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In Hinduism, the incarnation of a deity in human or animal form to counteract some explicit evil in the world. The term normally refers to those 10 appearances of Vishnu: Matsya (fish), Kurma (tortoise), Varaha (boar), Narasimha (half man, half lion), Vamana (dwarf), Parashurama (Rama with the axe), Rama (hero of the Ramayana epic), Krishna (the divine cowherd), Buddha, and Kalki (the incarnation yet to come). The variety of Vishnu's avatars is sometimes extended or their identities modified, in line with native preferences. Thus, Krishna is in some areas elevated to the rank of a deity, and his half brother, Balarama, included as an avatar. One formulation of the doctrine is given within the non secular poem the Bhagavad-Gita, when charioteer Lord Krishna tells Arjuna: “Whenever there's a decline of righteousness and rise of unrighteousness then I ship forth Myself. For the protection of the great, for the destruction of the wicked, and for the institution of righteousness, I come into being from age to age.”