Language Matters | Incarnations of the word avatar – from visiting deity to sci-fi hit and online personality
An avatar was the earthly incarnation of a Hindu god, and seen in other religions. Today, it’s a well-known word in films and video games
“Avatar” nowadays might immediately conjure up an image of the blue-skinned Na’vi from Pandora in the Avatar sci-fi film franchise, or the fantasy action series Avatar: The Last Airbender.
The word, in fact, is originally rooted in Hinduism, being the incarnation of a deity on earth in human or animal form to counteract some particular evil in the world.
Pronounced “uhv-TAAR”, avatārat derives from Sanskrit avatāra, verbal noun of avatarati, meaning “descends”, which is composed of ava meaning “off, down”, plus the base tarati meaning “[he] passes over, crosses”, deriving from the Proto-Indo-European root *tere- meaning “cross over, pass through, overcome”.
Any deity can undergo a descent from the divine realm into the human world. However, the term usually refers to the 10 appearances of Vishnu, known as the dashavatara, comprising Matsya (fish), Kurma (tortoise), Varaha (boar), Narasimha (half man, half lion), Vamana (dwarf), Parashurama (Rama with an axe), Rama (hero of the Ramayana epic), Krishna (the divine cowherd of the Mahabharata and the Bhagavata Purana), the Buddha, and Kalki (the incarnation yet to come).
The Bhagavata Purana lists 24 avatars of Vishnu, also mentioning that his forms are innumerable. Several other male and female deities in Hinduism also have avatars, and many historical religious leaders in Hinduism have been considered avatars of deities.
The word “avatar” was first adopted in English in the late 1780s, in The Hindu Wife; or The Enchanted Fruit by British scholar Sir William Jones, in which he describes “Fish, Boar, Snake, Lion. The four first Avatárs, or Incarnations of the Divine Spirit [i.e. Vishnu]”.
Later, the use and meaning of “avatar” extended to similar manifestations in other religions: in the early 20th century’s Myths of China and Japan, by Donald Mackenzie. Shinto deities figured as avatars of Buddha in Ryobu-Shinto.