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72 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
The first may well be the story of the Avatars. On the issue of the Avatars there is a rivalry between Brahma and Vishnu. The theory of Avatars or incarnation assumed by God to save humanity from a calamity began with Brahma. He was said to have assumed two Avatars (1) Boar and (2) Fish. But the followers of Vishnu refused to allow this. They asserted that these Avatars were not the Avatars of Brahma but that they were the Avatars of Vishnu. Not only did they appropriate these Avatars of Vishnu they gave to Vishnu many more Avatars.
The Puranas have run riot with the Avatars of Vishnu and different Puranas have given different lists of Avatars as will be seen from the following :
AVATARS OF VISHNU
Sr. According According According According According No. to Hari to Narayani to Varaha to Vayu to Bhagwat Vamsa Akhyan Purana Purana Purana
Varaha Hansa Kurma Narasinha Sanatkumar
Narasinha Kurma Matsya Vaman Boar
Vaman Matsya Varaha Varaha
Parshuram Varaha Narasinha Kurma Nara-Narayan
Rama Narasinha Vaman Sangram Kapila
Krishna Vaman Parshuram Adivaka Dattatraya
Parshuram Rama Tripurari Jadna
Rama Krishna Andhakarh Rashabha
Krishna Buddha Dhvaja Prithi
Kalkin Kalkin Varta Matsya
Halahal Kurma
Kolhahal Dhanwantari
Mohini
Narasinha
Vaman
Parshuram
Ved Vyas
Naradeo
Rama
Krishna
Buddha
Kalkin
The second story may well be the issue of the first born. It is related in the Skanda Purana. The story says that at one time Vishnu lay asleep on the bosom of Devi, a lotus arose from his navel, and its ascending flower soon reached the surface of the flood, Brahma sprang from flower, and looking round without any creature on the boundless