Incarnations of Lord Visnu - Page 4

Hindu Puranas talk about Buddha in very very brief. So, we cannot compare stories of Buddha in Puranas with the stories in Buddhist texts.

Nar-Narayan incarnation
Narayan creates apsara Urvashi
Nar and Narayan are incarnations of Vishnu. They are brothers. They are the sons of Dharm and his wife Murti. It is said that they are still living like hermits in a holy place called Badrinath (also called Badrikashram).
One day Nar and Narayan were doing meditation. The king of gods Indra got alarmed. He did not realize that Nar and Narayan were incarnations of Vishnu. He thought that by doing askesis, Nar and Narayan wanted to become very powerful and take his place. He decided to disturb them so that they break their askesis. He sent Kamdev(Cupid, the god of love) and his companions to disturb Nar and Narayan.

Kamdev and his associates went to Nar and Narayan. Gentle breeze blew. Apsaras danced. Melodious music played. Flowers blossomed. Kamdev and his friends caused all these things to lure Nar and Narayan so that they stop askesis.

Narayan created some new apsaras. They were far more beautiful than the apsaras who were in Indra's court. Of the new apsaras, Urvashi was the most beautiful. Narayan said to Kamdev, "Do not go empty-handed from this ashram. Take an apsara with you." Kamdev felt ashamed. He realized the greatness of the two sages and went back to heaven with all apsaras and other associates. He also took Urvashi along with him. Urvashi became one of the apsaras in Indra's court.

Nar curbed the pride of king Dambodhav
There was a king named Dambodhav. He was proud of his strength. He used to ask everybody if there was anybody more powerful than him. Some brahmanas said to him, "There are two great sages Nar and Narayan. You can never defeat them. You are nowhere in comparison to them."

Dambodhav came to know from the brahmanas the whereabouts of Nar and Narayan. He went to the ashram of Nar and Narayan with this large army. Before starting war, as part of cortesy, he touched the feet of the two sages and enquired about their welfare. The two sages recived the king by offering him fruits and water. After that the king told them the purpose of his visit.

Nar and Narayan said, "This is not a place for any war. This is a peaceful place. There is no use of weapons here. How can war be possible here? There are many great warriors on this Earth. Seek battle with them." But Dambodhav kept on insisting for a war.

Then Nar plucked some grass and became ready to fight. The king and his army attacked Nar from all sides. Nar converted the grass into weapons and defeated the king. King Dambodhav fell on the feet of Nar and asked for forgiveness. Nar forgive him by saying that he should not do any such thing again and also taught him good conduct.

Nar and Narayan show illusory potency to sage Markandeya
There was a sage named Markandeya. He performed great austerities for many years. Lord Indra tried to disturb the sage's austerities. Indra sent Cupid to ruin Markandeya's spirituality. Cupid and his associates went to Markandeya's ashram. They caused gentle breeze to blow. Singers played melodious songs and music. Beautiful girls danced. Beauiful flowers blossomed. Cupid tried a lot to disturb the mind of Markandeya but was unsuccessful. Finding that he could not have any effect on the sage, he went back to Indra.

One day Nar and Narayan appeared before Markandeya. Markandeya was very happy to see them offered them his respects again and again. Nar and Narayan asked Markandeya to ask for any boon he wanted.

Markandeya said, "I want to see your illusory potency."

Nar and Narayan replied, "So be it." Then they disappeared.

After that one evening, when Markandeya was performing his evening puja, a very powerful wind started blowing. Then huge clouds appeared and poured heavy rain. Soon, there was water on all sides. The water had fearful whirlpools and terrible sea creatures. Even huge mountains were covered in water. Tormented by hunger and thirst, attacked by sea creatures, and thrown here and there by waves, Markandeya moved aimlessly. He lost sense of any direction. He often felt as if he would die but he did not. He felt millions of years pass by.

One day Markandeya saw a small island with a tree in it. On one branch of the tree, there was a very beautiful child covered in a leaf. He was sucking one of his toes like children often do. Markandeya was amazed to see that child. On seeing the child, all of the tiredness of Markandeya vanished. The child inhaled and Markandeya entered the body of the child. Inside the child's body, Markandeya saw the entire universe as if it was before the water dissolution. He even saw his ashram where he had met Nar and Narayan. Suddenly the child exhaled. Again Markandeya was outside the child's body and saw water in all directions. Soon the child disappeared and the water also disappeared. Markandeya found himself back in his ashram. Everything was back to normal as before the dissolution. Now he realized that it was all illusion created by Nar and Narayan.

