If Prthu M is an avatara why did he take birth from a material body?

In the fourth canto, in the chapter on King Vena, it is described how King Prthu is born from the dead body of King Vena. King Prthu is a direct incarnation of Lord Visnu (4.16.2). Then should he not have a spiritual body? Why does he take a material body which has birth, disease, old age and death. Does that not put him in under the control of maha-maya?

Transcript

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I think, can we talk? First of all, King Pruthu is a Shaktyavesh avatar of the Lord. He is not Vishnu tattva.
He is Jiva tattva. Actually, Prabhupada mentions this in one of the starting purports of this pastime in 4.15.2, when the Vena’s body, after being churned, leads to the appearance of Pruthu and Archi. He said, after King’s, Prabhupada writes, after King Vena’s body was thus purified, a male and female came out of it.
And the great sages could understand that this was an expansion of Lord Vishnu. This expansion, of course, was not Vishnu tattva, but a specifically empowered expansion of Lord Vishnu, known as Avesh. So, Rupa Goswami in the Laghubhagavatamrit also confirms that Pruthu is a Shaktyavesh avatar.
And the verse which you have quoted 4.16.2, the Sanskrit word is Avatarata. And that just indicates that there is a descent. Generally, the technical categorization of the various incarnations is not explicitly mentioned in the Bhagavatam itself.
We need to look at the systematic analysis given by subsequent Acharyas, like say Rupa Goswami in Laghubhagavatamrit, to actually understand what is what. But if we look at later in this chapter, in 19th and 20th chapters, when Indra has come there, and Brahmaji is addressing Indra, and he is addressing Pruthu, and he’s telling Pruthu, please stop the sacrifice, because Indra will otherwise create further disruptions. So, the explanation given is that there Brahmaji mentions that both of you are incarnations of the Supreme Lord.
So, now Indra obviously not an incarnation, but Indra is a Jiva who has some power from Lord. He’s also Avesh avatar over there. So, that’s why actually the word Avatarata has to be seen in the broader context.
Now, having said that Pruthu is not a Shaktya, not a direct Vishnu Tattva avatar, but a Shaktya Avesh avatar, Srila Prabhupada still mentions that we shouldn’t subscribe to the Mayavadi idea that the Lord has a material body. In the same section in the Purport, he says that, in the words which you have quoted 4.16.2, there Prabhupada quotes, although born out of the so-called dead body of King Vena, King Pruthu was still an incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead by the Lord’s internal potency. The Lord can appear in any family.
Initially, Prabhupada goes on to explain that how the Lord is transcendental even as Matsya and Avaraha. So, Srila Prabhupada says that just because he was born from a material body does not necessarily mean that he can’t be an incarnation. So, even Krishna appears apparently speaking from the material body of Vasudeva and Devaki.
So, that doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s not transcendental. So, the Lord can maintain his transcendence even when he appears from a material body and when he gets his expansions to manifest. So, those expansions also can maintain their transcendental position even when they appear from the material bodies.
So, that’s how we understand that just because he’s appearing from a material body doesn’t mean that he is not transcendental. So, this is the Malaya Seva Chandanam, just as it is described in the Kunti Maharani’s prayers that the Malaya can be found, Chandan can be found anywhere but it is found in one place called Malaya. So, like that you can appear from anywhere but you have appeared from the Yadu realm.
So, the Lord can appear from anywhere even from a material body of a sinful king but still that doesn’t affect his transcendence. Thank you.