Vishnu’s 24 Avatars

Why is Maha Vishnu said to have taken 24 major Avatars?
Maha Vishnu sports four different artifacts in his four hands — ’shanka’ (conch), ‘chakra’ (wheel), ‘gadha’ (mace) and ‘padma’ (lotus).
If these four objects are re-arranged in the four hands in all possible sequences, then it amounts to 24 different combinations. — and hence 24 different Avatars!
[For those Maths geeks: Number of Permutations = 4! (factorial) = 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 24]