\n
![](\"https:\/\/cdn.i-scmp.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/1280x720\/public\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/01\/02\/e412276d-777b-4997-8e35-5e0be4ff9877_5429656d.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\u201cAvatar\u201d nowadays might immediately conjure up an image of the blue-skinned Na\u2019vi from Pandora in the Avatar<\/em> sci-fi film franchise, or the fantasy action series Avatar: The Last Airbender<\/em>.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Pronounced \u201cuhv-TAAR\u201d, avat\u0101ra<\/em>t derives from Sanskrit avat\u0101ra<\/em>, verbal noun of avatarati<\/em>, meaning \u201cdescends\u201d, which is composed of ava<\/em> meaning \u201coff, down\u201d, plus the base tarati<\/em> meaning \u201c[he] passes over, crosses\u201d, deriving from the Proto-Indo-European root *tere-<\/em> meaning \u201ccross over, pass through, overcome\u201d.<\/p>\n 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<\/em>, comprising Matsya (fish), Kurma (tortoise), Varaha (boar), Narasimha (half man, half lion), Vamana (dwarf), Parashurama (Rama with an axe), Rama (hero of the Ramayana<\/em> epic), Krishna (the divine cowherd of the Mahabharata<\/em> and the Bhagavata Purana<\/em>), the Buddha, and Kalki (the incarnation yet to come).<\/p>\n The Bhagavata Purana<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n The word \u201cavatar\u201d was first adopted in English in the late 1780s, in The<\/em> Hindu Wife; or The Enchanted Fruit<\/em> by British scholar Sir William Jones, in which he describes \u201cFish, Boar, Snake, Lion. The four first Avat\u00e1rs, or Incarnations of the Divine Spirit [i.e. Vishnu]\u201d.<\/p>\n Later, the use and meaning of \u201cavatar\u201d extended to similar manifestations in other religions: in the early 20th century\u2019s Myths of China and Japan<\/em>, by Donald Mackenzie. Shinto deities figured as avatars of Buddha in Ryobu-Shinto.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n