Table of Contents
Matsya, the fish form of Vishnu, keeps turning up in my research on the great flood. He is the fish who warns Manu, tows his ship and saves the Vedas. These are the pages where I wrote about him.
The fish who warns Manu
On Who Was Vaivasvata Manu? I follow the oldest version, the Satapatha Brahmana 1.8.1 in Julius Eggeling’s translation. There the fish grows from jar to pit to sea, tells Manu to prepare a ship, and carries him to the northern mountain after he ties the ship to its horn. The fish has no name in that early text. In the Matsya Purana trail the fish is identified as Vishnu, and the boat often carries the Saptarishi (the seven sages), seeds of plants and pairs of creatures.
Which Deities Are Linked to Fish and Water? gives the Bhagavata Purana 8.24 tradition, where the fish warns of a great inundation and a boat of seeds, sages and living beings is fastened to its horn. Great Flood Stories World wide lists Manu and the Fish among the flood stories of the world, and Was Nūḥ one of the last inheritors of advanced knowledge before the flood? sets Manu beside Noah, Utnapishtim and the other flood survivors.
The first avatar of Vishnu
Vishnu places Matsya first among the avatars, the fish who saves the Vedas from the flood. The Numbers Before the Flood: Base 60, the Sar and the 10 Patriarchs vs 10 Kings counts the fourteen Manus of the Vishnu Purana; the present one, Vaivasvata, is the seventh and survives the flood with the help of Matsya.
Fish gods and fish men
Matsya belongs to a wider family of half-fish teachers and saviours. On Part-human, part-fish he stands in the same list as Oannes and the Apkallu of Sumer and Babylon, and The worship of Crawling things ties the sacred fish to the Matsya avatar. On Aph (Etherean God) I compare Vishnu guiding Manu through the flood with the role of Aph in saving the I’hins in Oahspe.
Related pages
- Who Was Vaivasvata Manu?
- Which Deities Are Linked to Fish and Water?
- Vishnu
- Great Flood Stories World wide
- The Numbers Before the Flood: Base 60, the Sar and the 10 Patriarchs vs 10 Kings
- Part-human, part-fish
- The worship of Crawling things
- Aph (Etherean God)
For every page I tagged with Matsya, see the Matsya tag archive.
