Elements of Hindu Iconography v1.c11.2

v1.c11.2

INCARNATIONS of divinity are considered to be of three kinds which are respectively called avatāra, āvēśa and aṁśa. What has to be taken as a complete incarnation is designated an avatāra, a partial incarnation is more or less temporary in character and is known as āvēśa, while the incarnation of a portion of the power of a divine being is characterised as aṁśa. Kṛishṇa and Rāma, for instance, are understood to be complete incarnations of Vishṇu and are therefore avatāras. Paraśurāma came into the world, it is said, to suppress the haughtiness of the unruly Kshatriyas, for that was the God-appointed mission of his life. This work he finished long before his life came to an end. In fact it is supposed that, being a chirañjivi or ever-living personage, he is still alive. Soon after the completion of the mission of his life, he met Raghurāma and handed over his own divine powers to him and retired to the mountain known as the Mahēndra-parvata. The divine power thus possessed by Paraśurāma was with him but for a short time; it was not a life-long endowment; hence his incarnation is considered to be an āveśa or temporary possession. Again, for instance, the śankha and the chakra of Viṣṇu as representing parts and aspects of his power, are conceived to be occasionally ordered by Viṣṇu, to be born among men to improve them in their ways and bring about a betterment in their condition. When these emblems of the aspects of divine power are born as embodied beings upon the earth, they become saints and achieve the purpose of their earthly incarnation. Such beings represent the aṃśas of Viṣṇu. The most commonly accepted and recognised incarnations of Viṣṇu are ten in number; and they are declared to have been assumed on ten different occasions by him with a view to destroy certain asuras and to set right the wrong done to the world by them. These ten avatāras of Viṣṇu are Matsya (fish), Kūrma (tortoise), Varāha (boar), Nārasimha (man-lion), Vāmana (the dwarf) including Trivikrama, Paraśurāma, Raghurāma, Kṛṣṇa, Buddha and Kalki. Some Hindu authorities do not consider Buddha to be an avatāra of Viṣṇu, and substitute in its place Balarāma, the elder brother of Kṛṣṇa, as an avatāra.