A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.178

c5.178

AVATĀRA. ‘A descent.’ The incarnation of a deity, especially of Vishnu. The first indication, not of an Avatāra, but of what subsequently developed into an Avatāra, is found in the Rig-veda in the “three steps” of “Vishnu, the unconquerable preserver,” who “strode over this (universe),” and “in three places planted his step.” The early commentators understood the “three places” to be the earth, the atmosphere, and the sky; that in the earth Vishnu was fire, in the air lightning, and in the sky the solar light. One commentator, Aurnavābha, whose name deserves mention, took a more philosophical view of the matter, and interpreted “the three steps” as being “the different positions of the sun at his rising, culmination, and setting.” Sāyana, the great commentator, who lived in days when the god Vishnu had obtained pre-eminence, understood “the three steps” to be “the three steps” taken by that god in his incarnation of Vāmana the dwarf, to be presently noticed. Another reference to “three strides” and to a sort of Avatāra is made in the Taittirīya Sanhitā, where it is said, “Indra, assuming the form of a she-jackal, stepped all round the earth in three (strides). Thus the gods obtained it.”