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"Avatar" became a household word in the 2000s with Avatar: The Last Airbender and James Cameron's movie series Avatar. But what is an avatar? The idea actually derives from Hinduism.

Thumbnail art by @hotcyder

Bibliography:
Barbara Holdrege, Bhakti and Embodiment, 2015.
Couture, André, “Avatāra”, in: Brill’s Encyclopedia of Hinduism Online, EditorinChief Associate Editors Knut A. Jacobsen, Helene Basu, Angelika Malinar, Vasudha Narayanan. Consulted online on 02 February 2024
Couture, André, “Viṣṇu”, in: Brill’s Encyclopedia of Hinduism Online, EditorinChief Associate Editors Knut A. Jacobsen, Helene Basu, Angelika Malinar, Vasudha Narayanan. Consulted online on 02 February 2024
Couture, André, “From Vishnu’s Deeds to Vishnu’s Play,” Journal of Indian Philosophy, June 2001.
Simon Brodbeck, Divine Descent of the Four WorldAges in the Mahabharata, 2022.
Noel Sheth, “Hindu Avatar and Christian Incarnation: A Comparison,” Philosophy East and West, Vol. 52, No. 1 (Jan 2002). 98 125.
Lochtefeld, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Volume 2, NZ, 2002.
Gitagovinda of Jayadeva, editor and translator Barbara Stoler Miller. (Columbia University Press: 1977)
Tracy Coleman, Avatara, Oxford Bibliographies Online, 2018.
Cush et. al., Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Routledge: 2008.
Kinnard, “When is the Buddha Not the Buddha? The Hindu/Buddhist Battle over Bodhgaya and Its Buddha Image,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 66/4.
Freda Matchett, Krsna: Lord or Avatara?, (Routledge: 2001).
Devadatta Kali, In Praise of the Goddess: The Devimahatmya and Its Meaning, (NicolasHays, Inc.: 2003).
Suvira Jaiswal, The Origin and Development of Vaisnavism,1981.

00:00 The rise of "avatar"
1:21 Avatar = Divine Descent
4:35 Vishnu and his avataras
9:20 Avataras outside Vaishnavism
11:16 How avatar was adopted in English

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