Dasavatara Stotram - of Jayadeva

sri gopalavilaasini valayasadratnaadimugdhaakriti
sri raadhaapati paadapadma bhajanaanandaabdhimagno.anisham
loke satkaviraajaraaja iti yah khyaato dayaambhonidhih
tam vande jayadevasadgurumaham padmaavati vallabham

Sri Dasavatara-stotram

(from Gita-govinda) by Jayadeva Gosvami


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

pralaya-payodhi-jale dhrtavan asi vedam
vihita-vahitra-caritram akhedam
keshava dhrta-mina-sarira jaya jagadisa hare

O Keshava! O Lord of the universe! O Lord Hari, who have assumed the form of a fish! All glories to You! You easily acted as a boat in the form of a giant fish just to give protection to the Vedas, which had become immersed in the turbulent sea of devastation.

kshitir iha vipulatare tisthati tava prste
dharani-dharana-kina-cakra-garisthe
keshava dhrta-kurma-sarira jaya jagadisa hare

O Keshava! O Lord of the universe! O Lord Hari, who have assumed the form of a tortoise! All glories to You! In this incarnation as a divine tortoise the great Mandara Mountain rests upon Your gigantic back as a pivot for churning the ocean of milk. From holding up the huge mountain a large scar like depression is put in Your back, which has become most glorious.

vasati dasana-sikhare dharani tava lagna
sasini kalanka-kaleva nimagna
keshava dhrta-sukara-rupa jaya jagadisa hare

O Keshava! O Lord of the universe! O Lord Hari, who have assumed the form of a boar! All glories to You! The earth, which had become I,merged in the Garbhodaka Ocean at the bottom of the universe, sits fixed upon the tip of Your tusk like a spot upon the moon.

tava kara-kamala-vare nakham adbhuta-srngam
dalita-hiranyakasipu-tanu-bhrngam
keshava dhrta-narahari-rupa jaya jagadisa hare

O Keshava! O Lord of the universe! O Lord Hari, who have assumed the form of half-man, half-lionl All glories to You! lust as one can easily crush a wasp between one's fingernails, so in the same way the body of the wasp like demon Hiranyakasipu has been ripped apart by the wonderful pointed nails on Your beautiful lotus hands.

chalayasi vikramane balim adbhuta-vamana
pada-nakha-nira-janita-jana-pavana
keshava dhrta-vamana-rupa jaya jagadisa hare

O Keshava! O Lord of the universe! O Lord Hari, who have assumed the form of a dwarf-brahmana! All glories to You! O wonderful dwarf, by Your massive steps You deceive King Bali, and by the Ganges water that has emanated from the nails of your lotus feet, You deliver all living beings within this world.

kshatriya-rudhira-maye jagad-apagata-papam
snapayasi payasi samita-bhava-tapam
keshava dhrta-bhrgupati-rupa jaya jagadisa hare

O Keshava! O Lord of the universe! O Lord Hari, who have assumed the form of Bhrgupati [Parasurama] ! All glories to You! At Kuruksetra You bathe the earth in the rivers of blood from the bodies of I he demoniac ksatriyas that You have slain. The sins of the world are washed away by You, and because of You people are relieved room the blazing fire of material existence.

vitarasi dikshu rane dik-pati-kamaniyam
dasa-mukha-mauli-balim ramaniyam
keshava dhrta-rama-sarira jaya jagadisa hare

O Keshava! O Lord of the universe! O Lord Hari, who haze assumed the form of Ramacandra! All glories to You! In the battle of Lanka You destroy the ten-headed demon Ravana and distribute his heads as a delightful offering to the presiding deities of the ten directions, headed by Indira. This action was long desired by all of them, who were much harassed by this monster.

vahasi vapusi visade vasanam jaladabham
hala-hati-bhiti-milita-yamunabham
keshava dhrta-haladhara-rupa jaya jagadisa hare

O Keshava! O Lord of the universe! O Lord Hari, who have assumed the form of Balarama, the yielder of the prowl All glories to You! On Your brilliant white body You wear garments the color of a fresh blue rain cloud. These garments are colored like the beautiful dark hue of the River Yamuna, who feels great fear due to the striking of Your plowshare.

nindasi yajna-vidher ahaha shruti-jatam
sadaya-hrdaya darsita-pasu-ghatam
keshava dhrta-buddha-sarira jaya jagadisa hare

O Keshava! O Lord of the universe! O Lord Hari, who have assumed the form of Buddha! All glories to You! O Buddha of compassionate heart, you decry the slaughtering of poor animals performed according to the rules of Vedic sacrifice

mleccha-nivaha-nidhane kalayasi karavalam
dhumaketum iva kim api karalam
keshava dhrta-kalki-sarira jaya jagadisa hare

O Keshava! O Lord of the universe! O Lord Hari, who have assumed the form of Kalki! All glories to You! You appear like a comet and carry a terrifying sword for bringing about the annihilation of the wicked barbarian men at the end of the Kali-yuga.

sri-jayadeva-kaver idam uditam udaram
srnu sukha-dam subha-dam bhava-saram
keshava dhrta-dasa-vidha-rupa jaya jagadisa hare

O Keshava! O Lord of the universe! O Lord Hari, who have assumed these ten different forms of incarnation! All glories to You! O readers, please hear this hymn of the poet Jayadeva, which is most excellent, an awarder of happiness, a bestower of auspiciousness, and is the best thing in this dark world.

http://www.salagram.net/Dasavatara-page.htm

As I have mentioned before there are three different concepts of Dasavatara.

