Poorna-Avatara

[Malolan Cadambi]

sri:
srimathe narayanaaya namaha

This is a well discussed topic in the bhakti-list. I am interested in
reading more about this topic from an Advaita view-point.

Krishnavatara, Rama-avatara are all poorna-avataras. This is where bhagavan
himself comes to establish dharma. Parashurama can be at best described as
an amsa-avatara. This is where bhagavaan invests his divine power in
parashurama to achive the task of eliminating wicked kshatriyas. Bhagavaan
withdraws the powers during the over-lap of the parashurama and the rama-
avatara. (This is where parashurama meets Rama when he is returning to
ayodhya after kalyanam with Sita).

This is what I heard from a visisthadvaita scholar. A more detailed
exposition on avataras can be found in the ahirbudhyana samhitam and the
pancharaatra agama, which forms to basis of the aagama portion of
visisthadvaita. The Nigama being the Prasthana Traya and the Divya
Prabandham.

I am interested in knowing how Bhagavaan Shankaracharya classifys the
avataars.

adiyen ramanuja dasan,

Malolan Cadambi