Vamana Avatara - Promise and Projection

The Vamanavatara represents the highest philosophical truth that microcosm represents macrocosm

Dr. Vanamala Parthasarathy goes into detail about this dimunitive avatara that had the potency of the Cosmic form.

When Adharma raises its ugly head baring its fangs ready to devour the society Bhagavan descends on this earth to save mankind. Lord Krishna Himself pronounced this in the Bhagavad Gita:

Yada yada hi dharmasya 

glanirbhavati bharata 

Abhyutthanamadharmasya 

tadatmanam srjamyaham (IV.7)

Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Parasurama, Rama, Krishna, Balarama (some texts replace Balarama with Buddha and some texts make Balarama the eighth and Krishna the ninth) and lastly Kalki are the popular ten. Vamana the fifth one as per the serial order is significant as it combines two totally diverse manifestations (the dwarfish and gigantic) conveying the magnificent and highest philosophical truth that ‘Microcosm represents Macrocosm’. The figure of Vamana may have been a dimunitive one but it had the potency of the Cosmic form. It often reminds us of the popular saying in Tamil that "Size belies stature" (murti cirisu kirti perisu). Vamana as the name itself indicates that only ‘fifty-two angula-s’ in size (one angula=the height of one finger). So we can imagine what he must have looked like. The same one expands to fill up not only the entire earth, but Heavens as well with His (three) strides. The mystic number three in our Hindu tradition is significant. We have ‘Triguna-s’, ‘Trimurti-s’ ‘Three devi-s’ etc. This incarnation is important, as it is believed that Ganga’s origin in Heavens is related to this avatara.

© "Nrisimhapriya" (September, 2003) published by Sri Nrisimhapriya Trust, # 30, Desika Bhavanam, Venkatesa Agraharam, Mylapore, Chennai 600 004. Website: www.ahobilamutt.org. Reprinted with permission.

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