Before going into the Dashavatara hastas, let me give you a short introduction for Hinduism, Puranas and Yugas.
Hastas Hastas are hand gestures or symbols. Many Indian classical dance forms, such as Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Kathak, and others, use hand gestures (hasta or mudra in Sanskrit) listed in Nandikeswara’s 2nd Century AD text, Abhinayadarpanam to help convey emotions and ideas. The ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu are called the Dashavataras (Dasha means ten and avatar means the incarnation). In Bharatanatyam, using the hasta mudras we can show each of his incarnations and they are called the dashavatara hastas and are described below.
Hinduism is a culture or tradition or rather a huge civilization that was evolved thousands of years back. Every aspects of life be it life style, mannerisms, education, medical science, trade, agriculture etc are well established within the horizon of this tradition. It is very complex but at the same time very well-organized and consistent. It is the most complex of all the present historical religions. The word Hindu had been derived from the Persians through the Sanskrit word Sindhu which was the historical local name of the Indus River in the north-western part of India. The merchants and traders who came from other parts of the world started referring to the people living beyond the Indus river by the Arabic word Hindu (Al hind). Eventually the word Hinduism was established by itself to represent the cultural, philosophical and religious traditions of these natives. Now, Hinduism is considered as one of the most common religion in India.
Puranas are the narratives of the history of the Universe from creation to destruction, pedigree or hierarchy of the glorious Kings, Sages, Gods, demigods and also the description of the Hindu Cosmology, philosophy and geography.The most important of the puranas are the Mahapuranas which are eighteen in number that are divided into three groups of six each. They are the following:
Agni Purana (Details of vastushastra & gemology), Bhagavata Purana(Details of Lord Vishnu’s incarnations), Brahma Purana(Details of Godaveri & its tributaries), Brahmanda Purana(Details of Lalita sahasranamam), Brahmavaivarta Purana(Details of worshiping of devi, krishna & ganesha), Garuda Purana(Details of death and aftermaths), Harivamsa Purana(Details of itihasa), Kurma Purana(Details of), Linga Purana(Details of magnificence of lingam and the origin of universe), Markandeya Purana(Details of devimahatmyam), Matsya Purana (Details of matsya (fish)), Narada Purana(Details of Vedas and vedangas), Padma Purana(Details the greatness of bhagavatgita), Siva Purana (Details of Lord Siva), Skanda Purana(Details the birth of skanda, the karthikeya son of Lord Siva), Vamana Purana(Details of Kurukshetra), Varaha Purana(Details of the prayers and devotional observance of Lord Vishnu), Vayu Purana(same as Siva purana) and Vishnu Purana(Details of Lord Vishnu).
Yuga in Hindu philosophy is the name of an epoch or an era within a four age cycle. To make it clearer, just like thefour seasons of a year Spring, autumn, winter and summer these for yugas involve gradual changes that the whole universe and the beings go through. Manusmriti also known as Manava dharma shastra (Manava means human, dharma means goodness and shastra means science) is the most important and earliest textual tradition of Hinduism. It presents itself as a discourse given by Manu (pro genitor of man kind) to a group of saints who all beseeched him to tell them the law of alla social sciences.According to the laws of Manu; the Chatur yugas (Chatur means four) follow a timeline ratio of 4:3:2:1 in the order of Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dwapara Yuga and Kali Yuga. The duration of each of these yugas in the same order is 4800 years of demi god years, 3600 years of demigod years, 2400 years of demigod years and 1200 years of demigod years. One demigod year is equal to 360years of human years. Hence the duration of Satya Yuga is 1,728,000years (4800 x 360), Treta Yuga will be 1,296,000years (3600 x 360), Dwapara Yuga will be 864,000 years (2400 x 360) and Kali Yuga (present era) will be 432,000 years (1200 x 360). One Manvantara is the life span of Manu which is equal to 71 chatur yugas. Fourteen manvantara’s makes one kalpa yuga which is 1 day of Lord Brahma. 2 kalpas makes a day and night of brahma. One Brahma varsha (year) is composed of 360 Brahma days.}. It is believed that we are in the seventh Manvantara now.
Lord Vishnu’s 4 incarnations befall in the Satya Yuga, 3 in Treta Yuga, 2 in Dwapara Yuga and 1 in Kali Yuga.
Now let’s go into the topic.
