But as churning was proceeding the mountain was sinking and then Lord Vishnu took the form of the turtle KURMA and kept the mountain afloat. But asuras suspecting foul play, took the head end, only to be deceived as the poison from Vasuki was slowly weakening them. At the start, playing a Machiavellian trick, Indra, king of the gods asked the asuras for the head end of vasuki. Both the devatas and the asuras churned the ocean using the serpent Vasuki as the rope. He requested them to ask them help of Asuras in lifting the mountain in exchange for offer of the share of nectar of immortality that would ensue from the churning. Mt Mandara could be used a the churning stick he said. Vishnu then asked them to churn the ocean of milk after adding medicines into the ocean. The sage had once presented a garland of flowers to Indra, king of gods, who carelessly gave it away to his elephant which trampled it. In the ongoing saga of battle between the gods and asuras, on one occasion the gods suddenly lost all their strength due to a curse by the short-tempered sage Durvasa. It is an interesting story involving both the gods (devtas) and asuras (demons). In KURMA Avatar, Lord Vishnu incarnates himself as a turtle. True to his word, after seven days the Lord appeared and the king tied the boat to the fish by using the royal serpent Vasuki and the fish took all of them to Mt Himavan and kept them there till the flood was over and in the new era, the king started procreation for the new era.

It predicted that the world would come to an end by a huge flood in seven days and requested the king to build a huge boat and take the seven sages(hermits), seeds of all plants, one animal of each type and told him that he would appear as a fish to propel the boat to Mt Himavan for surviving the flood to the next yuga(eon). The king realized that it was Lord Vishnu himself and then the lord made an appearance and made a special request to the king. Then the king threw it into the river, but it soon it outgrew the river and the king then threw it into Ganges and then into the ocean. Heeding its request, the king put the fish into a jar of water but the fish started growing and the jar was not big enough for it. One day as he was performing ablutions with river water, a small fish came into his hands and just as he was about to throw the fish back into the river, the fish requested the king to save its life. In the earliest yuga (era) of Sata-yuga, a king named Manu was performing severe penance for thousands of years. In MATSYA Avatar, Lord Vishnu incarnates himself as a fish in this world. Parashurama (parashu=axe, Rama=name of God)Д«ronze age the coming of Ramapithecus development of first weapons such as axe. Homo Erectus, Upright, yet short and weaponless Half man-half animal appear (30 million years ago) The first mammals evolve (60 million years ago) The first amphibians emerge (100 million years ago)

Life starts in water (600 million-400 million years ago) While many explanations are given for the 10 avatars of Vishnu, one can see striking similarity of these stories with the theory of evolution of life. Each avatar of Lord Vishnu shall be presented below with appropriate details of the situation under which the lord was compelled to appear on the earth. These incarnations are termed as the 'avatars' of Lord Vishnu. There are ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu, has incarnated in various life forms through different yugas (ages or eons) in situations where Dharma was in danger, because of certain evil elements in the world. Vishnu is the name given to the protector and sustainer of the universe. 'Whenever Dharma, or the situation of law and order, is endangered on this world, I shall incarnate onto this world to re-establish Dharma, law and order, and to protect the good people and to destroy the evil elements of the society.' Children's Corner - Stories - Ten Avatars of Vishnu - Dashaavatara

Dasavatharam stories