Vishnu Dashavatharam

1. Matsya

Half fish/half man avatar. He saves the world from a cosmic deluge, with the help of a boat.

2. Kurma

Tortoise avatar. He supports the cosmos, while the gods and demons churn the cosmic ocean with the help of serpent Vasuki to produce the nectar of immortality. The churning produces both the good and the bad, including poison and immortality nectar. Nobody wants the poison, everyone wants the immortality nectar.

3. Varaha

Boar avatar. He rescues goddess earth when the demon Hiranyaksha kidnaps her and hides her in the depths of cosmic ocean. The boar finds her and kills the demon, and the goddess holds onto the tusk of the boar as he lifts her back to the surface.

4. Narasimha

Half lion-half man avatar. Demon king Hiranyakashipu becomes enormously powerful, gains special powers by which no man or animal could kill him, then bullies and persecutes people who disagree with him, including his own son. The Man-Lion avatar creatively defeats those special powers, kills Hiranyakashipu, and rescues demon's son Prahlad who opposes his own father.

5. Vamana

Demon king Mahabali fought against the Devas and won heaven, and thus became the ruler of heaven, earth, and the underworlds. Though he was a benevolent king, he was a demon, and the devas led by Indra went to Lord Vishnu to help them get heaven back. Lord Vishnu, although didn't want to punish Bali because he was a good king, instead decided to test him. While the king was distributing alms amongst his people, Vishnu in his Vaman avatar approaches Bali in the form of a monk who offers him food, land, money, jewels, and all the riches. However, the monk refuses and asks only for three steps of land. Bali grants it to him. The dwarf grows, in his first step takes the earth and the netherworld, and in the second all of the heavens. Bali, now understanding who it is in front of him, offers his head to the Lord to put his foot on as the third pace. Lord Vishnu gave him the boon of immortality and allowed him to return to his people every year on the occasion of Onam.

6. Parashurama

Sage with an axe avatar. The warrior class gets too powerful, and seizes other people's property for their own pleasure. The avatar appears as a sage with an axe, kills all the adharmic kings and all his warrior companions.

7. Rama

The entire life story of Rama, Sita and their companions allegorically discusses duties, rights and social responsibilities of an individual. It illustrates dharma and dharmic living through model characters.

8. Krishna

He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the supreme God in his own right. He is the god of compassion, tenderness, love and is one of the most popular and widely revered among Indian divinities. His mission was not only to destroy the evil but also to give the pious people with true Dharma so that the true spirituality is understood by the people of age.

9. Buddha

When the entire world lost the understanding of the scriptures and stood in ignorance, Buddha an enlightened man reiterated the importance of self realization and self effort in realizing oneself.

10. Kalki

Kalki is the prophesied tenth avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu. He will bring an end to the Kali Yuga, the final epoch and harbinger in the new epoch of Satya Yuga in the endless cycle of existence within Hinduism.