Bhagavata purana describes the ten incarnations (descenting of the Supreme Being into the earth in human and other forms) of Lord Vishnu. In short, Lord Vishnu incarnated in to the earth in nine different forms from time to time in different yugas to eradicate the evil forces to restore goodness and justice (dharma) and to liberate his worthy devotees from the cycles of death and birth and give them the ultimate moksha. The last (tenth one) is yet to arrive as per the Hinduism that will be the final incarnation of Lord Vishnu to appear at the end of the present era that is going on.He will be coming on a white horse and his sword will be drawn, blazing like a comet and will destroy all unrighteousness and evil at the end of Kali Yuga (the present era).
The ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu are called the Dashavataras (Dasha means ten and avatar means the incarnation). In Bharatanatyam, using the hasta mudras we can show each of his incarnations and they are called the dashavatara hastas and are described below:
Matsya Hasta
Hold the Ardha Chandra hasta on both hands one above the other to form the matsya hasta.
This hasta is used to show the matsya avatara of Lord Vishnu…
The story goes like this…..
Vaivastava Manu (progenitor of mankind) once accidently catches a matsya (fish) while he was bathing in a river. The fish pleads for protection and in return promises to save Vaivastava Manu from an impending (about to happen) flood as it knows exactly when is the flood goanna happen. The fish tells him to put it in a jar of water and keep safe.He did so. Immediately the fish grown big and came of the jar and pleaded his help again. He had to dig a big pit , fill it with water and had to put the fish in it. Surprisingly the fish again grown bigger than the pit and he transferred the fish to the ocean. The fish had grown bigger enough to survive in the flood. The fish asked Manu to build a boat and ordered him to collect all the grains and all living creatures to be preserved in the boat. (In some versions he was said to have accompanied by the seven great sages). When the flood started Manu safely got into the boat and started pleading the help of the fish as promised. The fish asked to tie the boat to horn that had grown on the head of the fish with the help of the huge snake vasuki. The fish towed the boat safely to the highest and the driest ground at the northern mountains (interpreted as the Himalayas). Vaivastava manu was the sole survivor on the earth and took the task of creating the new human race. He practised austerities and worshipped gods and eventually his prayers were answered by the supreme god and beautiful women called shradha appeared. Together they initiated the race of Manu. The fish in this story is said to be the first incarnation of Lord Vishnu called the Matsya avatara.
Khurma Hasta
Hold the Mrigashirsha hasta on both hands with right palm over the left one inside of the palm facing each other and hold palms tight forming the khurma hasta.
This hasta is used to show the Khurma avatara of Lord Vishnu…
The story of khurma avatara goes like this…..
The second avatar (incarnation) of Lord Vishnu is called the Khurma avatar and this happened in the Satya Yuga millions of years ago. An ancient Sage Durvasa was the son of sage Atri and wife anasuya. He was well known for his short temper and hence he was received with great reverence by the humans as well as the devas (gods). Once he gave a garlant to Indra (the king of the gods) who placed the garlant around his elephant’s neck. For some reason the elephant trampled it. This was a great insult for the sage Durvasa. Furiously the sage cursed the gods to loose their immortality, divine power and strength.
The Gods pleaded for the help of Lord Vishnu. He advised to get the Amrith (nectar of immortality) and drink it inorder to get back the immortality, divine powers and strength. Lord Vishnu asked them to churn the ocean of milk (Palazhi) with the help of Mount Mandara and the serpent Vasuki as the churning rope. Devas could not churn it by themselves and hence cunningly declared peace with the Asuras and started the churning, devas on one side and asuras on the other side. Mount Mandara being too heavy, while churning it started sinking deep in the ocean. Lord Vishnu took the form of a huge Khurma (tortoise) and supported the Mount Mandara and the churning was successfully completed. But the Asuras immediately took the Amirth (nectar of immortality) and ran away. Devas pleaded the help of Lord Vishnu again who manifested himself in the form of a beautiful women called Mohini. She played tricks with the Asuras and finally gave the pot of the Amrith to the Devas. They had and revived the immortality, power and strength.
Varaha Hasta
Hold the Mrigashirsha hasta on both hands with right palm on top of the left one and hold palms tight to each other forming the varaha hasta.
This hasta is used to show the varaha avatara of Lord Vishnu…
The story of varaha avatara goes like this…..
