Shanti,
A.

Agnideva
20 February 2007, 12:23 PM
Thanks for this, informative and interesting.

Hayagriva seems to cut thorugh Sri Vaishnavism, Sr Vidya lore to Tibetan Buddhism!! ... just a curious search in net.

I knew Hayagriva revealed Sri Vidya (right-handed path) to the sage Agastya.

Namaskar Singhi,

There is an allegation made by some Tantriks that some of the Avatars were actually acceptance of Tantrik Deities into Vaishnavism.

OM Shanti,
A.