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Re: turtle
In article <4cdel6$dfg@babbage.ece.uc.edu>
wsomsel@aol.com (W Somsel) writes:
I read that to Hindus, turtles are one of the 10 incarnations of
Vishnu, can anyone tell me more about this? Larisa
koorma avatar (the incarnation of lord vishnu as a turtle) is the
second of the ten incarnations of the lord vishnu. The form originally
caame about to retrieve from the seas, the earrth that was hidden by
hiranyaksa, elder brother of hiranyakasipa. (Vishnu came as
narasimha-half man and half lion later- to punish hiranyakasipa).
Subsequently, when angels and their cousins the demons were planning to
churn the ocean of milk for ambrosia (amrita), they were unable to keep
the mandhara mountain afloat to be used as a churn. The koorma avatar
came to their rescue and supported the mandhara mountain on its back,
so that the cousind can churn the ocean.
I sometimes think in its quaint way, the incarnations do support
Darwinian theory of evolution. First come the fish (matsya)- which is
acquatic, followed by the amphibian turtle. Next was the half man half
lion narasimha which was followed by the short man vamana, before the
full sized humans like parasurama and rama. It is postulated that the
first humans on earth (lucy in africa) ate no more than 4 ft tall.
regards.
ramarao
