The number is stated in some Puranas as twenty-two, twenty-four, or even twenty-eight.

Seven incarnations of Siva are not generally recognized (see Monier Williams, _Religious Thought and Life in India_, pp.

78-86, and 107-16).

For the theory and mystical meaning of _avatars_, see Grierson, _J.R.A.S._, 1909, pp.

621-44.