Ajit, Kurma and Mohini incarnations
Churning of Ocean
One day sage Durvasa was walking. He saw an apsara. The apsara greeted Durvasa. She had a necklace of very pleasant smelling flowers. Durvasa asked for it. The apsara gave the necklace to him. Durvasa took the necklace and moved ahead. He saw Lord Indra on elephant Airawat. Durvasa gave the necklace to Indra. Indra, very arrogantly, threw the necklace on Airawat's head. Airawat became excited by the smell of the flowers. It caught hold of the necklace in its trunk and brought it on the ground. Durvasa felt insulted. He cursed Indra that Laxmi would forsake Indra. Since Laxmi is the goddess of fortune, the curse meant that Indra would lose everything. Indra realized his mistake and begged Durvasa for forgiveness again and again. Then Durvasa calmed down and said that Lord Vishnu would help Indra.

Because of Durvasa's curse, all the gods(headed by Indra) became weak. Demons (whose king was Bali) attacked gods. There was huge fight between gods and demons in which Demons won. Bali took Indra's throne. Demons took all the wealth of gods. Gods went to Lord Brahma to find a solution. Lord Brahma, Lord Shiv and all the gods went to the bank of Kshirsagar(milk ocean). Lord Vishnu lives in an island named Shwet dvip inside this ocean. Brahma and all the gods prayed Lord Vishnu by standing at the shore of Kshirsagar. Pleased with their devotion, Lord Vishnu appeared before them in his incarnation. This incarnation is named Lord Ajit.

Lord Ajit said, "Make truce with demons. Convince them to help you in churning ocean, which would produce amrit(nectar). Whoever will drink nectar will become immortal. Put into this ocean all kinds of vegetables, grass, herbs. Making Mandar mountain as churning rod and serpent king Vasuki as rope, churn the ocean. Nectar will be produced out of the churning. I will make sure that you gods get the nectar. Before nectar, many other things will be produced. You should not be anxious to obtain those."
Saying this, Lord Ajit disappeared.

All the gods met demon king Bali. Deomns wanted to kill gods. But when Bali saw that gods had come there without any militant attitude, he stopped demons from killing gods. Indra sumbitted the proposal of churning the ocean in front of Bali. Bali accepted the proposal.

Applying great strength, all the gods and the demons uprooted Mandar mountain. They tried to bring the mountain to the milk ocean. The mountain was very heavy. Gods and demons got tired and could not carry the mountain any further. The mountain fell and killed many gods and demons and injured many.

Lord Ajit appeared there on his bird-carrier Garud. He brought to life all the demons and the gods, who had been crushed to death under the weight of the mountain. He also cured them who had been injured. He did this just by his glance on gods and demons.

Lord Ajit very easily lifted Mandar mountain, put it on the back of Garud and reached the milk ocean.Gods and demons also reached there. They called serpent Vasuki. Vasuki came there and they coiled him around Mandar. Lord Ajit and gods caught the front portion of Vasuki. Demons considered it against their dignity to catch the tail portion. They protested. Lord Ajit happily agreed to hold the tail of Vasuki. All the gods did the same. The churning began.

Since Mandar mountain had no support and it was very heavy, it sank into water. Lord Vishnu took tortoise incarnation, entered into water and lifted the mountain on his back. Lord Ajit assumed thousand handed-form, moved up and near the peak of Mandar and started rotating Mandar with one hand. Gods and demons churned the ocean by moving Vasuki. Since serpent Vasuki was moved continuously, he breathed out fire and smoke. Demons who were holding Vasuki near mouth were burnt by the fire and hence became weak.Fire made them black. But they continued the churning. Many things were produced because of churning, some of which are mentioned below.

The first product of churning was fierecely dangerous poison called Kaalkut (also called Halaahal). Gods and demons were very afraid of that poison. Lord Shiv came there and drank the poison. Because of the effect of the poison, his throat became blue. Therefore, Lord Shiv is called as Neelkanth(i.e. blue-throated). Poisonous creatures like scorpions, snakes and other poisonous creatures drank whatever little poison dropped from Lord Shiv's palm.

Caw Surbhi came out of the ocean. Great sages took the cow. A white horse named Uchchaihsharava came out. Indra wanted the horse but Bali also wanted it. As had been previously advised by Lord Ajit, Indra did not press for the horse and the horse became Bali's. Elephant Airawat came out and Indra took it. Some gems came out and Lord Ajit took those. Apsaras came out and it was decided that they will live in heaven.

