Varaha Avatar

Lord Vishnu’s next incarnation was in the form of a boar. It is called Varaha Avataram. The mythological story behind this avathar is as follows: Lord Brahma, the Creator of the Universe, was engaged in the mighty assignment of the creation of the cosmos. But Earth or Bhoomadevi , was in a topsy -turvy state, being ravaged by the surging waves. Ultimately, the wretched Bhoomadevi sank to the bottom of the measureless depths of the ocean. Lord Brahma witnessing such terrible misery, fervently appealed to the Benevolent Authority of Lord vishnu, "O Lord, please come to my rescue and retrieve Mother Earth". As he uttered this prayer with an attitude of absolute helplessness, a tiny white boar, even smaller than the size of his thumb, appeared out one of his nostrils. To his sheer surprise, the boar continued outgrowing, until it has assumed a gigantic structure. Brahma realized the Boar or Varaha, as the Protector, Lord Vishnu. With a thundering roar, the Boar stormed through the clouds and zealously plunged into the ocean. After a frantic search, the Varaha Avatar discovered Bhoomadevi , stuck in the ocean-bed. Penetrating the ocean-bed with his tough tusks, he dug up Bhoomadevi. Then, he carried Bhoomidevi upwards, towards the surface. Meanwhile, there arrived the disruptive demon or Asura, called Hiranyaksha. Hiranyaaksha had turned out to be a formidable foe of the Devas or gods, after achieving boon from Brahma, through a severe penance. He heinously used to invite the Devas for combat, threaten them with his ferocity and defeat them decisively. He approached Varuna, the God of water, for the malicious sport. But Varuna understood his mal intentions, and own self-limitation, unsuitable to be at par with the Asura`s stength. He refused and at the same time, suggested Hiranyaksha to pose a challenge to Vishnu. He met Narada Muni, the Divine sage and a dedicated devotee of Lord Vishnu, and gathered the news from him, that Vishnu was escalating upwards with Bhoomadevi on his tusks, from the ocean. The impudent Hiranyaksha, blinded by pride and overriding arrogance, leaped into the ocean. He noticed the Varaha Avatar of Vishnu, bearing Bhoomadevi, and rushed upto him, instigating the Lord for a fight - " Hey beast, leave Bhoomadevi alone and come and fight me." The Varaha, heedless of the Asura`s loathsome activities, first deposited Bhoomadevi on the shore, to ensure her safety. He bestowed Divine Benediction on Bhoomadevi, " May you fit into the Divine order". It was time to ward off the evil with the greatest of valor, exercisable by Vishnu only. A tremendous battle was generated. Simultaneously, Brahma, spurred the wrathful Varaha, with the caution, "Twilight is approaching and in an hour he will become more powerful and formidable. So, slay him quickly and rid us of all menance." The urgency propelled the Lord to fiercely cast the crushing deathblow upon the viscious Asura. The Asura was destroyed andb the Bliss of peace and order, was restored to the Universe.Brahma and Devas, expressed their gratitude by eulogizing The Lord`s Magnificence. Varaha Avatar, like Matsya and Kurma Avatar, reinforces the inviolable truth, that God can take any form, while coming to the rescue of the virtuous. Therefore, true religion must impart the essential education that God resides in every creature, because all are but His Manifestations.
Source : http://d.scribd.com/ , http://www.indianetzone.com/

