10 avtar of shri hari

Dashavatara

The ten best known avatars of Vishnu are collectively known as the dashawtar. 

The first four are said to have appeared in the satya-yug (the first of the four yugas or ages in the time cycle described within Hinduism). The next three avatars appeared in the treta yug, the eighth descent in the dwapar-yug and the ninth in the kali-yug. The tenth, Kalki, is predicted to appear at the end of the Kali Yuga.

1.    Matsya, the fish-avatar who saved Manu - the progeniter of mankind from the great deluge and rescued the Vedic scriptures by killing a demon

2.    Kurma, the tortoise -avatar, who helped in the samudra manthan - the churning of the ocean

3.    Varaha, the boar-avatar, who rescued the earth from the ocean, by killing her kidnapper-demon Hirankashyapu.

4.    Narasimha, the half man-half lion avatar, who killed the tyrant demon-king Hirankashyapu, to rescue the demon's son Prahalad, who was a Vishnu-devotee

5.    Vamana, the dwarf-avatar, who defeated the demon-king Bali

6.    Parashurama, sage with the axe who killed the thousand-armed king Kartavya arjun

7.    Rama, the king of Ayodhya and the hero of the Hindu epic Ramayan

8.    Krishna, the king of Dwarka, a central character in the Bhagwatpuran and Mahabharat and reciter of Bhagwapgita

9.    Gautama Buddha

10. Kalki ("Eternity", or "time", or "The Destroyer of foulness"), who is expected to appear at the end of Kali Yuga.

Balarama, the elder brother of Krishna, is sometimes considered as one of the Dasavatar, omitting Buddha from the list. In other traditions, Balarama is considered as a partial avatar of Vishnu or an avatar of Shesha, the serpent on which Vishnu sleeps.

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