Goddess Laxmi came out. She glanced at gods because of which gods again became cheerful. Her glance meant that fortune would return to gods.

Vaaruni(goddess of intoxication) came out of the ocean. Demons took her.

Finally Dhanvantri came out carrying a container full of nectar. Dhanvantri is mentioned in scriptures as expert in medicines. Demons snatched the container of nectar and ran from there. All the demons started fighting among themselves. Each of them wanted to drink the nectar first.

Lord Vishnu took the incarnation of a very beautiful lady. This incarnation is called Mohini. Mohini went to demons. Demons praised her beauty, gave her the container of nectar and requested her to settle the dispute. Mohini seated gods and demons separately. Thinking that giving nectar to demons will be like giving milk to snake, she went to demons, talked to them very sweetly and did not give them any nectar. Demons did not feel bad because they were very much captivated by Mohini's beauty. They did not want to disturb their friendship with her. Therefore, they kept quiet thinking that they will get nectar after some time. Mohini distributed nectar to gods. One demon named Rahu dressed up like a god and sat among gods. Thus, he also got the nectar. He was pointed out by Sun god and Moon god. Lord Vishnu cut off Rahu's head. By now, the nectar had reached upto Rahu's throat. Therefore, even after being cut off, Rahu's head survived and became immortal. The rest of his body died.

A fierce battle ensued between gods and demons. Gods won in this war and Indra got his kingdom back.

Vaman(dwarf) Incarnation
After churning of ocean, there was huge fight between gods and demons. Gods were very powerful at that time because Laxmi had showered her blessings on them and also because they had drunk nectar. Gods won the war. Many demons were killed. Demon king Bali was one of them.
Demon guru Shukracharya brought dead demons back to life using a knowledge called Mrit-Sanjivani. Shukracharya and some oher brahmanas performed a yagya. From the fire of the yagya, a chariot covered with gold and silk appeared. There were yellow horses attached to the chariot. The flag of the chariot had a lion emblem. A bow, two quivers full of arrows and armor also appeared.
Bali took the weapons, put the protective armor and and sat on the chariot. He and his fellow demons were ready to fight. They went towards the kingdom of Indra. Brihaspati(the guru of gods) told Indra that demons could not be defeated at that time and advised him to accept defeat for the time being. Gods accepted Brihaspati's advice. They left heaven without being noticed by demons. Bali became the king of heaven.
Aditi(mother of gods) was very sad to see the condition of her children. She asked her husband sage Kashyap to suggest some solution. Kashyap explained to her a method to worship Vishnu and ask him to become her son. Aditi did the same. Pleased with her devotion, Lord Vishnu appeared before her and gave her boon that he will incarnate as her son.

In time, Vishnu incarated as Aditi's son. This was his Vaman(dwarf) incarnation. He went to meet Bali. He was carrying a rod, an umbrella and a waterpot full of water. He was dressed like a brahman boy. At that time Bali was performing ashvamedh sacrifice. Bali welcomed Lord Vaman. Vaman asked Bali for three steps of land measured by his(Vaman's steps). Bali thought that three steps of land measured by a person of such a short height will be too small. He wanted to give much bigger land. But Vaman insisted on having only three steps of land. Finally Bali agreed to give him whatever he desired. Guru Shukracharya understood that Vaman was none other than Vishnu. He could also understand that Vaman had come there to get everything from Bali and give to Indra. He said this to Bali and warned him against the charity. But Bali had already promised three steps of land to Vaman and he did not want to break his promise. He was ready to give three steps of land to Vaman.

Lord Vaman increased his size. Demons did not want Vaman to take everything from their master Bali. They rushed towards Vaman to attack him. The associates of Vaman started killing the demons. Bali asked demons not to fight. Then the fight stopped. Lord Vaman covered entire universe with his two steps. This gigantic form of Lord Vishnu is called as Trivikram incarnation. He asked Bali where to put the third step. Bali put his head ahead and asked Vaman to put the third step on his head. This meant that Bali would always be in service of Lord Vaman.

Pleased with Bali's truthfulness, Vaman gave him boon that he will hold the post of Indra in the time of next Manu. Till then he made Bali the king of very beautiful Sutal loka. He also promised that his Sudarshan chakra(discus weapon) will protect Bali, his friends and relatives in Sutal loka. Indra once again became the king of the three worlds(Earth, heaven, intermediate space) and Bali became the king of Sutal.