Sri Vaisnavas reject Buddha. Madhvas reject Balarama. And Gaudiya's accept both Buddha and Balarama and make Krsna the Avatari thus for them Krsna is NOT one of the Avataras but the source of the other 10.

However this begs the question. According to Gaudiya Vaisnavism only Vrndavan Krsna is the Avatari. Mathura, Dvaraka and Kuruksetra Krsna is Vasudeva Krsna or a form of Visnu. Therefore would not Vasudeva Krsna be one of the Dasavataras? In which case it would seem that Jayadeva did not know of or accept the idea that Vrndavan Krsna is different from Vasudeva Krsna as later Gaudiya do.

Comments?

I just liked the poem. (esp. as sung by MSS)

As far as his choices for avataras... hmm...

Hey, I will post Swamy Desika's dasavatara stotram and we can compare!

I never quite figured who the ten are, and why exactly there should be just ten there. The Bhagavata lists many more.

The Gaudiyas, despite recognizing the difference between Vaasudeva Krishna and Vrajendranandan Krishna, regard both as the one and the same avatArin. As a matter of fact, even Baladeva isn't exactly in the category of an avatAra. Baladeva is vaibhava-prakAza. The Dvaraka-forms are prAbhava-prakAza. The svAmza-category are the avatAras. Please see here for the full scenario.

That being said, it is quite possible that the division of avatAra-avatArin is used in a different sense somewhere in the Gaudiya canon. I need to look into this.

Yeah, it's very interesting. There are certainly more than ten...

Well I posted Swamy Desika's stotram too. But the only difference there is that Krishna takes the "Buddha's" spot.

I always heard that the Buddha in dasavataram refers to a puranic buddha (I remember a story of women doing a vrat, part of which was to remain totally chaste, and that the Lord told them that it would help their cause if they embraced a certain tree after their bath (they were nude). When they embraced the tree, it suddenly turned into the effulgent and naked Buddha- and the feelings that arose in them at that time ruined their mental chastity).

Does this sound familiar?

Dolayam
(sri annamaacaarya viracita)

Listen Here

Dolaayaam cala Dolaayaam hare Dolaayaam!

mina kurma varaaha mrgapati avataara
daanavaare gunashaure dharanidhara marujanaka

Dolaayaam cala Dolaayaam hare Dolaayaam!

vaamana raama raama varakrshna avataaraa
shyaamalaanga ranga ranga saamajavarada muraharana

Dolaayaam cala Dolaayaam hare Dolaayaam!

daaruna buddha kaliki dashavidha avataara
shirapaanii gosamaane Shri Venkatagiri kutanilaya

Dolaayaam cala Dolaayaam hare Dolaayaam hare Dolaayaam!

Thakura Bhaktivinoda has an interesting insight regarding the Dasa avatara tattva.
This is a passage from Sri Tattva Viveka printed by Madras Gaudiya Matha, pages 86-87.

The infinite mercy of the supreme lord towards the jivas is the cause of these divine manifestations (avatAras)........Some have counted them as eight, some as eighteen, again some have counted twenty four manifestations. But most of the sages have accepted ten prominent avatAras of Visnu. They construe ten types of definite conditions of the jiva from the beginning of their bondage upto the end. (the evolution theory). The order of classification is as followes;
1,the invertabrate
2,testaceous or shelly
3,vertibrate
4,crectly(?) vertibrate (as in man-beast combination)
5,manakin
6,barbaric
7,civilised
8,wise
9,ultra-wise
10,destructive
These are ten historical stages of the jivas. According to these ten graded stages of the jivas, ten types of sportive manifestations of the lord are realised. They are;
Matsya (fish),Kurma (turtle) ,Varaha (wild boar) ,Nrsimha (man-lion) ,Vamana (manakin),Parasurama , Raghavarama, Balarama, Budha and Kalki.

It is also worth including the epilogue sloka to the Dasa avatara stotra.

vedAnudvarate jagannivahate bhugolamudhibhrate
daityam dArayate balim chalayate ksatraksayam kurvate/
paulastyam jayate halam kalayate kArunyamAtanvate
mlecchAnmurchayate dasAkrtikrte krsnAya tubhyam namah//

For upholding the Vedas, for lifting the Earth, for supporting mount Mandara, for tearing the Daitya, for decieving Bali, for cutting down the ksatriyas, for slaying Ravana, for wealding the plough, to spread compassion and to destroy the barbarion host; salutation unto thee, O Krsna, who these ten forms assumes.

This is remenicent of "ete cAmsa kalA pumsam, krsnastu bhagavAn svayam" ie all the avataras are either parts or parts of the parts of the Purusa, but Krsna (despite being numbered with the avataras) is actually Bhagavan himself.
and "avatArA hysankhyeya hareh sattvanidherdvija/ countless are the avataras of Hari, the repositary of unalloyed existance, O dvija." (Bhag 1,3,26)

ekale Isvara krsna Ara saba bhrtya/ and all dance to his tune.