Lord Brahma (Creator of the Universe) received the knowledge of the puranas from the Universal being, Narayana (Lord Vishnu) and wanted to spread it to the world. He then created from his mind four sages, the Kumaras, who had the names Sanaka, Sanatana, Sanandana and Sanat kumara. They took life long vows of celibacy (brahmacharya) and wandered throughout the Universe with just one intention of teaching. During one of their sojourns (visit) they arrived at Vaikunda (Lord Vishnu’s abode) a place of bliss and purity. It was surrounded by seven circular walls with seven gates of entry. The Kumara’s passed six gates without any hindrance and reached the seventh one which was guarded by two dwarapalas (door gaurds) Jaya and Vijaya. They did not allow Kumaras to enter the gate. The Kumaras were perplexed with this behavior of the gate keepers and cursed them to be born in the materialistic earth in the form of Asuras (demons) having characteristics of lust, anger and greed. Jaya and Vijaya appealed to Lord Vishnu and he assured them that they will be released from all births by an avatar of Himself (Lord Vishnu). They were thus born as Asuras to the Sage Kashyapa and his wife Diti in an inauspicious hour and named Hiranyakashipu and Hiranyaksha. The demon brothers were manifestations of all the evil and created havoc in the Universe.The elder brother Hiranyaksha practised tapas (prayers) and finally took a boon from Lord Brahma that he will be indestructible by any human or animal. He and his brother tormented (tortured) the inhabitants of the earth and the gods. Once the elder brother Hiranyaksha took the earth and hid deep down the primordial waters.Earth appealed to Vishnu who took the form of Varaha having boar’s head and human’s body so being neither animal nor human. In the ocean varaha encounters hiranyaksha who obstructs his path and challenges for a duel.Varaha lifts the earth with its tusk and fought fiercly with the demon and finally after a thousand year duel varaha slays the demon. Varaha rose from the ocean with the earth in its tusk and placed it in the original position. Further the earth goddess (Bhumidevi) fell in love with her rescuer and marries Varaha and gave birth to another asura called Narakasura. Thus completes the story of Varaha avatar of Lord Vishnu.
Narasimha Hasta
Hold the Simhamukha hasta on left hand at the side of the hip and tripataka hasta on your right hand at the side of the chest level we get the narasimha hasta.
This hasta is used to show the narasimha avatara of Lord Vishnu…
The story of narasimha avatara goes like this…..
In varaha avatar, Lord Vishnu had slayed the asura Hiranyaksha creating deep revenge in his younger brother Hiranyakasipu’s mind. He did years and years of austere penance to Lord Brahma to revenge upon Lord Vishnu.While Brahma appeared before him, he asked for immortality. Brahma informed that it is not possible because death is inevitable to every being in the universe.He then pleaded for his death to happen neither inside of any building/house nor outside, neither on earth nor on space, neither during day time nor night time, and neither by any weapon nor by any human or animal. He was thus granted boon from Lord Brahma and became happy having the notion that he had won over the death. One day he was offering prayers in a mountain and his home was attacked by Lord Indra (King of gods) and other devas. Narada (Divine sage) took care of Hiranyakasipu’s wife, kayadu knowing that she is sinless and was carrying. The unborn child of Hiranyakashipu got seriously affected and influenced by the instruction and teachings made by Narada and became a hard core devotee of Lord Vishnu after he was born. Hiranyakaship kept on advising his son Prahlada not to worship Lord Vishnu and instead worship him as the supreme power. Prahlada did not listen to his father and continued worshipping Lord Vishnu. Being so furious about this matter, Hiranyakashipu decided to kill his son and every time he attempted for the same, Prahlada was protected by Lord Vishnu and was not killed. His father was so angry and asked Prahlada to show the Lord he is worshipping. Prahlada replied that he is omnipresent. Hiranyakashipu then pointed a pillar and asked his son if his Lord would be there or not. Prahlada replied “Yes”. Hiranyakashipu fiercely hit the pillar with his mace and Lord Vishnu appeared in the form of Narasimham (Naran mean human and simham means lion) having torso and lower body of human and upper body of a lion just like the boon granted to Hiranyakashipu neither human nor animal. Narasimha appeared at twilight (neither day nor night) and put the demon on his thighs (neither earth nor space) and sat on the threshold of the room (neither inside nor outside) and using its finger nails (no weapons) disembowels the demon and killed him. Even after killing the demon, Narasimha avatar of Lord Vishnu was not cooling down out of its fury and none of them were able to calm narasimha except Prahlada who did it by prasing him by prayers. Thus both brothers Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu were killed by the two avatars of Lord Vishnu, Varaha avatar and Narasimha avatar respectively.
Vamana Hasta
Hold the Mushti hasta on your right hand at the shoulder level and the same hasta on your left hand at the starting level of thigh to get vamana hasta.
