Avatara (अवतार, IAST Avatāra) in Hindu philosophy is the 'descent' or incarnation of a divine being (deva) or the Supreme Being (God) onto planet Earth. The Sanskrit word literally means "descent" (avatarati) and usually implies a deliberate descent into lower realms of existence for special purposes. The term is used primarily in Hinduism for incarnations of Vishnu whom Vaishnava Hindus (one of the largest braches of Hinduism) worship as the supreme God and it is considered to be a distinctive feature of Vaishnavism. While Shiva and Ganesha are also described as descending in the form of avatars, with the Ganesha Purana and the Mudgala Purana detailing Ganesha's avatars specifically, the avatars of Vishnu carry a greater theological weight than those of Shiva or Ganesha and upon examination relevant passages are directly imitative of the Vaishnava avatara lists. (more)
Genres: hinduism, religious
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Vaishnavism:
Vaishnavism is one of the traditions of Hinduism, and is distinguished from other schools by its primary worship of one supreme God known in different perspectives under names of Narayana, Krishna, Vasudeva or more often Vishnu and their associated a
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Vishnu:
Vishnu (IAST viṣṇu, Devanagari विष्णु), (honorific: Sri Vishnu) also known as Narayana, is supreme being or Ultimate Reality for Vaishnavas and a manifestation of Brahman in the Sanatan dharma which is referred to as "Hinduism". The Vishnu Sahasranam
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Hindu deities:
Within Hinduism a large number of personalities, or 'forms', are worshiped as murtis. These beings are either aspects of the supreme Brahman, avatars of the supreme being, or significantly powerful entities known as devas. The exact nature of belief
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List of people who have been considered avatars:
This is a list of people in Hinduism and other religions, who are considered to be avatars (an incarnation of a deity or higher being) by themselves or by others. It does not include the ten avatars of Vishnu as their historicity is uncertain or thei
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Gautama Buddha in Hinduism:
Gautama Buddha in Hinduism is viewed as an Avatar of Vishnu. In the Puranic text Bhagavata Purana, he is twenty fourth of twenty five avatars, prefiguring a forthcoming final incarnation. A number of Hindu traditions portray Buddha as the most recent
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Avatars in Mahabharata:
This page contains a list of the characters of the great epic Mahabharata and the original Devatas or deities whose Avatars or incarnations they were.
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Shiva:
Shiva (pronunciation: [ʃɪ.ʋə]; Sanskrit: शिव, Śiva, lit. "Auspicious one") is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. Within Shaivism he is viewed as the Supreme deity, whereas in other branches of Hinduism such as the Smarta tradition he is worshi
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Ganesha:
Ganesha (Sanskrit: गणेश; Gaṇeśa; ), also spelled Ganesa or Ganesh and also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon. His image is found throughout India. Hindu sects worshi
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Ganesha Purana:
The Ganesha Purana (Sanskrit:गणेश पुराणम्; gaṇeśa purāṇam ) is a Hindu religious text dedicated to the Hindu deity Ganesha (Gaṇeśa). It is an upapurāṇa that includes many stories and ritualistic elements relating to Ganesha. The Ganesha Purana and th
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Mudgala Purana:
The Mudgala Purana (Sanskrit:मुद्गल पुराणम्; mudgala purāṇam ) is a Hindu religious text dedicated to the Hindu deity Ganesha (Gaṇeśa). It is an upapurāṇa that includes many stories and ritualistic elements relating to Ganesha. The Ganesha Purana and
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Narasimha:
Narasimha (IAST Narasiṃha, Sanskrit नरसिंह) (other spellings are Narasingh, Narasinga) is an avatara of Vishnu described in the Puranas, Upanishads and other ancient religious texts of Hinduism, and one of Hinduism's most popular deities, as evidence
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Meher Baba:
Meher Baba (Devanagari: मेहेर बाबा) (February 25, 1894, Merwan Sheriar Irani – January 31, 1969), was an Indian mystic and spiritual master who publicly declared in 1954 that he was the Avatar of the age. Meher Baba was born to a Zoroastrian family i
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Chaitanya Mahaprabhu:
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (also transliterated Caitanya, IAST caitanya mahāprabhu) (Bengali চৈতন্য মহাপ্রভূ) (1486 - 1534), was a monk and social reformer of the 16th century Bengal , (present-day West Bengal and Bangladesh) and Orissa in India . Sri Kris
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Parashurama:
Parashurama, a Brahman (Sanskrit: परशुराम) or Parasurama (Axe-wielding Rama), the sixth avatar of Vishnu, belongs to the Treta yuga, and is the son of Jamadagni and Renuka. Parashu means axe, hence his name literally means Rama-with-the-axe. He recei
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Kalki:
In Hinduism, Kalki (Devanagari: कल्कि; also rendered by some as Kalkin and Kalaki) is the tenth and final Maha Avatara (great incarnation) of Vishnu who will come to end the present age of darkness and destruction known as Kali Yuga. The name Kalki i
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Matsya:
Matsya (Sanskrit: मत्स्य) (Fish in Sanskrit) was the first Avatar of Vishnu in Hindu mythology. According to legend, the mantri to the king of pre-ancient Dravida, Satyavrata who later becomes known as Manu was washing his hands in a river when a lit
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Shesha:
In Hindu (Vedic) tradition, Shesha (Śeṣa in IAST transliteration, Devanagari: शेष) is the king of all nagas, one of the primal beings of creation, and according to the Bhagavata Purana, an avatar of the Supreme God known as Sankarshan. In the Puranas
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Vamana:
Vamana (Devanagari: वामन, IAST: Vāmana) is a personality described in the Puranic texts of Hinduism as the Fifth Avatara of Vishnu, and the first incarnation of the Second Age, or Treta yuga. Also he is the first Avatar of Vishnu which appears with a
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Varaha:
In Hinduism, Varaha (वाराह) is the third avatar of Vishnu, in the form of a boar. He appeared in order to defeat Hiranyaksha, a demon who had taken the Earth (prthivi) and carried it to the bottom of what is described as the cosmic ocean in the story
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Mohini:
Mohini is one of the 25 avatars of Vishnu found in the Puranas. The main story, or lila, concerning Mohini is the Sagar or Samudra manthan, a lila that includes: Indra, Lakshmi, Kurma, Dhanvantari, and numerous other Hindu divinities. This lila detai
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Kurma:
"Kurma" is also an alternative transliteration of korma. In Hinduism, Kurma (Sanskrit: कुर्म) was the second avatar of Vishnu. Like the Matsya Avatara also belongs to the Satya yuga. Vishnu took the form of a half-man half-tortoise, the lower half be
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Dhanvantari:
Dhanvantari (also Dhanwantari, Dhanvanthari) (धन्वंतरी) is an avatar of Vishnu from the Hindu tradition. He appears in the Vedas and Puranas as the physician of the gods (devas), and the controller (god) of Ayurvedic medicine. It is common practice w
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Prithu:
Prithu or Pruthu is an Avatar of Vishnu, the Supreme and only God according to Vaishnavas and one of the many manifestations of Brahman according to Smartas. Once, the earth Prithvi swallowed all vegetation and thus, there was no food for humankind.
