Avatar

The manifestation or incarnation of a deity in human or animal form.

References to an entity known as an "avatar" are first found in the vedas, the oldest scriptures of Hinduism, produced in India between c.1500 and c.500 BCE. The later Bhagavad Gita (c.100CE) refers in detail to the process of avataravada (The Hindu theory of incarnation), although the term "avatar" itself does not appear in Hindu scripture until later texts. An avatar is probably best described as the incarnation of a deity, but the term also conveys the wider notion that the gods have the ability to take any form and will descend to Earth to counteract a particular evil in the world (the Sanskrit word avatāra translates into English as "descent"). The complex Hindu god Vishnu is particularly closely associated with the notion of the avatar, and he is believed to have a number of incarnations.

There are ten principal avatars of Vishnu accepted across all of Hindu scripture. The avatars are said to take a variety of forms, including a fish, tortoise, dwarf, and boar. Two of the most significant manifestations of Vishnu are the human avatars of Rama and Krishna, whose stories are recounted in the central Hindu texts Ramayana (500-100BCE) and Bhagavata Purana (c.950).

"Whatever form pleases His bhaktas, is a form that He readily assumes."
----Vedanta Desika, Sri Vaishnava guru

The ninth avatar of Vishnu is believed to be the Buddha, and the tenth avatar, Kalki, who has never yet manifested himself in the world, is predicted to appear at the end of Kali Yuga, the world's current epoch, to restore balance and righteousness to humanity.

As the anticipated coming of the tenth avatar of Vishnu demonstrates, the notion of avatar is still relevant and significant to Hindus today. This belief in a future manifestation of God in human form can similarly be found across many of the world's major religions and within more minor religions and cults. Thus, the idea of avataravada or incarnation serves in the contemporary world as a source of hope for a better, and more virtuous, future humankind.
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Source:
"1001 Ideas That Changed the Way We Think"
-- by Robert Arp.
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