Buddha or Balarama: The Ninth Avatar and Why the Lists of Ten Differ

Of the ten avatars in the Dashavatara, nine are named in much the same way in nearly every list. The ninth is where the lists differ. Many texts and hymns give Buddha, many others give Balarama, the elder brother of Krishna, and a few lists set Krishna in that place. This page explains the difference with care, because the question touches two living traditions. It looks at the texts, at how Balarama is understood and honoured, and at what the Buddha avatar means in the Hindu lists and what it does not mean to Buddhists.

How the lists differ

The Dashavatara as a fixed set of ten took shape in the early medieval period, and the Puranas do not all give the same ten. Some points that are well documented:

• Buddha in the ninth place: a number of Puranas list the Buddha as an avatar, and the Bhagavata Purana, which gives a longer list of twenty-two avatars and says that the avatars of Vishnu are in truth beyond counting, includes both Balarama and Buddha. In Jayadeva’s twelfth-century Dashavatara hymn in the Gita Govinda, the best-known poetic list, the Buddha is named, and manuscripts and commentators differ on how Balarama and Krishna are placed in the sequence.
• Balarama in the eighth place and Krishna in the ninth: a version found in many popular lists and in some temple sculpture, which makes the ten run Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Parashurama, Rama, Balarama, Krishna and Kalki.
• Krishna as the source: the traditions that regard Krishna as the Lord himself do not count him as one avatar among ten, and they list Balarama as his first expansion.

None of these lists is the correct one in the sense of overruling the others. They belong to different texts, schools and regions, and a devotee uses the list of their own tradition. This site gives the common ten with Buddha and notes Balarama here.

The Buddha in the Hindu lists

The Hindu inclusion of the Buddha is old and it was explained in more than one way. Jayadeva’s verse praises the Buddha avatar for compassion and for speaking against the killing of animals in sacrifice. Some Puranic passages give another account, in which Vishnu takes the form of a teacher to lead those who had strayed from the Vedic path onto a different road. Scholars see in the inclusion a sign of how closely the religious cultures of India were connected, and how Vaishnava thinkers took a great and widely loved teacher into their own scheme.

It is important to say what Buddhists believe. In Buddhism the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, is a teacher who awakened, and his teaching stands on its own. Buddhists do not accept that he is an avatar of Vishnu, and many Buddhist teachers have said so plainly. Many Hindus also honour the Buddha as a great teacher without needing the avatar list to do so. A person can hold either view with respect for the other. The Buddha’s own places, Lumbini, Bodh Gaya, Sarnath and Kushinagar, belong to the Buddhist tradition and its history, and this page does not treat them as Hindu temples. The day of his birth, enlightenment and passing is described on the Buddha Purnima page. Tradition places the Buddha avatar in the Kali Yuga, after Krishna in the standard order.

Balarama

Balarama, also called Baladeva, Balabhadra and Haladhara (the bearer of the plough), is the elder brother of Krishna. In the Bhagavata Purana, his birth is a miracle: the child was first conceived by Devaki, and by Vishnu’s power the embryo was drawn out and placed in the womb of Rohini, another wife of Vasudeva, so that he would be safe from Kamsa. For that reason he is called Sankarshana, “the one who was drawn out”. He grew up beside Krishna in Gokul. Tradition identifies him with Shesha, the serpent on whom Vishnu rests, who is believed to take birth beside the Lord.

His marks are the plough and the club, a blue or white garment and a palm tree on his banner, and he is a figure of strength and of farming. The Puranas tell of his defeat of the demon Pralamba and of many acts in Vrindavan and Dwarka. In the Mahabharata he does not take part in the war, and he goes on a pilgrimage to the sacred rivers while it is fought. In Odisha, he is Balabhadra, who rides in his own chariot beside Jagannath and Subhadra at the Rath Yatra.

The festivals

Balarama’s birthday is kept in two ways, depending on the region. In much of north India it is Halashashthi, also called Hal Chhath or Lalahi Chhath, on the sixth tithi of the dark fortnight of Bhadrapada (see Shashthi), a few days before Janmashtami. Mothers keep a fast for the well-being of their children, and some avoid food grown by the plough on that day, as the festival honours Balarama’s plough. Other Vaishnava communities, such as the ISKCON tradition, keep Balarama Purnima on the full Moon of Shravana, the day of Raksha Bandhan. Calendars differ, so follow yours.

Temples

• Dauji Temple, Baldeo, near Mathura, Uttar Pradesh: the main temple of Balarama (Dauji, “elder brother”) in the Braj region.
• Krishna Balaram Mandir, Vrindavan: the ISKCON temple, where Balarama is worshipped with Krishna.
• Jagannath Temple, Puri, Odisha: where Balabhadra is one of the three deities. See the Char Dham guide.

There is no major temple to the Buddha as an avatar. Check each temple’s own notice before you travel.

The next avatar

The list ends with Kalki, the avatar still to come. Return to the Dashavatara overview for the whole list.

Frequently asked questions