Vishnu had ten principal avatars. The first, Matsya, was a fish that saved the first human, Manu, from a great flood by leading his ship to safety. Kurma, the second avatar, was the tortoise that recovered some precious objects that the gods had lost during another great flood. Also saved from the flood was Lakshmi, a goddess of fortune and beauty who became Vishnu's wife. Vishnu appeared on earth a third time as Varaha, the boar. Varaha rid the world of a demon giant named Hiranyaksha, who had dragged the earth to the bottom of the ocean and threatened to keep it there. After a thousand-year struggle, Varaha killed the demon. Vishnu's fourth avatar, the man lion Narasinha, freed the world from another demon, Hiranyakashipu, who had forbidden worship of the gods. When the evil king Bali gained control of the world, Vishnu appeared on earth a fifth time as Vamana, the dwarf. Vamana persuaded Bali to give him whatever land he could cover in three steps. The dwarf then changed into a giant, and his steps extended over both heaven and earth. Vishnu's sixth avatar was Parasurama, a young man who freed the Hindu priests from a class of warriors known as the Kshatriyas. Vishnu's most popular and well-known avatars were Rama and Krishna, the great heroes of the epics the Ramayana and Mahabharata. Rama, the seventh avatar, saved humans from the demon king Ravana, while Krishna rid the world of many demons and took part in a long struggle against the forces of evil. The ninth avatar of Vishnu was the Buddha, the religious leader whose beliefs weakened the opponents of the gods and who founded the Buddhist faith. Vishnu's tenth avatar, Kalki, has not yet arrived on earth. He will come one day, mounted on a white horse, to oversee the final destruction of the wicked, restore purity, renew creation, and bring forth a new era of harmony and order.