This hasta is used to show the vamana avatara of Lord Vishnu…
The story of vamana avatara goes like this…..
There lived a benevolent Asura king in the Treta Yuga and he was King Bali. Bali was the great grandson of Asura Hiranyakashipu (who was slayed by the narasimha avatar of Vishnu) and the grand son of Prahlada. King Bali was so generous, kind and honest. Sage Sukracharya was his spiritual guru and he learned Vedas from him and his grandfather Prahlada. Sukracharya was a good battle strategisttoo. With his help Bali conquered all the three world (Earth, Heaven and the Patala (Nether world). He defeated Lord Indra (King of all the Gods) and Bali took over the Heavens.His fame, reputation and the defeat made Indra dejected and disgusted. Indra seeked the help of his mother, Aditi for helping him and she in turn pleaded the help of Lord Vishnu. Lord conveyed to Aditi that Bali is a great devotee of Vishnu and he deserves to be the next Indra. Aditi explained to Lord that though Bali is a good king the asuras as a whole are cruel and their lust and greed lead them to all kind of battles with the devas and the beings in the materialistic earth. Lord Vishnu being convinced in what Aditi was trying to convey asked her wish. She requested Lord Vishnu to be born as her child to end Bali’s menace. Lord Vishnu agreed and was born to Aditi and sage Kashyapa. He was named Vamana. Meanwhile upon advice of the Guru Sukracharya, Bali performed 99 aswamedha yagnas to win the title of King of all the three worlds. He was about to complete the ceremony conducting the 100th Aswamedha yagna and a young dark and dwarf Brahmin boy appeared who was none other than Vamana, son of Kashyapa and Aditi. King Bali offered him to ask for anything he wants as it was the last day of the yagna and he had the privilege of giving any alms to whoever in need. Sukracharya with his senses could regonize the small boy as Lord Vishnu and stopped King Bali to offer him whatever he asks. King Bali out of his generosity continued with his offerings and asked the boy his requirement. Vamana politely said he just needs three feet of land. King Bali laughed and said just three feet of land. He told the boy to measure by himself and take the land. Immediately Vamana started growing bigger and bigger that Bali could see only his feet. Vamana finished measuring earth and the sky in his two feet and requested Bali to show where he can measure the third feet of land. King Bali didn’t want to break his promise and bowed his head to measure the third feet. Vamana kept his foot on Bali’s head and pushed deep into the Nether world called Pataala by the force of his third step on his head. King Bali was a great ruler during his reign there was no poverty and dishonesty. He was known as Mahabali. Lord Vishnu granted him a boon to come and visit his people once in a year and that day is still celebrated as Onam festival in Kerala one of the states in India. Vamana was the fith avatar of Lord Vishnu and first onei n the Treta Yuga.
Parashurama Hasta
Hold the ardhapataka hasta on your right hand raised high towards the right side and the same hasta on your left hand holding the thigh to get parashurama hasta.
This hasta is used to show the parashurama avatara of Lord Vishnu…
The story of parshurama avatara goes like this…..
Parashurama is the sixth avatar (incarnation) of Lord Vishnu. He was born as the fifth son of Saptarshi (Sapta means Seven and rishi means sages) Jamadagni and his wife Renuka. Jamadagni lived in Treta Yuga in the seventh Manavantara, the current one. {Manvantara is the life span of Manu which is equal to 71 chatur yugas. (I have given brief description of Yugas in the introduction of this session). Fourteen manvantara’s makes one kalpa yuga which is 1 day of Lord Brahma. 2 kalpas makes a brahma day and night. One Brahma varsha (year) is composed of 360 Brahma days.}. Parashuram was a devotee of Lord Siva and undertook terrible penance and received the weapon Parashu (axe) from Lord Siva as a boon. Siva also taught him martial arts and war skills. He was the first warrior Brahmin and it was impossible for any one on the earth to defeat him. It is even believed that he still lives and will be teaching the war skills to the tenth avatar of Lord Vishnu, the Kalki who will be incarnated by the end of this kalpa. His father had a magical and divine cow named Kamadhenu which could give any dish asked for and endless quantity of milk. Once when his father was out King Kartaviryarjuna’s people visted his ashram (house) and was surprised with the kamadhenu. They asked for buying the cow for their king but the offer was refused. King’s people forcefully took away the cow. Greatly annoyed, Parasurama hacked the king to death. The king’s son retaliated by heading Parasurama’s father Jamadagni. Infuriated Parasurama killed five generation of the warriors creating five lakes of blood which later became the dreaded battle field of kurukshetra. He continued killing all kshatriyas (warriors) in his path until there were no more warriors left on the earth. His massacre of kings ended only when he met Sri Rama the son of King Dasharath. Parasurama threw his blood stained axed into the sea but the sea recoiled in horror and drew back thus forming a new coast known as the konkan and the Malabar in south India. Parasurama became a warrior to create a better world free of corrupt kings.
