MYTHOLOGY 102 : FISH INCARNATION

Satyavrata, the King of pre-antiquated Dravida and a devout follower of Lord Vishnu, who later was known as Manu was washing his hands in a river when a little fish swam into his hands and begged him to save its life. He put it in a container, which it soon outgrew. He at that point moved it to a tank, a stream and afterward at ocean, but the fish kept on growing. The fish at that point revealed himself to be the matsya avatar ( Fish Incarnation ) of Vishnu and told him that a calamity would happen inside seven days that would obliterate all life.

The fish revealed to Manu that toward the end of the week, the mare who inhabited the bottom of the ocean would open her mouth to release a poisonous fire. This very fire will consume the entire universe, Gods, heavenly bodies and everything. The seven clouds of Judgment day would then flood the earth until everything was a single ocean. Consequently, the fish taught Satyavrata to construct an ark to take “all medicinal herbs, one seed of all varieties, and Saptarishi (Seven saints)” along with the snake Vasuki and one pair each of different creatures. As the hour of the flood drew closer, Manu’s ark was finished.

As the flood cleared over the land, Manu asked Vishnu for what reason humankind needed to meet a lethal destiny to which Matsya Vishnu revealed to Manu that he was the only moral man alive and that he would be the father of future generations of men. At that point he attached himself to Manu’s ark using Vasuki ( snake) as a rope and protected them from the storms and the floods. When the storm ended and the water subsided, Matsya Vishnu left Manu and the others at the Himalayas, where they could start human civilization once again.

Similar story of giant flood and huge ark was also mentioned in Bible, and is known as Noah’s Ark. Also, the reference of such flood was given twice in Quran. All the big religions have this story of resurgence of civilization in their scriptures, and the similarity in description is inordinate. I don’t know whether this story gets precedence in history or just mythology, you can make this choice for yourself.