According to the Vedas and Scriptures, there are mainly six kinds of incarnations of Lord Narayana as listed below. But in all, there are innumerable number of other avatars taken depending on need. This is also confirmed in Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.3.26) where it is said that there is no limit to the incarnations of the Supreme Lord, just as there is no limit to the waves of the ocean. Also, depending on the roles they play, some avatars can be overlapping to more than one kind...
| Kinds of avatars | Examples of actual avataras | |
| 1 | Purusha-avatara | Karanodakasayi Vishnu, Garbhodakasayi Vishnu and Ksirodakasayi Vishnu |
| 2 | Lila-avatara | Matsya, Varaha, Kurma, Narasimha, Vamana, Parasurama, Rama, Krishna, Bala-Rama, Kalki. |
| 3 | Guna-avatara | Brahma (Rajas), Vishnu (Satvic) and Siva (Tamas). |
| 4 | Manvantara-avatara | Innumerable manu avataras (504,000 Manus manifest in the life time of one Brahma): Main 14 also called as vaibhava-avatars: Yajna, Vibhu, Satyasena, Hari, Vaikuntha, Ajita, Vamana, Sarvabhauma, Rsabha, Visvaksena, Dharmasetu, Sudhama, Yogesvara and Brhadbhanu. |
| 5 | Kalpa-avatara | Kumaras, Narada, Varaha, Matsya, Yajna, Nara-narayana, Kardami Kapila, Dattatreya, Hayasirsa, Hamsa, Dhruvapriya, Rsabha, Prthu, Narasimha, Kurma, Dhanvantari, Mohini,Vamana, Parasurama, Raghavendra, Vyasa, Balarama, Krishna, Buddha and Kalki. (All these 25 avatars happen every one day of Brahma!) |
| 6 | Saktyavesa-avatara | Kapila, Rsabha, Ananta, Brahma, Catuhsana, Narada, Prthu, Parasurama, Buddha, ... |
It may be appropriate to note the following here:
1) It is natural to find that the avatar 'Vaikuntha' is already mentioned in Srimad Bhagavatam which is a very highly respected scripture for Hindus. Srimad Bhagavatam is considered the fifth veda and is the primary and top most scripture for Bhakti yoga.
2) The Saktyavesa-avatara actually contains more avatars than listed above. Saktyavesa avatars are the empowered humans by the Lord to perform certain tasks instead of Lord Himself coming as other prime avatar. Many Saktyavesa-avatars descend from their present spiritual planes targetting people in various spiritual levels and establishing suitable religions to deliver them. They often teach that their spiritual plane is the highest and human peoples at those level will be automatically get attracted to them. Prophets and famous religious founders fall into this category.
3) Of all the avatars listed from above, important ten avatars as in the Sri Sampradaya are all the Lila avatars: Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Parasurama, Rama, Krishna, Balarama and Kalki. Kalki is an avatara yet to happen at the end of this kali-yuga.
4) According to Srimad Bhagavatam, Gita Govindam and other scriptures, Lord Krishna is not listed in the list of ten avatars because He is the original bhagavan from whom all the avatars including all Vishnu forms originate. In this list, Buddha (Adi Buddha - not Gautama Buddha) is included as one of the ten avatars. So the actual list of ten avatars is Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Parasurama, Rama, Balarama, Budha and Kalki. It should be noted that Gautama Buddha (Sakya Simha Buddha) who was born in Kapilavastu, Nepal (563 BC) to Suddhodana and Mayavadi is not the one mentioned in Vedas and scriptures. The Buddha (Sugata Buddha) referred in here is the Vishnu avatara was born (1500 BC) in Bodhi-Gaya (Kikata) to Anjana. As both had same name it was a confusion to many scholars. Gautama Buddha went to Bodhi-Gaya to get enlightenment from the birth place of Vishnu-avatar-Buddha.