Rama Hasta
Hold the shikara hasta on your left hand raised high to the level of your head and the right hand with kapitha hasta held at thigh level slightly away from the body to get rama hasta.
This hasta is used to show the rama avatara of Lord Vishnu…
The story of rama avatara goes like this…..
Goddess Earth named as Bhumi Devi in Hindu puranas, appealed to Lord Brahma the creator to be rescued from evil kings who were plundering her resources and destroying life. The Gods (Devas) also pleaded his help when the ten headed rakshasa (demon) Ravana overpowered them and started ruling the devaloka (heaven), the earth and the netherworlds. They altogether worshipped Lord Vishnu who promised to help them by incarnating as a human. Thus he was born as the eldest son of Kosala King named Dasaratha and his wife Kausalya. Lord Vishnu’s consort Goddess Lakshmi also incarnated as Sita and was found by King Janaka of Mithila while ploughing field. Hence she is also known by the name janaki. Sri rama along with guru (teacher) Vishwamitra visited their palace during Sitas’s swayam varam (A custom followed those days in which the bride choose her own husband after conducting a few competitions).Sri Rama won the competition held on that day he visted the region Mithila ruled by King Janaka and married Sita.After their return to Ayodhya, King Dasharatha wanted to pass over the kingdom to his eldest son Sri Rama which was objected by his second wife Kaikeyi. Kaikeyi by the evil influence of her crooked servant Manthara, asked the King to crowne his son Bharata as the next King and send Rama to exile for 14 years and it thus happened. Sita and Lakshmana his beloved younger brother also accompanied him. While they lived their lives in the forest a demon lady Soorpanaka who was the sister of the ten headed rakhasa (demaon) came to see Sri Rama and got fascinated upon him. Failed many times upon approaching him in the form of a beautiful lady and requesting him to marry her, she got greatly annoyed and sought vengeance through his brother. She provoked her brother Ravana to marry Sita saying that she will be the best suitable and beautiful wife for you, thus making Sita part from Sri Rama. By their wicked plan, Surpanaka went to Srirama’s ashram in the form of a beautiful deer. Sita got mesmerized upon seeing it and requested his beloved husband to get that deer for him. Sri Rama ran after the deer (Surpanaka) and the deer skipped off from him and took him far away from the ashram. Sita got upset about the delay in Rama’s return and sent his brother Lakshmana to find him out. Lakshmana didn’t agree to it and finally when Sita got angry he agreed and went but only after giving her strict instruction not to enter out a line (lakshmana rekha) which he drew with this divine power until he returns back. During this time Ravana came and Sita was taken away to Lanka.On his way to Lanka he encountered with the huge vulture bird named Jadayu who was the friend of Dasharatha. He fought with Ravana and was injured very badly. Jadayu was left out handicapped but not dead just to meet Sri Rama when he comes that way and could inform him about the kidnap of Rama’s wife Sita. Meanwhile Rama in search of his wife and dejected came across to meet Sugreeva who was the monkey king thrown away by his brother Bali. Sri Rama helped him in fighting and defeating Bali and took over power. Sugreeva in return gave an army of monkeys who could assit and help him in finding his wife. As destined they came across to see the vulture bird Jadayu who explained to him the story and told Sita was taken away to Lanka which was across the sea. Jadayu died immediately after he passed the information to Sri Rama. There was no way in crossing the sea. The army monkeys led by the powerful leader Hanuman (Son of God wind) built a bridge of huge stones across the sea to reach Lanka. In Lanka Ravana threatened Sita many times to marry him but was rejected all the times as Sita was known to be the most pure and faithful wife ever in the history of mankind. Hanuman secretly visited Sita and informed that Rama will soon come and escape her from Lanka. Hanuman was caught by the gaurds of Ravana and was taken before Ravana. Ravana ordered his people to set fire to his tail after rapping it with oily clothes. When they started doing that, his tail started growing larger and larger and he ran away with the lit tail and set fire throughout the Lanka. Meanwhile Rama and his army reached Lanka through the new bridge and attacked Ravana. Ravana was killed in the battle by Sri Rama with a special weapon given to him by saint Agastya and Sita was at liberty. Lakshmana was wounded severly and was cured by a magic herb brought by Hanuman. It was said that Hanuman grew bigger up to sky and flew to the mountain where the medicinal herbs were found and finding difficult to locate the exact herb he took the whole mountain. Rama along with Sita, Lakshmana, Hanuman and the entire monkey army went back to Ayodhya and he was welcomed with grant ceremony arranged by Bharatha and Rama was encrowned as the King of Ayodhya.
