If you have any association to this part of the World (that is Bharat), it is natural to have got this question in your mind, sometime or other. I am no exception.
So what?
But then, I (too) belong to the same generation which never bothered to know the right answer because we fashioned the idea that Purāṇās are anyway cock-and-bull-stories, so there is no need to probe into the truth about a myth. In fact, each time I tried to give the answer to myself, I used to count anywhere between eight and a dozen or even more. The end result is, that the pictures of these Daśāvatārās haunted me wherever I went, each one appearing with a different combination.
Why should I care?
Whether I like it or not Daśāvatārās is part of my culture. So, instead of facing this question from my offspring sometime in future and end up saying, ‘I do not know’, I embarked on the probe.
What is the difficulty?
The internet age made the process of seeking answers to pertinent questions relating to Indic culture, history is all the more difficult. No! I am not talking only about Wikipedia, with an agenda. I mean, everything that is written and built on misinformation including the websites which generate content on the fly from the garbage that is called ‘data’. To top it all, like an icing on the cake, we have social media.
What is the problem, then?
First, the question now for me was, what is the right question for the header of this post? I considered having a header ‘How many Daśāvatārās are there?’ This may look appropriate for someone who does not even know ‘das‘ is a dhātu (root-word) from saṃskṛtaṃ which means ten. Or perhaps he is also confused like me about the count. Then, I thought my question itself may be considered incorrect, so settled for the above heading which covers everyone who does not know anything about the word.
Since the first part (Daśā) is already inadvertently clarified, let us go the second part of the key word in question viz., avatārā. For humans, animals and other living beings the word birth is used. But when the Paramātama himself decides to appear on this earth, it is called avataraṇa (dissent from above). Whether God exists or whether he takes human or animal forms is not the point here. Maybe we can take that question some other time.
How to determine the right source?
Now the question is, what should be my go to source – which is also authentic – to look for the correct answer(s). Since, the concept (of Daśāvatārās) itself is from Purāṇās, let us see what ṣrimadbhāgavataṃ has to say. For the starters, ṣrimadbhāgavataṃ is one of the aṣṭādaśa (18) mahā purāṇās. These mahā purāṇās and an additional 18 upa purāṇās are all authored by Vyāsa Bhagavān (Vyāsa Maharṣi). This makes our job easy. We do not have to go to multiple Purāṇās for confirmation about avatārās of śrī mahā viṣṇu because all are authored by the same person.
Some more context, please?
Vyāsa Bhagavān (a.k.a Bādarāyaṇa Maharṣi) also authored śrīmahābhārata (which contained the quintessential text for sanātanīs viz., śrīmadbhagavadgīta said to be right from the mouth of bhagavān srīkṛṣna). In addition, Vyāsa also authored Brahmasūtrās, which is more like a compendium of discussions to establish that only brahman / ātman is THE reality and everything else is not. Here, you may wonder why the same person who wrote Brahmasūtrās also wrote Purāṇās. This is because the ancient riṣī’s recognized the adhikāra bheda (individuals having different levels of competency). Niruktaṃ (the science of etymology) under vedāṃgas (auxiliary limbs which are internal to Vedās) points out that the understanding of reality is layered in three different levels. (1) ādidaivika (primordial) (2) ādibhautika (physical) (3) ādhyātmika (spiritual). We can talk about these in detail at a different time. But the point here is that these different works of Vyāsa have different level / stage of target audience for each category.
So, what is in scope now?
Having now understood the layered approach, our scope for the inquiry is limited to jotting down what are all the avatārās of śrī mahā viṣṇu. We will now see that we find all the details we want in Canto 1 – Chapter 3 of ṣrimadbhāgavataṃ. You can see all relevant ślokās at the end.
Vyāsa Bhagavān cautions that avatārās of śrī mahā viṣṇu are countless and attempting to count is like counting the number of streams which source water to a perennial water-body (1.3.26).
So, what is the verdict?
(1) Initially, consider the Virāṭ or Puruṣa rūpa (form) of śrī mahā viṣṇu as the indestructible seed which gives form to all the jīvās (sentient beings) (1.3.5)
(2) First, Brahmā (and his four sons viz., Sanaka, Sanaṃdana et al) (1.3.6)
(3) Second, Varāha (1.3.7)
(4) Third, Devarṣi Nārada (1.3.8)
(5) Fourth, (a) Nara (b) Nārāyaṇa (twin sons of King Dharma) (1.3.9)
(6) Fifth, Kapila Maharṣi (who founded ṣāṃkhya) (1.3.10)
(7) Sixth, Dattātreya (born to atri maharṣi and anasūya devi) (taught spirituality to alarka, prahlāda, yaduvu, haihaya and others) (1.3.11)
(8) Seventh, King Yajñā (born to Prajāpati Ruci and ākūti during svāyaṃbhuva manvaṃtaraṃ) (1.3.12)
(9) Eighth, ṛṣabhadevuḍu (born to mahārāju nābhi and merūdevi) (1.3.13)
(10) Ninth, Pṛdhu Mahāraja (Founded agriculture and herbal cultivation. Mother Earth got her second name pṛdhvi from him). (1.3.14)
Milestone: Vaivasvata Manvaṃtara – Current period of Manu starts, post completion of previous Manu‘s (Cākṣuṣa Manvaṃtara) term.
