#dashavatara

The Little Dashavatara Zine

Krishna.

ヴィシュヌは、文字通り「原始の神」と訳されるアディデヴァとも呼ばれ、ヒンドゥー教の主要な神々の1人だ。 ヒンドゥー教の三神一体の「維持者」であるヴィシュヌは、最高の普遍的な原理、宇宙における究極の現実を意味するブラフマンの形而上学的概念と同一であり、また、内なる自己、精神、または魂を意味するアトマンと同一であるとして、ヴィシュヌ派では最高の存在として崇められている。 また、ヴィシュヌは世界が悪の脅威にさらされたとき、混沌に陥ったとき、破壊的な力に脅かされたときには「維持者、守護者」として様々なアヴァターラ（化身）を使い分け、地上に現れるとされている。ヴィシュヌのアヴァターラのうち有名なものではマハーバーラタのクリシュナやラーマーヤナのラーマが含まれている。 ヴィシュヌの姿は無数にあり、しばしば10のアヴァターがいると言われているが、必ずしも10のアヴァターが同じとは限らない。ヴィシュヌの1000の名前の中には、ヴァスーデヴァ、ナラヤナ、ハリなどがある。 偶像としては、ヴィシュヌは通常青い肌の色で4本の腕を持つ姿で描かれ、サメの形をしたイヤリング、彼の首からぶら下がっている花の花輪、それの周りに飛んでいるミツバチはヤジュル・ヴェーダの詩を象徴している。 マントラは「オーム・ナモー・バガバティ・ヴァスデバヤ」、ヴァーハナ（乗り物）はガルーダ。