Koorma Avatar

The second of the ten Avataras of Vishnu, the legend is that at a very remote period when the gods felt their powers weakened and were desirous of obtaining amrita the beverage of immortality, Vishnu directed them to churn, together with the demons, the ocean of milk. Vishnu told Brahma and the other gods that they should have a temporary truce with the demons. The two sides should get together to churn the ocean. Vishnu would ensure that the devas benefited more from this churning of the ocean than the daityas did. The truce was agreed upon and the two sides got ready to churn the ocean. The mountain Mandara was used as a churning rod and great sake Vasuki as the rope for churning. The devas grasped Vasuki’s tail and the daityas grasped Vasuki’s head. But as the churning began, the mountain Mandara which had no base, started to get immersed in the ocean. What was to be done? Lord Vishnu came to the rescue. He adopted the form of a turtle and the peak was balanced on the turtle’s back. As the churning continued, terrible poison named kalkuta emerged from the depths of the ocean and was swallowed by Shiva. Shiva’s throat became blue from this poison and he is therefore known as Nilakantha, blue of throat. The goddess Varuni, the goddess of wine (sura), came out next. The gods readily accepted her and thus they came to be known as suras. But the demons rejected Varuni and were therefore known as asuras. She was followed by the Parijata tree, a beautiful tree that came to occupy the pride of place in Indra’s garden. A jewel named koustubha emerged and was accepted by Vishnu as his adornment. Three wonderful animals came out next - the cow Kapila, the horse Ucchaishrava and the elephant Airavata. They were followed by the apsaras, beautiful women who became the dancers of heaven. They were known as apsaras because they emerged from ap (water). The goddess Lakshmi or Shri came out next and was united with Vishnu. Finally,Dhanvantari emerged with a pot of amrita (the life - giving drink) in his hands. Dhanvantari was the originator of medicine (ayurveda). The daityas led by Jambha gave half of the amrita to the devas and departed with the remaining half. But Vishnu quickly adopted the form of a beautiful woman. So beautiful was the woman that the demons were charmed. “Pretty lady,” they said. “ take the amrita and serve it to us. Marry us.” Vishnu accepted the amrita, but he had no intention of giving it to the demons. He served it to the gods instead. There was only one demon who was somewhat clever. His name was Rahu. He adopted the form of Chandra, the moon-god, and succeeded in drinking some of the amrita. The sungod and the moon-god noticed what was happening and reported it to Vishnu. Vishnu there upon cut off Rahu’s head with a sword. But Rahu had drunk the amrita, so he could not die. He prayed to Vishnu and Vishnu granted him a boon. The boon was that occasionally Rahu would be permitted to swallow up the sun.You can see this happening at the time of the solar and the lunar eclipses. People who give alms during such eclipses are blessed. The gods obtained the amrita and the demons did not. Thus, the gods became more powerful than the demons. They defeated the demons and regained heaven. Lord VISHNU in this manner saved his True Devotees from dissolution so as to hand down divine knowledge and saved the VEDAS from destruction so as ensure CREATION after the DISSOLUTION.
Sources : http://www16.brinkster.com/manimangalam/ , http://d.scribd.com/

Matsya Avatar

The Matsya Avatar is the first incarnations of Lord Vishnu. The Matsya avatar never made into a independent status for worship. It has no temples.

Once when Lord Brahma, was about to fall asleep, at the end of the Kalpa (one day of Brahma - equal to 4320 million year), a cunning demon named Hayagriva had been hanging around, took the advantage to steal from Lord Brahma, the Vedas. But Lord Vishnu caught the asura , in this act, and to retrieve the Vedas. Lord Vishnu noticed King Satyavrata, who was doing the rituals of offerring water to God. Immediately Lord Vishnu took the form of a fish (Matsya), descended into water. When Stayavrata scooped water fromthe river, he found a tiny fish inside his kamandalam , then he tried to leave it back into river , the fish entreated the Stayavrata , not to leave him in the river as it would be eaten up by big fish. The fish grew bigger and bigger that , lakes were not enough, so the king thought of leaving it in the ocean as he had no other way, when he reached ocean, Fish again pleaded the king not to leave in the ocean, as it will be eaten by big fish. The king got suspicious and realised that it is Lord Vishnu in the form of fish. When King asked God, why he is in the form of fish? Lord replied his devotee, In a weeks time, the ocean will rise high and inundate the entire universe. Lord Vishnu gave the Satyavrata the knowledge he would require for his role as Manu in the next cycle. At that time a boat will come approaching you , do collect all seeds, Plants, animals, sages, and Vasuki serpant, as required for the next spell of creation and get into the boat and wait for me. As said by lord Vishnu,Pralayam began ,A boat approached satyavrata and all went inside the boat , and a fish with a horn came near and ordered them to tie up the boat to its horn with the help of vasuki serpant as rope.Lord Vishnu,(Matsya) left for fulfilling its mission. Hayagriva saw the gigantic fish approaching him and was overtaken by fear. He held the Vedas tightly in his mouth. But soon the Divine Fish slew him and recovered the Vedas and restored them to Brahma for him to resume the function of Creation at the appropriate time.Thus lord Vishnu saved the mankind from dissolution.

Source : http://www.webonautics.com/