(11) Tenth, Matsya (1.3.15)
(12) Eleventh, Kūrma (1.3.16)
(13) Twelfth, Dhanvaṃtari (during samudra mathanaṃ)) (1.3.17)
(14) Thirteenth, Mohini (alongside dhanvaṃtari during the same event viz., samudra mathanaṃ) (1.3.17)
(15) Fourteenth, Narasiṃha (1.3.18)
(16) Fifteenth, Vāmana (1.3.19)
(17) Sixteenth, Paraśurāma (1.3.20)
(18) Seventeenth, Vyāsa (born to Parāśara and Satyavati) (1.3.21)
(19) Eighteenth, Rāma (1.3.22)
(20) Nineteenth, (a) śrī kṣna and (b) Balarāma (1.3.23)
Milestone: Sūta Muni who was narrating all these verses under reference is fore-telling the future avatārās.
(21) Twentieth, Buddha (to seduce those who hate theists) (1.3.24)
(22) Twenty first, Kalki
Now count the major avatārās yourself.
So, what is the moral?
(1) If something is so obvious, yet so confusing, inquire and find out yourself. (2) Never depend on Wikipedia or Quora, find the right text / scripture. (3) Remember there is no substitute for a competent guru.
Happy exploring!
Image Courtesy: Manju Sattiraju
P.S.: All errors / mistakes are my own
References
From: ṣrimadbhāgavataṃ – Canto 1 – Chapter 3
etannānāvatārāṇāṃ nidhānaṃ bījamavyayam ।
yasyāṃśāṃśena sṛjyante devatiryaṅnarādayaḥ ॥ 1.3.5॥
sa eva prathamaṃ devaḥ kaumāraṃ sargamāśritaḥ ।
cacāra duścaraṃ brahmā brahmacaryamakhaṇḍitam ॥ 1.3.6॥
dvitīyaṃ tu bhavāyāsya rasātalagatāṃ mahīm ।
uddhariṣyannupādatta yajñeśaḥ saukaraṃ vapuḥ ॥ 1.3.7॥
tṛtīyaṃ ṛṣisargaṃ ca devarṣitvamupetya saḥ ।
tantraṃ sātvatamācaṣṭa naiṣkarmyaṃ karmaṇāṃ yataḥ ॥ 1.3.8॥
turye dharmakalāsarge naranārāyaṇāvṛṣī ।
bhūtvā”tmopaśamopetamakarodduścaraṃ tapaḥ ॥ 1.3.9॥
pañcamaḥ kapilo nāma siddheśaḥ kālaviplutam ।
provācāsuraye sāṅkhyaṃ tattvagrāmavinirṇayam ॥ 1.3.10॥
ṣaṣṭhamatrerapatyatvaṃ vṛtaḥ prāpto’nasūyayā ।
ānvīkṣikīmalarkāya prahlādādibhya ūcivān ॥ 1.3.11॥
tataḥ saptama ākūtyāṃ ruceryajño’bhyajāyata ।
sa yāmādyaiḥ suragaṇairapātsvāyambhuvāntaram ॥ 1.3.12॥
aṣṭame merudevyāṃ tu nābherjāta urukramaḥ ।
darśayan vartma dhīrāṇāṃ sarvāśramanamaskṛtam ॥ 1.3.13॥
ṛṣibhiryācito bheje navamaṃ pārthivaṃ vapuḥ ।
dugdhemāmoṣadhīrviprāstenāyaṃ sa uśattamaḥ ॥ 1.3.14॥
rūpaṃ sa jagṛhe mātsyaṃ cākṣuṣodadhisamplave ।
nāvyāropya mahīmayyāmapādvaivasvataṃ manum ॥ 1.3.15॥
surāsurāṇāmudadhiṃ mathnatāṃ mandarācalam ।
dadhre kamaṭharūpeṇa pṛṣṭha ekādaśe vibhuḥ ॥ 1.3.16॥
dhānvantaraṃ dvādaśamaṃ trayodaśamameva ca ।
apāyayatsurānanyān mohinyā mohayan striyā ॥ 1.3.17॥
caturdaśaṃ nārasiṃhaṃ bibhraddaityendramūrjitam ।
dadāra karajairvakṣasyerakāṃ kaṭakṛdyathā ॥ 1.3.18॥
pañcadaśaṃ vāmanakaṃ kṛtvāgādadhvaraṃ baleḥ ।
padatrayaṃ yācamānaḥ pratyāditsustriviṣṭapam ॥ 1.3.19॥
avatāre ṣoḍaśame paśyan brahmadruho nṛpān ।
triḥsaptakṛtvaḥ kupito niḥkṣatrāmakaronmahīm ॥ 1.3.20॥
tataḥ saptadaśe jātaḥ satyavatyāṃ parāśarāt ।
cakre vedataroḥ śākhā dṛṣṭvā puṃso’lpamedhasaḥ ॥ 1.3.21॥
naradevatvamāpannaḥ surakāryacikīrṣayā ।
samudranigrahādīni cakre vīryāṇyataḥ param ॥ 1.3.22॥
ekonaviṃśe viṃśatime vṛṣṇiṣu prāpya janmanī ।
rāmakṛṣṇāviti bhuvo bhagavānaharadbharam ॥ 1.3.23॥
tataḥ kalau sampravṛtte sammohāya suradviṣām ।
buddho nāmnājanasutaḥ kīkaṭeṣu bhaviṣyati ॥ 1.3.24॥
athāsau yugasandhyāyāṃ dasyuprāyeṣu rājasu ।
janitā viṣṇuyaśaso nāmnā kalkirjagatpatiḥ ॥ 1.3.25॥
avatārā hyasaṅkhyeyā hareḥ sattvanidherdvijāḥ ।
yathāvidāsinaḥ kulyāḥ sarasaḥ syuḥ sahasraśaḥ ॥ 1.3.26॥