Bhagwan Vishnu incarnated every time to protect Dharma. Authentic stories of (Das)10 avatars of
Bhagwan Shri Vishnu i.e. Dashavatar.
Matsya Avatar:
According to the Puranas, Bhagwan Vishnu took the
avatar of Matsya to save the universe from the (Holocaust) pralay. Its story is as follows- King Satyavrat became king at the beginning of Krityug. One day King Satyavrat was bathing in the river and giving water. Suddenly a small fish came into his Anjali. When he saw it, he thought to put me back in the ocean, but that fish said - don't put me in the ocean, otherwise big fish will eat me. Then King Satyavrat kept the fish in his kamandal. When the fish became bigger, the king kept it in his lake, then on seeing the fish became bigger.
The king understood that this was no ordinary creature. The king prayed to the fish to come back in its original form. Hearing the prayer of the king, Bhagwan Vishnu appeared in front of the four arms and he said that this is my Matsya avatar. Bhagwan said to Satyavrat - Listen, King Satyavrat! There will be a holocaust (Pralay) after seven days from today. Then a huge boat will come to you by my inspiration. You take the subtle bodies of the seven rishi’s, medicines, seeds and living beings and sit in it, when your boat starts to wobble, then I will come to you in the form of a fish. At that time, you should tie that boat to my horn with the help of Vasuki Nag. When you ask a question at that time, I will answer you, so that my glory, which is known as Parabrahma, will be revealed in your heart. Then when the time came, Bhagwan Vishnu, who is in the form of Matsya, preached Tatwgyan to King Satyavrat, which is famous by the name Matsyapuran.
Kurma Avatar:
According to religious texts, Bhagwan Vishnu took the avatar of Kurma (turtle) and helped in churning the ocean (Samudra Manthan). Kurma Avatar of Bhagwan Vishnu is also called Kachhap Avatar. Its story is as follows - Once Maharishi Durvasa cursed Indra, the king of the Bhagwan's, to make him Shrine. When Indra went to Bhagwan Vishnu, he asked him to churn the ocean. Then Indra agreed to churn the ocean along with the demons and deities as instructed by Bhagwan Vishnu.
For churning the ocean, Mandarachal mountain was made Mathani and Nagraj Vasuki was made the leader. The Bhagwan's and the demons, forgetting their differences, uprooted Mandarachal and carried it towards the sea, but they could not take it far. Then Bhagwan Vishnu placed Mandarachal on the beach. The Bhagwan's and demons put Mandarachal in the sea and made Nagraj Vasuki the leader. But due to no base under Mandarachal, he started drowning in the sea. Seeing this, Bhagwan Vishnu assumed the form of a giant Kurma (turtle) and became the base of Mandarachal in the sea. Mandarachal started moving fast on the huge back of Bhagwan Kurma and thus the churning of the ocean was completed.
Varaha Avatar:
According to religious texts, Bhagwan Vishnu took the second avatar in the form of Varaha. The story related to Varaha Avatar is as follows - In ancient times, when the demon Hiranyaksha took the earth and hid it in the sea, then Bhagwan Vishnu appeared in the form of Varaha from the nose of Brahma. Seeing this form of Bhagwan Vishnu, all the Bhagwan's and sages praised him. At everyone's request,
Bhagwan Varaha started searching for the earth. With the help of his snout, he traced the earth and by going inside the sea on his teeth, he brought the earth out.
When the demon Hiranyaksha saw this, he challenged the Varaha form of Bhagwan Vishnu to fight. A fierce battle ensued between the two. In the end Bhagwan Varaha killed Hiranyaksha. After this Bhagwan Varaha pillared the water with his hooves and established the earth on it.
Bhagwan Narasimha:
Bhagwan Vishnu incarnated as Narasimha and killed Hiranyakashipu, the king of the demons. The story of this avatar is as follows - According to religious texts, Hiranyakashipu, the king of the demons, considered himself stronger than Bhagwan. He had the boon of dying neither by man, nor by Bhagwan, nor by birds, nor by weapons, neither in the day nor in the night, nor on earth, nor in the sky, nor by weapons. Under his rule, whoever worshiped Bhagwan Vishnu was punished. His son's name was Prahlad. Prahlad was an ardent devotee of Bhagwan Vishnu since childhood. When Hiranyakashipu came to know about this, he became very angry and tried to convince Prahlad, but still, when Prahlad did not agree, Hiranyakashipu gave him the death sentence.
Every time he was saved by the miracle of Bhagwan Vishnu. Hiranyakashipu's sister Holika, who had the boon of not burning with fire, sat in the blazing fire with Prahlad. Even then, by the grace of Bhagwan Vishnu, Prahlad was saved and Holika was burnt. When Hiranyakashipu himself was about to kill Prahlad, Bhagwan Vishnu appeared from the pillar in the form of
Narasimha and killed Hiranyakashipu with his nails.
