The daśāvatāra, the ten descents of Viṣṇu — Matsya, Kūrma, Varāha, Narasiṁha, Vāmana, Paraśurāma, Rāma, Balarāma or Kṛṣṇa, Buddha and Kalki. Lists vary between Purāṇas, and Jayadeva’s celebrated hymn in the first sarga of the Gīta-govinda is among the most influential: it seats Balarāma in the eighth place and treats Kṛṣṇa not as one of the ten but as the Lord who assumes them all.