Krishna Hasta
Hold the mrigashirsha hasta on your left hand at the cheek level facing down and the same hasta on your right handheldadjacent to the left hand also facing down to get krishna hasta.
This hasta is used to show the krishna avatara of Lord Vishnu…
The story of krishna avatara goes like this…..
During the time of Dwapara Yuga, Mother Earth again got distressed about the increasing sins happening on the earth and approached Lord Vishnu in the form of a cow and seeked his help to save her. Lord Vishnu promised her that he will help her by incarnating once again on the earth soon. Thus he was born in the city of Mathura (current Mathura district in the northern state Uttarpradesh in India). King Kansa was the king of Mathura who had ascended to power by imprisong his father. Kansa had a sister named Devaki whom he loved so deeply that when she got married to Vasudeva, Kansa himself took them to Vasudeva’s abode. On their way a loud voice from the sky prophecized that the eight son of Devaki will eventually become his assassin. King Kansa got angry and started killing Devaki. Vasudeva pleaded for his wife’s life and promised that they will surrender before him all their kids whenever they are borne. Kansa was not convinced still he relieved Devaki and imprisoned both of them back in in his palace. Thus Kansa killed six children of Vasudeva and Devaki. Devaki had miscarriage for the seventh one (Actually the seventh child was transferred to the womb of Rohini, Vasudeva’s first wife and was born as Balarama). Keeping the promise to Mother earth, Lord Vishnu himself descended into the womb of Devaki and was born as their eigth so n.As per Lord Vishnu’s instruction to Vasudeva, the baby was secretly transferred to NandaGopan and Yasodha who lived in Vrindavan which was nearby Mathura. At the same time of Krishna’s birth they also were blessed with a baby girl Yogamaya who was actually Goddess Durga. Vasudeva replaced the babies and took Yogamaya with him and reached safely back to the prison. The next day the baby was surrendered before Kansa and when he was about to kill the baby, she disappeared from his hand and Kansa again heard a loud voice prophecized that his assassin is already born on the earth. Kansa furiously decreed to kill all the children who were born on that day and so did his soldiers. But his attempts to kill Krishna by sending demoness Pootana and tornado demon trinavarta failed and Krishna killed both of them with his divine powers. He also killed the huge serpent named Kaliya who poisoned the Yamuna River and killed the cow herds. Once Krishna advised the people of Vrindavan to take care and protect their animals and environment that provide them with all their necessitied instead of worshipping Lord Indra annually by spending the resources. He did it purposely to throw away the increasing pride of Lord Indra. Indra anyhow got furious and sent a big thunderstorm to vrindavan. Krishna then lifted the Govardhana Hill and protected his people from persecution by Indra and prevents devastation of the pasture land of Govardhan. When Krishna turned into a young man he returned to Mathura to visit his actual parents who were imprisoned at King Kansa’s palace. Krishna overthrew the reigning of Kansa by killing him and released his parents and grandfather Ugrasenan (Kansa’s father who was also imprisoned) and encrowned Ugrasenan as king of Yadavas. Krishna left with his Yadava followers to Dwaraka (in modern Gujarat) and established his kingdom there. Later Krishna became part of the Kurukshetra war between the Pandavas (Five brothers) and Kauravas (Hundred brothers) in which the Kauravas were killed completely. Their mother Gandhari got upset with Krishna and cursed him that he and his community will be completely eliminated from the earth after thirty six years. It happened exactly like that when there was a fight started between the yadavas leaving only Krishna undead. It is believed that Krishna left to the forest and while he was resting on the branch of a tree a hunter saw his feet from distance and misunderstood as that of a deer and shoot arrow and was wounded and killed mortally. The stories of Krishna are endless. What I have spotted here is just a brief.
Kalki Hasta
Bharatanatyam Mudras Images With Its Name
Hold the tripataka hasta on your left hand at the waist level facing away from you and the ardhapataka hasta on your right hand held at chest level also facing away from you to get kalki hasta.
Bharatanatyam Mudras Pdf
This hasta is used to show the kalki avatara of Lord Vishnu…