I have 'Avatars' on my mind.  Triggered off by Richard's post on Weblogs as Avatars.  And comments he left here. And while playing with the new Yahoo Messenger (version 6.0) that allows one to create your own avatar and share it.  

The word avatar has its etymological origins in Sanskrit (Sanskrit avatra, descent (of a deity from heaven), avatar  : ava, down + tarati, he crosses - source here), and finds its place in most Indian languages.  We hear the word used so often here in our day-to-day lives and in common parlance - for instance, a person of great virtue is often called 'bhagwan ka avataar' (incarnation of God).

For many Indians, 'avatar' means an incarnation of God, and usually, it is manifest in an object of worship or admiration. The Hindu Trimurti of Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva (Generator-Sustainer-Destroyer) have several avatars and countless incarnations - as idols for families to worship, deities for every village and occupation - each of these Gods has descended to earth and answers to many thousand names. For instance, in the case of Vishnu - the seventh avatar is Rama, the eighth is Krishna, the ninth is Buddha (source here).

Quoting from here - some dictionary definitions :

"Av`a`tar´   Pronunciation: ãv`å`tạr´

1.avatar - a new personification of a familiar idea; "the embodiment of hope"; "the incarnation of evil"; "the very avatar of cunning"

• embodiment, incarnation personification - a person who represents an abstract quality; "she is the personification of optimism"
• deification - an embodiment of the qualities of a god; "the capitalists' deification of capital"
• reincarnation - embodiment in a new form (especially the reappearance or a person in another form); "his reincarnation as a lion"

2.avatar - the manifestation of a Hindu deity (especially Vishnu) in human or superhuman or animal form; "the Buddha is considered an avatar of the god Vishnu"

• Jagannath, Jagannatha, Jagganath, Juggernaut - an avatar of Vishnu
• Kalki - the 10th and last incarnation of Vishnu
• Krishna - 8th and most important avatar of Vishnu; incarnated as a handsome young man playing a flute
• Rama - avatar of Vishnu whose name is synonymous with God; any of three incarnations: Ramachandra or Parashurama or Balarama; "in Hindu folklore Rama is the epitome of chivalry and courage and obedience to sacred law"

Interesting to note it was 'word of the day' on July 23, 2001.  And Google can find 12,400,000 webpages on 'avatar'. 

Interesting too how the web world has adopted the concept and term.  Some examples i can think of - Ray (AI) Kurzweil's experiments with Ramona - his virtual alter-ego ; Ultima game series - where avatar is the embodiment of virtue. 

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