Matsya, Kurma, Varaho, Narahari……..

I’m a great fan of Lord Narayana, the Lord of ‘Stiti’, the sustenance as per the Hindu myth.

This devotion was implanted by the stories told by my dearest Grand Mother at a young age. I still remember listening to her vast repertoire of stories from the mythology, in wide eyed and open mouthed astonishment, as she was engaged in her daily chores. Hailing from a conservative family of traditional ‘temple dwellers’, my ‘Ammamma’ could quote at will from any major text of mythology.

And coming back to Lord Narayana, this Lord appeared to me to be friendlier than Brahma, the Lord of ‘Srishti’ and less fearsome than the Lord of ‘Samhara’ Shiva.

And he had that special skill to adapt to any situation ……

Let’s take a look at the evolution of His Dashavataras

In the beginning when the earth was full of water, He assumed the role of Matsya, to float along the infinite oceans…..

As the oceans dried up in certain regions and the land was revealed, He became Kurma and set out to explore the land.

When the vegetations and greater land area was required to be explored, He changed to Varaha, to roam around far more conveniently……..

Then He rose on two legs and became Narasimha……

When he realized that there was no point in having brute strength alone, He assumed the role of a full man, Vamana.

Then He set out to establish the Brahmin domination in the role of Bhargava.

After the Kshatriyas were badly mauled by the campaigns of Parashurama, He crossed over and became Shri Rama and showed Parashurama the way out.

And then ………

…………..then he saw the power shifting to the backward classes………

Centuries before Mulayam Singh and Lalu Prasad established their fiefdoms across the cow belt, the younger brother of a Yadava Chieftain had declared in the Mahabharata that in the entire Aryavarta, there was no one to rival the Yadavas and we know how the manipulative brilliance of Lord Krishna led to the systematic decimation of each of His formidable rivals.

Going by that trend, where will the Khalgi rise?

My wild guess is that in all probability it’ll be in an Adivasi family :-)