Theory of Evolution in Hinduism

It would be worthwhile to note that originally, there were 24 Avatars of the Lord listed in Srimad Bhagvatam. Why then, were only 10 selected by the Rishis for glorification? Furthermore, the order of the Avatars is NOT chronological! The actual order is as follows –  Varah, Narsingh, Kurma, Vaman, Matsya, Parshu-Raam, Raam, Krishna/Balrama, Buddha and Kalki.

To a student of Biology, it may be quite apparent that these incarnations bear a startling resemblance to the Concept of Evolution – in the Dashavatar, we start with the aquatic Matsya, the Savior of the World; move on to the amphibian Kurma, the Support of the World; and follow it up with the Protector of the World, the terrestrial Varah.Compare this with the diagram below to see how the current understanding of Evolution exactly matches this description.

The Eusthenopteron in the diagram above is a good example for demonstrating evolution. This particular animal looked and behaved like modern fish for all practical purpose, YET within its fins were  precursors of arm and leg bones of the four-limbed land animals!To add weight to this Out-of-Water theory, we next have the Tiktaalik, a half-fish, half-amphibian animal discovered in the Canadian Arctic in 2004. This animal was a further step towards TERRESTRIAL life with early wrists and finger bones that allowed it to prop itself up and poke its head above the water!

There are also indications that the animal breathed both through gills (like the earlier Eusthenopteron), as well as by means of a lung-like structure like the later amphibian Ichthyostega! This is just one of the many example that confirm Paleontologists’ theories about land-dwelling animals evolving from fish ancestors and co-relates well with the Dashavatar sequence of Kurma after Matsya.

If you are intrigued by this similarity between science and religion, wait coz there’s more to come :o)

After Kurma, we have the Varah and the story of this incarnation has many sub-layers. At one level, it signifies the next level of evolution moving from Water to Land while at a deeper level, it shows that Humans can not survive on the planet without the help of animals. Lord Varah is followed by the half-man-half-lion Nar-singh signifying the development of Man from the beasts. The victory of Narasimha over Aasurik ambitions of Hiranyakshipu also signifies that Humanity can be born only if we manage to subdue our demonic tendencies.

Scientifically, there are numerous specimens recording this development from ‘Water to Land’ and from ‘Beasts to Man’ and many so called Missing Links have been found to corroborate the same. However, for our purpose, let us shift focus to a new animal that was spreading slowly out from the African heartland about 120,000 years ago – the Human-being. Evolution of Humans from an ape ancestor is supported by DNA and fossil evidence of over 20 species of Hominids and the complete genomes of several primates provide ultimate proof of our relatedness to apes and other Primates.

Dryopithecus in the image above, was a common ancestor to humans as well as other apes, and walked on all fours. The next guy in the image, Australopithecus afarensis, retained remnants from his quadrupedal past (such as hind toes suited for climbing and a wrist joint indicating it could knuckle-walk). However, its thigh bone, the femur, was shaped like that of the later Homo erectus to bear the stress of upright movement! In addition, both the proto-humans’ femurs were also angled inward to help maintain balance on two legs, just like we do today.

Hindu mythology also finds the mention of these proto-humans in the form of the Vanars but that’s a topic for a future post so I’ll leave it at that for now. Coming back to the Dashavatar sequence, we first have the pygmoid Vaman followed by the fully developed but jungle-dwelling man represented by Lord Parashu-Raam.

As the famous sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke describes – The stone club, the toothed saw, the horn dagger, the bone scraper – these were the inventions which the Early Man needed in order to survive and hunt.No longer were they faced with starvation when their teeth became damaged or worn; even the crudest tools could add many years to their lives. And as their fangs diminished, the shape of their face started to alter; the snout receded, the massive jaw became more delicate, the mouth able to make more subtle sounds to enable Speech.

In using the Tools, their hands developed a dexterity found nowhere else in the animal kingdom permitting them to make still BETTER tools, which in turn helped develop their limbs and brains yet further. It was an accelerating, cumulative process; and at its end was the Modern Man. This stage represents Early Man who had started using tools and weapons and quite fittingly, Parshu-Raam is the FIRST of the ten incarnations to posess primitve ARMS (Axe and Bow).

Soon, mankind discovered Fire and Agriculture, and civilization began. Hence, next in the list we have the civilized man with a strong moral code – Shri Rama followed by Balrama, the Man-who-can-tame-Nature. In the image below, we can see the modern human represented by Shri Rama accompanied by the proto-human Vanars.

The 10 Avatars certainly represent much more than just the incarnations of Lord Vishnu and as we saw above, are an allegory for the Process of Evolution which is evident in nature and within our own beings as well.