All You've Got to Do is Call Lord Quiz

Answer:

Note: This is a vastly simplified summary of a complex set of ideas developed by billions of people (there are currently estimated to be 1.2 billion adherents) over more than ten thousand years, integrating along the way multiple schools of philosophy and religious belief. As a result of the process, many of the records in sacred texts are mutually contradictory.

It might be most straightforward to describe first the incorrect options. Zoroaster, Ba'al and Lucifer come from totally different religious traditions. The others are related to Hinduism.

The three major male gods of Hinduism, known as the Trimurti, are Brahma (the creator), Vishnu (the preserver), and Shiva (the destroyer). The cycles of the world are produced by their actions. The term Samsara is sometimes used to refer to this pattern of the whole world, but more usually to the idea that individual human lives are subject to similar cycles of birth, life, death and rebirth. How this plays out for each individual is controlled by their Karma, the way their intentions and actions affect their destiny.

Lakshmi, one of the three major female Hindu gods, is usually described as the consort of Vishnu. Parvati and Saraswati are the other two members of the Tridevi, the female equivalent of the Trimurti.

Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha are the Purusartha, key concepts in Hindu beliefs. Dharma refers to customs that produce a righteous way of life; Artha is the virtuous gaining of necessary resources; Kama is emotional fulfillment from pleasure; Moksha is release by way of self-realisation.

Vishnu is believed to have appeared in various forms over the centuries as he appears on earth to restore harmony. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of examples in the sacred texts, but there is general recognition that some of these interventions, and the avatars he assumed for them, are more significant than others. These are designated as the Dashavatara, a word meaning ten incarnations.

Matsya, the fish avatar, is usually listed as the first incarnation of Vishnu. Matsya, who may be depicted as a giant golden fish or as having Vishnu's upper body mounted on a fish's tail, rescued Manu (the first man) from a great flood.

Kurma, the tortoise/turtle avatar, comes second on the list. In some of the Vedas, he is stated to be the Brahmin sage Kashyapa. In post-Vedic writing, he is associated with Akupara, the World-Turtle that supports all the worlds, and is involved in the churning of the Ocean of Milk in an effort to obtain the elixir of immortality.

Varaha is sometimes shown as a boar, sometimes as the head of a boar on a human torso. Vishnu in this incarnation rescued the earth (in the form of the goddess Bhudevi) when she had been hidden in the primordial waters of the universe by the asura (demon) Hiranyaksha, and restored her to her proper place in the cosmos.

Narasimha is always shown with a lion's head on a human body, barring the clawed fingers he used to kill the asura Hiranyakashipu (brother of the asura Vishnu had handled as Varaha) in order to end religious persecution.

Vamana (dwarf) is also known as Trivikrama (three-steps) and Balibandhana (killer of Bali) because of his role in restoring Indra (king of the devas) to power after a defeat at the hands of Bali (king of the asuras). He reclaims the worlds that had been stolen by getting agreement (while in dwarf form) that he could have as much land as he could cover in three steps. Upon then expanding to unimaginable size, he included all of creation in those three steps.

Parashurama, a Brahmin, battles and kills the king and all the members of the warrior class because they were tyrannically imposing their wills on those under their control. Most specifically, in some legends, the king stole his family's cow of plenty (which provided them with all necessities) and killed them when they protested. After restoring the world to be controlled by men of virtue, he retired to a hermit's life.

The life of Rama is recounted in the Ramayana, one of the two great Sanskrit epics, alongside the Mahabharata. He is such a significant figure that he appears in legends all over the place, too numerous to even try to summarise here. In brief, they depict him grappling with individual duties and rights, looking for the best solution when faced with ethical dilemmas.

Krishna, the central character in the Mahabharata, is a god in his own right, and one considered the most important by a number of Hindu sects. His name comes from words meaning dark, and he is usually shown with blue or black skin. The relationship between Vishnu and Krishna is complex, with adherents of Vaishnavism considering Krishna an avatar of Vishnu, while Krishnaites consider Krishna to be the Supreme Being.

Gautama Buddha is a relatively recent addition to the list of Vishnu avatars, and one which some scholars reject, considering that the text references are not to him specifically, and are open to interpretation. These, especially those of the Jagganath tradition, suggest that the ninth (or maybe eighth, swapping places with Krishna) avatar to be listed should be Balarama. Balarama is described, by those who support Buddha, as an incarnation of Shesha, the serpent associated with Vishnu, not of Vishnu himself.

Kalki is the only incarnation which has not yet appeared. He is described as the avatar that will end an age of wickedness (the Kali Yuga, which is held to be our current world) and introduce a new age in which good will reign supreme (the Satya Yuga), and a new cycle of Yugas will commence.