The word “Avatar” means to descend, to manifest, or to be born. In Hinduism, it alludes to the incarnation of God. It is believed that God comes down to Earth in the form of a human (or any other creature) whenever the innocent and pious people of this planet are facing great suffering at the hands of evil. God arrives on Earth protects the innocent, obliterates fiendishness, and reestablishes dharma (nobility).

An Avatar of God, like the Avatars of Lord Shiva, takes birth on Earth in some form to complete a noble mission and then return to his heavenly abode. The Prime Gods (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, or Shakti) cannot be referred to as Avatars; although in some scriptures they are hailed as the Gunnavatars- Brahma represents Satva Guna, Vishnu represents the Rajo Guna and Shiva represents the Tamo Guna.

But, the prime gods are generally considered as timeless Gods, not exposed to a birth cycle. Strangely, in the four (4) Vedas, which are the earliest wellsprings of spiritual sacred texts, the idea of the existence of the Avatars is not mentioned. The concept was introduced later in scriptural folklores of Itihas and Puranas. The story of Gods coming down to earth in the form of human beings or some other creature (Avatars) has been mentioned in Bhagavad Gita, one of the most essential parts of Itihas Mahabharata.