𝗔 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗵, 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝟭𝟮: 𝗔𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗿 “यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत |अभ्युत्थानमधर्मस्य तदात्मानं सृजाम्यहम् || परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम् |धर्मसंस्थापनार्थाय सम्भवामि युगे युगे ||” “Whenever righteousness wanes and unrighteousness increases I send myself forth. For the protection of the good and for the destruction of evil, and for the establishment of righteousness, I come into being age after age.”— 𝘉𝘩𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘢𝘥 𝘎𝘪𝘵𝘢 4.7–8 An Avatar is an incarnation of a god in a mortal body. The term originates and is still primarily used in regards to Hinduism, specifically Vaishnavism (the branch of the faith dedicated to Vishnu), however it can be applied to religions outside of the Hindu umbrella. The use of the word in English to refer to an online presence was coined by the 1992 sci-fi novel 𝘚𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘊𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘩 by Neal Stephenson, which made use of a variety of religious imagery throughout. 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 The word “Avatar” is constructed from two Sanskrit roots: “ava”, meaning “down” (distantly related to the English “away”) and “tṛ” meaning “across” (distantly related to English “through” and Latin “trans”). Thus the word implies a downwards movement across some kind of boundary, in this case from the realm of the divine to the realm of mankind. The concept predates the word, dating back, in one form or another, at least since the time of the Vedas, the oldest Hindu scripture dating from the 16th to 10th centuries BCE. Predating the word as a noun is a verb form used to describe descent from the heavens. The term is most commonly invoked in regards to Vishnu, the preserving god of the Hindu trinity, though he is not the only god to periodically inhabit mortal bodies. Shiva, the destroyer god of the trinity, also has many avatars, many of whom serve to help avatars of Vishnu (ex. Hanuman, Rama’s monkey companion). To complete the trinity, Brahma the creator also has a number of canon avatars, though interestingly his avatars tend to be the quasi historical authors of great Hindu literature such as Valmiki and Vyasa, authors of the 𝘙𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘢𝘯𝘢 and 𝘔𝘢𝘩𝘢𝘣𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘢 respectively. 𝗗𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗮 The Dashavatara, literally “ten Avatars”, is an important aspect of Vaishnava faith. To summarize roughly,  across the ages Vishnu has and will send an Avatar ten times when the world is in dire need of his intervention. There are scriptures and traditions that ascribe as many as 20+ avatars to Vishnu, but these ten are considered most vital. There is variance in the list of ten, the one I am going to list is the closest to a “mainstream” version but I will touch upon alternate avatars after. 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘀𝘆𝗮 The first avatar is that of a giant fish or whale. Matsya helps to save and guide Manu when the world is flooded in an account quite similar to the biblical Noah. 𝗞𝘂𝗿𝗺𝗮 The second avatar is a great turtle. When the universe was still young, Indra, king of the gods, contracted a curse that stripped the gods of their great powers and immortality. To regain their powers the gods had to work together with the Asuras (another class of divine being often equated narratively to the Greek Titans) to churn the great ocean of milk into Amrita, the nectar of immortality. To do this they used a great serpent wrapped around a mountain, but the mountain just sunk into the ocean, or would have had the great turtle Kurma not shown up to carry it. For this reason Kurma is sometimes also the turtle upon whose back the whole earth is situated. 𝗩𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗵𝗮 Speaking of carrying the earth, the fourth avatar is a boar, Varaha, who lifted the earth out of the cosmic ocean in a creation myth similar to some Native American “earth diver” myths, wherein some animal must dive below the ocean to bring up mud to create the earth from. 𝗡𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗵𝗮 The fifth avatar is that of a man with a lion head. He was born in order to best the demon Hiranyakashipu. Hiranyakashipu had wreaked havoc uninhibited to due to a blessing that meant he could not be killed during day or night, inside or outside, by any weapon, by a man or animal. Narasimha, being neither man nor animal, takes Narasimha at twilight in the threshold of a courtyard, using his nails (not a weapon). 𝗩𝗮𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮 The fifth avatar is a dwarf, not the Norse supernatural entity but a very short human. Like Narasimha, his purpose was to stop a powerful entity, in this case the Asura Mahabali. Mahabali had managed to become king of basically everything. To consolidate his power he held a ceremony, giving out gifts and boons. Vamana asks for only three paces worth of land, which Mahabali gladly grants. Here Vamana utilizes his powers as Vishnu and in three paces covers heaven, earth, and hell. 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘀𝗵𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗮 The sixth avatar is the warrior Parashurama, literally “Axe-wielding Rama”. His stories generally involve defeating people of the Hindu warrior caste (Kshatriyas) who had used their military might to rule over others, which is not the intended role of the caste. His stories are often used as analogies about the role and nature of violence as a tool of change and control. 𝗥𝗮𝗺𝗮 Rama is the titular character of one of the great Hindu epics, the 𝘙𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘢𝘯𝘢. This covers the tale of the noble prince Rama and his journey to recover his wife Sita from the demon king Ravana, which he does with help from a race of magically imbued monkey warriors led by the gallant Hanuman. As already mentioned, the 𝘙𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘢𝘯𝘢 also involved avatars of the other two members of the Hindu trinity: it is written by Valmiki, who is Brahma, and Hanuman is an avatar of Shiva, born specifically to aid Rama. 𝗞𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗻𝗮 Krishna is a major player of another epic, the 𝘔𝘢𝘩𝘢𝘣𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘢. Unlike the noble paragon Rama, Krishna is a mischievous and playful cowherd who becomes the charioteer of the 𝘔𝘢𝘩𝘢𝘣𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘢’s main hero Arjuna. 𝗕𝘂𝗱𝗱𝗵𝗮 The Buddha is, of course, the enlightened founder of Buddhism. His inclusion as one of the Dashavatara is likely a later addition that syncretizes Buddhism into the greater melting pot of Indian religion. 𝗞𝗮𝗹𝗸𝗶 Kalki is the final avatar who has yet to come. Much like the messiahs of the Abrahamic religions he comes at the end of days to defeat the final evil, Kali (not the goddess). He is typically depicted riding a white horse and wielding a flaming sword. As mentioned above, this is not the only list of Dashavatara. The most common alternates exclude either Buddha, as a non-Hindu figure, or Krishna, who is often worshipped as a supreme power in his own right. The most common alternate to either of these two is Balarama, the farmer and Krishna’s older brother. Image credit: Avatars of Vishnu, Raja Ravi Varma, 19th Century

Painting by Bharadrāja Dāsa

Dashavatara The ten avatars of Vishnu

Lord Varaha.

ヴィシュヌ派は、正義（ダルマ）が衰え悪が栄えた時に神はいつでも特別な姿（人間を含む）をとると信じている。ヴィシュヌは「バガヴァッド・ギーター」の中でこう言った「善を護るため、悪を滅ぼすため、正義を確立するため、私は時代から時代へ出現する。」