HINDU TEMPLE OF KENTUCKY
P.O Box 22813, 4213 Accomack Drive,
Louisville, KY 40252
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According to the Vedas and Scriptures, there are mainly six kinds of incarnations of Lord Narayana as listed below. But in all, there are innumerable number of other avatars taken depending on need. This is also confirmed in Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.3.26) where it is said that there is no limit to the incarnations of the Supreme Lord. Also, depending on the roles they play, some avatars can be overlapping to more than one kind.
| Kinds of avatars | |
| 1 | Purusha-avatara |
| 2 | Lila-avatara |
| 3 | Guna-avatara |
| 4 | Manvantara-avatara |
| 5 | Kalpa-avatara |
| 6 | Saktyavesa-avatara |
| Vishnu exists as the Creator and also within every being as our soul, our Supreme. He also enters or descend to our world in the form of Avatar whenever his presence is needed. The Ten Avatars or Dasha Avatar of Vishnu are important and very interesting as you can see that he incarnates progressively from fish to human form. The ten Avatars are: |
| 1. Matsya - The Fish | 2. Kurma- The Tortoise | 3. Varaha- The Boar |
| 4. Narasimha- The Man-Lion | 5. Vamana - The Dwarf | 6. Parasurama - The Warrior |
| 7. Sri Rama - The King | 8. Sri Krishna - The Cowherd | 9. Buddha - The Teacher |
| 10. Kalki - The Slayer |
Of all the avatars listed from above, important ten avatars are all the Lila avatars: Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Parasurama, Rama, Krishna, Balarama and Kalki. Kalki is an avatara yet to happen at the end of this kali-yuga. According to Srimad Bhagavatam, Buddha is included as one of the ten avatars instead of Balarama.