One part, and a very curious one, of the worship of Vischnu is the doctrine of the Avatars, or incarnations of that deity.  There are ten of these Avatars,—­nine have passed and one is to come.  The object of Vischnu is, each time, to save the gods from destruction impending over them in consequence of the immense power acquired by some king, giant, or demon, by superior acts of austerity and piety.  For here, as elsewhere, extreme spiritualism is often divorced from morality; and so these extremely pious, spiritual, and self-denying giants are the most cruel and tyrannical monsters, who must be destroyed at all hazards.  Vischnu, by force or fraud, overcomes them all.

His first Avatar is of the Fish, as related in the Mahabharata.  The object was to recover the Vedas, which had been stolen by a demon from Brahma when asleep.  In consequence of this loss the human race became corrupt, and were destroyed by a deluge, except a pious prince and seven holy men who were saved in a ship.  Vischnu, as a large fish, drew the ship safely over the water, killed the demon, and recovered the Vedas.  The second Avatar was in a Turtle, to make the drink of immortality.  The third was in a Boar, the fourth in a Man-Lion, the fifth in the Dwarf who deceived Bali, who had become so powerful by austerities as to conquer the gods and take possession of Heaven.  In the eighth Avatar he appears as Krishna and in the ninth as Buddha.

This system of Avatars is so peculiar and so deeply rooted in the system, that it would seem to indicate some law of Hindoo thought.  Perhaps some explanation may be reached thus:—­

We observe that,—­

Vischnu does not mediate between Brahma and Siva, but between the deities and the lower races of men or demons.

The danger arises from a certain fate or necessity which is superior both to gods and men.  There are laws which enable a man to get away from the power of Brahma and Siva.

But what is this necessity but nature, or the nature of things, the laws of the outward world of active existences?  It is not till essence becomes existence, till spirit passes into action, that it becomes subject to law.

The danger then is from the world of nature.  The gods are pure spirit, and spirit is everything.  But, now and then, nature seems to be something, it will not be ignored or lost in God.  Personality, activity, or human nature rebel against the pantheistic idealism, the abstract spiritualism of this system.

To conquer body, Vischnu or spirit enters into body, again and again.  Spirit must appear as body to destroy Nature.  For thus is shown that spirit cannot be excluded from anything,—­that it can descend into the lowest forms of life, and work in law as well as above law.