Dashavatar
The 10 avatars or incarnations of Lord Vishnu, who descended on earth to restore cosmic equilibrium from time to time.
1. Matsya meaning "Fish" :
"In this appearance, Lord Vishnu saved the world from a great flood. 'Manu' the first man, caught a little fish that grew to giant size. When the flood approached, Manu saved himself by tying his boat to the horn on the fish's head."
2. Kurma meaning "Turtle" :
" Samudra Manthan - Both the Devas and the Asuras wanted Amrit to be immortal; hence started churning out the ocean of milk, Kshirasagara. Mount Mandara was selected as the churning rod, and the serpent Vasuki-Ananta as the rope. The mountain was not stable due to lack of support at the bottom, which made churning very difficult.
Therefore, Lord Vishnu took this form of a gigantic turtle and lifted the golden mountain on his back. The Devas and Asuras resumed the churning thereafter."
3. Varaha meaning "Boar" :
" The legend says that an Asura named, Hiranyaksha stole the earth and hid her at the bottom of the sea. Lord Vishnu took the form of a boar, and rescued Mother Earth personified as 'Goddess Bhudevi'. He killed Hiranyaksha and carried the goddess on his tusks. Mother Earth was restored to her original place in the universe thereafter."
4. Narasimha meaning "Lion" :
" Hiranyakashipu, the twin brother of Hiranyaksha obtained a boon from Lord Brahma, that he could not be killed - by any human or animal, neither inside nor outside, neither in sky nor on land, neither in heaven nor in Patala, neither in day nor at night, and that no weapon could harm him.
Soon, the asura began troubling the heaven and the earth. His son Prahlada, was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu. Angered and frustrated, Hiranyakashipu once kicked a pillar and asked his son, if his god is present inside the pillar also. Lord Vishnu therefore, emerged out of the pillar and killed Hiranyakashipu, ripping open the belly of the demon.
The evil asura was killed - by a human having the body of an animal, at the threshold, in the lap of Lord Vishnu, at dusk, by his sharp and long nails."
5. Vamana meaning "Dwarf" :
"Once a demon king named 'Bali' ruled the entire universe and the gods lost their power. One fine day, Vamana visited the court of the king and asked for just three feet of land. Amused at the strange request, the asura Bali agreed.
To everyone's surprise, the dwarf took a gigantic form. The first step, covered the whole of earth. The second, spanned the sky and the heavens. For the third step, King Bali bowed down his head and asked the boy to place his feet over his head. Doing so, Lord Vishnu as Vamana pushed Bali down the Patala Lok, the netherworld.
The heavens were finally restored and given back to the Devas."