Vamana Avatar:
In Satyayuga, Prahlad's grandson Daityaraj Bali took control of heaven. All the Bhagwan's went to Bhagwan Vishnu to avoid this calamity. Then Bhagwan Vishnu said that I myself will give you the kingdom of heaven after being born from the womb of Devmata Aditi. After some time Bhagwan Vishnu was incarnated as Vamana.
Once when Bali was performing a great sacrifice, Bhagwan Vamana went to Bali's yagyasala and asked King Bali to donate three steps of land. King Bali's guru Shukracharya understood Bhagawan's Leela and refused to donate to Bali. But Bali nevertheless resolved to donate three steps of the earth to Bhagwan Vamana. Bhagwan Vaman assumed a gigantic form and measured the earth in one step and the heavenly world in the other step. When there was no place left to take the third step, Bali asked Bhagwan Vamana to keep the step on his head. By keeping a foot on Bali's head, he reached Suttalok. Seeing the valor of Bali, Bhagawan also made him the Bhagwan of Sutallok. In this way, Bhagwan Vamana helped the deities and returned them to heaven.
Parashurama Avatar:
According to Hindu scriptures, Parashurama was one of the main avatars of Bhagwan Vishnu. Two stories are prevalent regarding the birth of Bhagwan Parashurama. According to the Harivansh Purana, one of those stories is as follows-
In ancient times, the city of Mahishmati was ruled by the mighty Haiyavanshi Kshatriya Kartavirya Arjuna (Sahastrabahu). He was very arrogant and also tyrannical. Once Agnidev requested him to have food. Then Sahastrabahu came in pride and said that you can get food from wherever you want, my rule is everywhere. Then Agnidev started burning the forests. Sage Aapav was doing penance in a forest. The fire also burnt his ashram. Enraged by this, the sage cursed Sahastrabahu that Bhagwan Vishnu would take birth as Parashurama and would annihilate not only Sahastrabahu but all the Kshatriyas. Thus Bhagwan Vishnu took birth as the fifth son of Maharishi Jamadagri in the Bhargava clan.
Shri Ram Avatar:
There was a lot of terror of the demon king Ravana in Tretayuga. Even the Bhagwan's were afraid of him. To kill him, Bhagwan Vishnu took birth in the form of a son from the womb of Mata Kaushalya to King Dasharatha. In this avatar, Bhagwan Vishnu killed many demons and lived his life following the limits.
He went into exile at the behest of his father. While undergoing exile, the demon king Ravana kidnapped his wife Sita. Bhagwan Ram reached Lanka in search of Sita, where Bhagwan Ram and Ravan fought fiercely in which Ravan was killed. Thus Bhagwan Vishnu took the avatar of Ram and freed the Bhagwan from fear.
Shri Krishna Avatar:
In Dwaparayuga, Bhagwan Vishnu incarnated as Shri Krishna and destroyed the unrighteous. Bhagwan Krishna was born in the prison. His father's name was Vasudev and his mother's name was Devaki. Bhagwan Krishna performed many miracles in this avatar and destroyed the wicked.
Bhagwan Shri Krishna also killed Kansa. He became the charioteer of Arjuna in the war of Mahabharata and gave the knowledge of Gita to the world. Established religion by making Dharmaraja Yudhishthira the king. This avatar of Bhagwan Vishnu is considered to be the best among all avatars.
Buddha Avatar:
According to religious texts, Gautam Buddha, the originator of Buddhism, was also an avatar of Bhagwan Vishnu, but in the Puranas, Bhagwan Buddhadev is said to have been born in Kikat near Gaya and his father's name is Ajan. This incident is of Buddhavatara mentioned in Purana.
At one time the power of the demons increased a lot. The Bhagwan's also started running away from their fear. With the desire of the kingdom, the demons asked Devraj Indra that our empire should remain stable, what is the solution. Then Indra told in a pure sense that for a stable government, Yagya and conduct as prescribed by the Vedas are necessary. Then the demons started performing Vedic conduct and Mahayagya, due to which their power started increasing. Then all the Bhagwan's went to Bhagwan Vishnu. Then Bhagwan Vishnu took the form of Buddha for the benefit of the Bhagwan's. He had a marjani in his hand and used to walk sweeping the road.
Thus Bhagwan Buddha reached out to the demons and preached to them that performing a yajna is a sin. Yagya leads to violence. So many beings are consumed by the fire of Yagya. The demons were impressed by the teachings of the Bhagwan Buddha. He gave up performing Yagya and Vedic practice. Due to this, his power diminished and the Bhagwan's attacked him and regained his kingdom.
Kalki Avatar:
According to religious texts, Bhagwan Vishnu will incarnate in the form of
Kalki in Kali Yuga. Kalki Avatar will be in the period of Kaliyug and Satyuga. This avatar will consist of 64 arts. According to the Puranas, at a place called Shambhal in Moradabad district of Uttar Pradesh, Bhagwan Kalki will be born in the form of a son of an ascetic Brahmin named Vishnuyasha. Kalki, riding on a horse named Devadatta, will destroy the sinners from the world and restore Dharma, only then will the Sat Yug begin.