Lord Vishnu who is worshipped as the preserver of the universe is one of the supreme deities. He is benevolent as well as fearsome. He resides in the vast ocean which is  his abode, and is always accompanied by Goddess Lakshmi who is his wife. Lord Vishnu is depicted in a dark blue colour complexion which is the also colour of the universe. He is always shown having four hands. One of his four hands has the very powerful weapon called the Sudarshan Chakra. The Sudarshan Chakra, which is a spinning wheel, represents time as well as salvation. There are many names for Lord Vishnu, but the popular ones are Narayan and Hari. Lord Vishnu’s vehicle is the mighty Garuda and he also has a crown and bed of Sheshnag – the king serpent.

Whenever there is birth of evil, Lord Vishnu takes an Avataar (incarnation), comes down to earth to protect and restores the order. There are 10 incarnations of Lord Vishnu. In Indian mythology, these 10 incarnations are known as Dashaavataar (dasha means 10 and avataar means incarnation)

The 10 avataars are:

1. 1. Matsya avataar (fish),
   2. Koorma avataar (tortoise),
   3. Varaaha avataar (boar),
   4. Narasimha avataar (the man-lion),
   5. Vaman avataar (the dwarf),
   6. Parshurama avataar (the angry man),
   7. Lord Rama (the ideal man),
   8. Lord Krishna (the divine diplomat),
   9. Gautam Buddha (the prince who became the sage)
   10. Kalki avataar (yet to appear).

The Dashaavataars also have a huge resemblance to Darwin’s theory of evolution where life started in water (matysa / fish avataar), and then the amphibians (kurma / turtle avataar) came into existence. After that the mammals (varaha/ boar avataar) were born, the half-man, half-animals (Narasimha avataar) was found. Then there was bronze age (Parshurama avataar) and last was the evolution of the homo-sapiens (Rama / Krishna / Gautam Buddha avataar).