Dashavatara (Sanskrit: दशावतार, daśāvatāra) refers to the ten avatars of Vishnu, the Hindu god of preservation. Vishnu is said to descend in form of an avatar to restore cosmic order.
The list of Dashavatara varies across sects and regions. The standard list is: Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Parashurama, Rama, Krishna, Buddha and Kalki. Sometimes, Krishna replaces Vishnu as the source of all avatars and Balarama takes Krishna's place in the list. In other versions, Buddha may be dropped from the list and substituted by regional deities like Vithoba or Jagannath, or Balarama.
The order of the Dashavataras has been interpreted to be reflective of Darwinian evolution.
The word Dashavatara derives from daśa, meaning 'ten' and avatar (avatāra), meaning 'incarnation'.
God Vishnu incarnates on Earth from time to time to eradicate evil forces, to restore the dharma and to liberate the worthy ones or devotees from the cycle of births and deaths. Vishnu in his full avatar as Krishna speaks in the Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 4 Shloka 8: "To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of righteousness, I manifest myself, millennium after millennium".
Dashavatar or Dashavtar generally refers to Dashavatara, the ten incarnations of the god Vishnu in the Hindu Mythology.
It may refer to:
Dashavatar is a 2008 animated film based on the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu.
The film is produced by Vimal Shah under the banner of Phoebus Media. It is directed by Bhavik Thakore. Music is by Anand Kurhekar with lyrics by Sandeep Khare. The movie centers on the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu as seen by two children. Dashavatar was released in cinemas in India on 13 June 2008.
The concept of Dashavatara (Ten Avatars) has religious significance. Evil has been present during the evolution of mankind and the Dashavatar have been constantly present to triumph over evil. The most famous incarnations of Vishnu are Rama, whose life is depicted in the Ramayana, and Krishna, whose is depicted in the Mahabharata and the Bhagavad Gita. The four great era or epochs in Hinduism are Satya Yug, Treta Yug, Dwapar Yug and Kali Yug. Satya Yug, the Age of Truth, will last four thousand years, Treta Yug for three thousand, Dwapara Yug for two thousand and Kali Yug will last for one thousand divine years. It is believed that three of these ages have passed, and we are now in the fourth. The four ages are said to symbolize the four phases of human evolution during which man gradually lost the awareness of his inner self. Another theory explains these epochs of time on the basis of the degree of loss of righteousness in the world. It says, during Satya Yug only truth prevailed (Sanskrit Satya = truth), Treta lost ¼ truth, Dwapar lost ½ truth and Kali is left with only ¼ truth. Evil and dishonesty has replaced truth in the last three ages or yugs.