History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c91.267.1

v7.c91.267.1

declines and impiety grows up, I create myself. Age after age I am born for the protection of the good, for the destruction of evil-doers and the establishment of piety'. The same idea occurs in some of the *parvans* of the Mahābhārata, as in Vanaparva 272. 71 and Āśvamedhika-parva 54. 13. None of the ten *avatāras*, except those of Kṛṣṇa and probably Rāma, ('Rāmaḥ śastrabhṛtām-ahaṁ', Gītā X. 31) are, however, mentioned by name in the Bhagavad-gītā. The number and names of the avatāras are not uniform in the Mahābhārata. In the Nārāyaṇīya section of the Śāntiparva (chap. 339. verses 77-102) only six avatāras and their exploits are expressly mentioned, viz Varāha (bringing up the earth submerged in the ocean), Narasiṁha (killing demon Hiraṇyakaśipu), Vāmana (vanquishing Bali and making him dwell in Pātāla), Bhārgava Rāma (extirpating kṣatriyas), Rāma, son of Daśaratha (killing Rāvaṇa), Kṛṣṇa (killing or vanquishing Kaṁsa, Narakāsura, Bāṇa, Kālayavana, Jarāsandha, Śiśupāla). Then the same chapter¹⁶²² mentions ten avatāras as follows: Haṁsa, Kūrma, Matsya, Varāha, Narasiṁha, Vāmana, Rāma (Bhārgava), Rāma Dāśarathi, Sātvata, Kalki. Here Buddha is omitted and Kṛṣṇa is called Sātvata and Haṁsa is added. In the Harivaṁśa¹⁶²³ it is said that the past avatāras have been thousands and in future also they would be thousands. Śāntiparva says the same thing. The Harivaṁśa (I. 41. 27 ff) names only the following and their exploits, viz.