Concept in Definition ABC

Within the framework of religion Hindu, the concept of avatar clearly has great relevance since it refers to the phenomenon through which a god can incarnate in a form land and thus be close to those who believe in him in this world. Normally, within the tradition Hindu, the god who has the most avatars to be incarnated in our world is the very important god Vishnu, the Hindu creator and protector god. However, all the great Hindu gods are considered to have at least one avatar, many of them several thousand.

The word avatar comes from the Sanskrit language and means 'one who descends from heaven to earth'. The root tr means 'cross' and the prefix ava means 'downwards', which is why the term avatar would then be the crossing of a deity downwards, towards the earthly world. Although the concept of avatar is typical of the Hindu religion, it can also be used to designate representatives most important of other religions which, according to Hindu beliefs, are earthly incarnations of the heavenly forms and perfect.

The avatars corresponding to the god Vishnu are thousands and infinite. However, ten are known that are the most important and that bear the name collective of Dasavatara (or ten avatars). The ten most important avatars of Vishnu are Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Parashurama, Rama, Krishna, Gautama Buddha and Kalki, each representing an element, animal or metaphysical concept.

The term avatar has, however, gained another meaning from the famous movie that bears the same name and that is based on the development of avatars to hands of human beings. These avatars are representations of each individual in a world to which as earthlings we cannot have access and, therefore, we must incarnate in another body although the mind and the spirit remains the same.