Dasavatars

 REMARK: I do not have any intentions of propagating the Hindu religion through these posts.

Dasavatars refers to the primary 10 avatars that Vishnu was/will be:

1)      Matsya the Fish

2)      Kurma the Tortoise

3)      Varaha the Boar

4)      Narasimha the half man, half lion

5)      Vamana the Dwarf

6)      Parasurama the Man with the Axe

7)      Ram the Prince of Ayodhya

8)      Krishna

9)      Buddha

10)   Kalki (yet to come)

                The time cycle in Hinduism is something called “Yugas”. There are four Yugas: Satya, Treta, Dwarapa, and Kali Yuga. Four of the Avatars appeared in the Satya Yuga, three in the Treta Yuga, one in the Dwarapa Yuga, and two in the Kali Yuga, of which Kalki is yet to come.

                It is said that the Satya Yuga is the “Golden Age.” The men are ruled by the gods, and righteousness prevails. It lasts for about 100,000 years. The decline of the Satya Yuga marks the beginning of the Treta, the decline of the Treta the Dwarapa, and the decline of the Dwarapa the Kali. The Dharma bull, which symbolizes morality, stands on all four legs in the Satya Yuga, three in the Treta, two in the Dwarapa, and only one in the Kali.

                Amongst the four eras, the Satya Yuga is the first and the most significant one. Knowledge, meditation, and penance hold special importance in this era. All the pillars of religion are present in totality. The average life expectancy of a human being in Satya Yuga is believed to be over 400 years. During Satya Yuga, all people engage only in good, sublie deeds. Ashrams become devoid of wickedness and deceit. All four pillars of religion are present.

               Treta Yuga is the second out of four yugas, or ages of mankind, in the religion of Hinduism, and follows the Satya Yuga of perfect morality and precedes the Dvapara Yuga. The most famous events in this yuga were Lord Vishnu's fifth, sixth and seventh incarnations as Vamana, Parasurama and Ramachandra respectively. The Dharma bull, which symbolises morality, stood on three legs during this period. It had all four in the Satya Yuga and two in the later Dvapara Yuga. Currently, in the immoral age of Kali, it stands on one leg.

                Dvapara Yuga or Dwapara Yuga is the third out of four yugas, or ages, described in the scriptures of Hinduism. This yuga comes after Treta Yuga and is followed by Kali Yuga. According to the Puranas this yuga ended at the moment when Krishna returned to his eternal abode of Vaikuntha. There are three pillars of religion in the Dwarapa Yuga.

                There are only two pillars left of religion in the Dvapara Yuga: Kama and Artha. Lord Vishnu assumes the yellow color and the Vedas are categorized into four parts that is Rig, Sama, Yajur and Atharva. During these times the Brahmins are knowledgeable of two, sometimes three Vedas, but rarely have studied all the four Vedas thoroughly. Accordingly, because of this categorization, different actions and activities come into existence.

                Kali Yuga  is the last of the four stages that the world goes through as part of the cycle of yugas described in the Indian scriptures. According to the Surya Siddhanta, Kali Yuga began at midnight (00:00) on 18 February 3102 BCE in the proleptic Julian calendar, or 23 January 3102 BC in the proleptic Gregorian calendar. This date is also considered by many Hindus to be the day that Krishna left earth to return to his abode. Most interpreters of Hindu scriptures believe that earth is currently in Kali Yuga. Some, such as Swami Sri Yukteswar, and Paramhansa Yogananda believe that it is now near the beginning of Dvapara Yuga. The Kali Yuga is traditionally thought to last 432,000 years.

                Hindus believe that human civilization degenerates spiritually during the Kali Yuga, which is referred to as the Dark Age because in it people are as far removed as possible from God. Hinduism often symbolically represents morality (dharma) as a bull. In Satya Yuga, the first stage of development, the bull has four legs, but in each age morality is reduced by one quarter. By the age of Kali, morality is reduced to only a quarter of that of the golden age, so that the bull of Dharma has only one leg.