The deity Vishnu's eighth avatar, or "incarnation."
The Buddha avatar demonstrates how the avatar concept was utilized to encompass and integrate existing religious figures as the sole historical person (and one who obviously deviated from Hindu orthodoxy at the time).
Although presenting him as an incarnation of Vishnu was an effort to usurp a major religious figure, the transparency of this endeavor can be observed in the various views about this avatar.
The poet Jayadeva says in the first chapter of his Gitagovinda that Vishnu incarnated as the Buddha to denounce the animal sacrifices that were common in Vedic times.
Other accounts portray him as deceiving the wicked by telling them to deny the Vedas' authority (which the historical Buddha explicitly denied) and damn themselves.
Despite the fact that the Buddha was identified as one of the avatars, Vaishnavas never worshipped him, and Buddhists have never acknowledged this claim.
