Last weekend in a bookstore I came across “Origin of Species” by Charles Darwin. It reminded me of a very interesting discussion with a friend of mine way back in 99. The usual ones which happen when one gets drunk and starts the meaningless discussion on the meaning of life. While talking about Hindu Philosophy this friend mentioned that how he had read that evolution of life has been very nicely described through Vishnu’s incarnations in Puranas.
Well if anyone who has basic ideas of Vishnu’s Dashavtaras (ten incarnations) and theory of evolution would most certainly agree. Consider this, life was supposed to originate in the oceans and then moved its way up to land through various evolutionary changes. Vishnu’s first five incarnations closely seem to follow the evolutionary sequence. Look at the list of first five incarnations -
- Matsya or Meen (Fish) – Aquatic Life originates
- Kurma or Kachchap (Tortoise) – Amphibians come into picture
- Varaha (Boar) – Life moves to Land
- Narsimha (Man+Lion) – Mammal
- Vamana (Dwarf) – Early Man
Yes it does not describe the microbiological life or Avian life but the essence is beautifully captured. I do not think this can be a coincidence and most probably the Ancient Indians had some idea about the evolution. However, it must have got lost in time and I am sure the presence of Gods & Humans in each and every incarnation story diluted the basic premise of origin of life.
If Darwin had got his hand on Puranas maybe he need not have taken the journey on Beagle. 
However it still would have been his theory and rightly so as only he could see the connections between various forms of life.
P.S. I still remember all ten incarnations because of that great knowledge source for children in 80s – Amar Chitra Katha
Vishnu the human spirit! Beautiful indeed!
A question; where is Visnu going next?
Hi
I just came up with a similar line of thot and took it to the full ten. Would like to exchange notes with you.
Wow, I never looked at it like that! That’s mind blowing, I’m going to ask people at my temple tomorrow.
I sometimes wonder about modern theories of human evolution and their relation to Hanuman and the Pandavas. I can’t remember the date of that though.
I don’t know about that one. From “Man-Lion” to “Dwarf”? Maybe that hasn’t happened yet. Damn. Does that mean I might have to lower my kitchen countertops?
I fully agree and I am happy to see a lot of people are thinking the same way I was feeling.
1. Matsya – This is the first incarnation of Lord Vishnu, which indirectly tells us that, the life started in water. Now scientifically it has been well proven that the life on earth did evolved in water as there was only water at the beginning . So in that perspective Fish can be considered as the fully developed life form in water and which is the largest, strongest (dominating life form in water) and probably the most intelligent form.
2. Kurma – This is the 2nd incarnation of Lord Vishnu. It is an amphibious animal which obviously shows that as the life evolved further, it started migrating to land. Kurma is a very crucial link between water and Land animals.
3. Varaha – It is the third incarnation which indicates a fully developed land based life form. So it shows that subsequently, life forms moved from water to land.
4. Narasimha – This is the fourth incarnation of Vishnu, which is considered as half man and half lion. So It basically represents the next step in evolution of life on land and a link between man and animal or when animals started walking on 2 legs and learned to use the other 2 legs (hands) in a better way
5. Vamana – In this incarnation Lord Vishnu appears in the form of a small man. It means this is where human form may have started separating them from the animals.
6. Parshurama- This is the next incarnation of Lord Vishnu which refers to a fully grown man. Surprisingly the Parshurama stories clearly depict as the angry wild man. His main weapon is Parshu or the axe which is the oldest weapon probably man has designed. The stories also refer about Parshuram power as he killed all the warriors on earth 21`times and so on. So this suggests that Purshuram is the representation of the fully developed person, who was probably the wild and angry version of the human kind.
7. Rama – In this incarnation the stories depict that Rama was a perfect human idol! So intellectually well developed, highly civilized and who would stick to his words. All the stories of Rama tell about how best he lived as a human being. It shows that at this time, human race has evolved and advanced intellectually and philosophically. And also Rama is considered the first god in the human form.
8. Krishna – In this Incarnation of Lord Vishnu the stories tell more about, when one has to keep the ideology aside and at times use tricks and tit for tat type of behavior. The Mahabharata story also talks a lot about politics and power play. So basically in this incarnation it is shown as how the human form has learned to be clever and manipulative.
Most of scriptures and stories need to be looked at from scientific angle as they have a lot of hidden sense, which is completely lost over period of time and what is left is only the Stories, which in turn has created the religious stuff!
I wonder where is the sequence of these incarnations mentioned. which vedic text are you all referring to??
can someone help.?
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