24 Incarnations of Lord Vishnu

According to Puraans there are 24 Avtaar(incarnations) of Lord Vishnu  

1. Sanat kumars Avtaar

2.Vaarah Avtaar

3.Narad Avtaar

4.Nar Naaraayan avtaar

5.Kapil Avtaar

6.Dattatrey Avtaar

7.Yagya Avtaar

8.RishabhDev Avtaar

9.Prithu Avtaar

10.Matsy Avtaar

11 .Kurm Avtaar

12 .Dhanvantari Avtaar

13 .Mohini Avtaar

14. Narsingh Avtaar

15. Vaaman Avtaar

16. Parshuraam Avtaar

17. Vyaas Avtaar

18. Ram Avtaar

19 .Balram Avtaar

20. Krishna Avtaar

21. Buddha Avtaar

22. Hayegreev Avtaar

23. Hans Avtaar

24. Kalki Avtaar

Lord Shiva as Chandrashekhar

At the time of marriage of Lord Shiva(Mahadev) with goddess Parvati, when mother of Goddess Parvati , Menavati,saw the Lord Shiva as the bridegroom of her daughter she was fainted as it was against her expectations. He was wearing   tiger skin with serpent around his neck and his body was covered with ashes.When Menavati gained consciousness ,she refused to let Parvati marry Shiva. Parvati took Menavati's permission and met Mahadev. She persuaded Mahadev to attain graceful form. Lord Vishnu appeared at this time. He himself promised to be a brother of goddess Parvati and took the responsibility to groom Mahadev. Lord Vishnu used his divine powers to make Lord Shiva to be appear as the most handsome person in entire universe. When the grooming processed completed, Lord Shiva appeared in divine form. Even Lord Vishnu who was amazed to see the divine form of Lord Shiva said  that this form of Lord Shiva will be known as "Chandrashekhar" and it will be the most beautiful form even among all His incarnation.

Power of Devi Anusuya

Anusuya was the wife of Sage Atri. She was famous in all the three world for his devotion and chastity. Sage Narad visited goddess Saraswati,Lakshmi ji and Parvati ji and praised Anusuya. The three goddess disliked it and decided to test Anusuya. They send their consorts to earth. Lord Brahma,Vishnu and Shiva in the guise of sage visited the hermitage of Anusuya when sage Atri was not present and asked for the alms on a condition that she had to give them alms without wearing clothes. This caused dilemma for Anusuya because if did not give the alms to sages then it would be a sin. She used her divine powers and sprinkled water on the three sages as a purification act and turned them into three infants. Now infants were crying as they were hungry. Anusuya came forward and gave breastfeed to three infants as a mother. On the other hand, Goddess Saraswati,Lakshmi and Parvati were worried about her husbands as they had not return to their abode. The three goddess visited Anusuya and she found the three infants were playing in the lap of mother Anusuya. They asked about their husband to Anusuya. She replied that they  are there in her lap as her children. the three goddess accepted their mistake and asked for forgiveness and to release their consorts. In the mean time Sage Atri returned to hermitage and witnessed the whole episode. Both Atri and Anusuya turned the three infants back to their original form. The three gods woke up  and asked Atri and Anusuya to demand any boon from them. Anusuya demanded that the trinity,Lord Brahma,Vishnu and Shiva , to be born as her son. Later Anusuya gave birth to Lord Dattatrey who was composite incarnation of Lord Brahma,Vishnu and Shiva.

Curse of Sage Bhrigu

During the fight between gods and demons, at one stage gods overpowered demons. Sensing the massive defeat ,the demons reached the ashram of Sage Bhrigu who was not present at that time. His wife greeted the demons as they were came for the help and she promised to provide shelter to demons. On the other hand, Indra who was chief of gods came to know about the hideout of demons. Indra reached the ashram and threatened demons to surrender before him. But wife of Sage Bhrigu stood in between them and drove Indra away. Indra rushed to Lord Vishnu for the help. To assist Indra he went to ashram where the demons were hidden. Again, the wife of Sage Bhrigu came to rescue demons. Finally, Lord Vishnu killed her with his Sudarshan Chakra in order to ensure win for gods. At this point Sage Bhrigu returned to ashram and shocked to see the dead body of his wife. When he came to know that it was Lord Vishnu who was responsible for the death of his wife, he cursed Lord Vishnu that he too would have to suffer the pain of separation from his wife on earth like him . Lord Vishnu accepted the curse with dignity. Due to curse he was born as Lord Rama(an incarnation of Lord Vishnu) and had to suffer the grief of separation from his wife Sita.