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Prsnigarbha:
Prsnigarbha is the Avatar who appeared before Dhruva.He created the planet known as Dhruvaloka for the habitation of Dhruva .
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Krishna:
Krishna (कृष्ण in Devanagari, kṛṣṇa in IAST, in classical Sanskrit) is a deity worshiped across many traditions of Hinduism. Krishna is often described as a dark-skinned man during his earthly descent, often depicted as a baby, as a young boy playing
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Rama:
Rama (IAST: rāma, Devanāgarī: राम, Thai: Phra Ram, Lao: Phra Lam) or Ramachandra was a legendary king of Ayodhya in ancient India. In Hinduism, he is considered to be an avatar of Vishnu and a lila-avatara as described in the Bhagavata Purana. Rama i
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Ramakrishna:
Śri Ramakṛiṣṇa Paramahamsa (Bangla: রামকৃষ্ণ পরমহংস Ramkrishno Pôromôhongsho) (February 18, 1836 - August 16, 1886), born Gadadhar Chattopadhyay (Bangla: গদাধর চট্টোপাধ্যায় Gôdadhor Chôţţopaddhae), Smart, Ninian The World’s Religions (1998) p.409, C
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Bhagavata Purana:
The Bhagavata Purana (also known as Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, or simply Bhāgavatam) is one of the Puranic texts of Hindu literature, and is Sanskrit for "The Book of God". Its primary focus is the process of bhakti yoga (loving devotion to the Supreme Lord)
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Gaudiya Vaishnavism:
Gaudiya Vaishnavism (also known as Chaitanya Vaishnavism ) is a Vaishnava religious movement founded by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486-1534) in India in the 16th century. "Gaudiya" refers to Gauḍadeśa (present day Bengal/Bangladesh) with Vaishnavism mean
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Krishna Dvaipayana Veda Vyasa:
Vyāsa (Devanāgarī: व्यास) is a central and much revered figure in the majority of Hindu traditions. He is also sometimes called Veda Vyasa (वेद व्यास, veda vyāsa), (the one who compiled the Vedas) or Krishna Dvaipayana (referring to his complexion an
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Svayam Bhagavan:
Svayam Bhagavan (IAST svayam bhagavān) is a Sanskrit theological term. The term can be translated into English in various ways. The term refers to the concept of absolute representation of the monotheistic God as Bhagavan within Hinduism. It is most
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Balarama:
Balarama (बलराम, Balarāma), also named Baladeva,Baldau,Balabhadra and Halayudha, is the elder brother of the divine being, Krishna in Hinduism. Within Vaishnavism and a number of South Indian, Hindu traditions Balarama is worshipped as an avatar of V
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Sathya Sai Baba:
Sathya Sai Baba (Telugu: సత్య సాయి బాబా) was born as Sathyanarayana Raju on November 23 1926 — or later than 1927 — with the family name of "Ratnakaram", Haraldsson, Erlendur, Miracles are my visiting cards - An investigative inquiry on S
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Dattatreya:
Dattatreya (Sanskrit: दत्तात्रेय) is considered by Hindus to be God who is an incarnation of the Divine Trinity Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. The word Datta means "Given", Datta is called so because the divine trinity have "given" themselves in the form o
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Vallabha Acharya:
Sri Vallabhacharya (1479 - 1531) was a devotional philosopher, who founded the Pushti sect in India, following the philosophy of Shuddha advaita (Pure Non-dualism). He is regarded as an Acharya and Guru within the Vaishnava traditions as promulgated
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Mother Meera:
Mother Meera, born Kamala Reddy (b. 26 December, 1960) is believed by her devotees to be an embodiment (avatar) of the Divine Mother (Shakti).
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Purna avatar:
In Hinduism, Vishnu, the Lord of the Universe exists in sixteen expanding Kalas or digits of manifestation. That is, one digit of His manifestation in the vegetable kingdom, two in the animal, and from five to eight in the human, according as souls p
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