The various avatars that Lord Vishnu took to save the world from imminent dangers are well documented and are quite popular with all Indian mythology buffs. This next series of Purana related posts will focus on telling these stories to readers. It must be noted that I am eliminating the popular avatars such as Rama, Krishna and Buddha for obvious reasons that these are avatars whose stories are enough material for separate blogs by themselves ๐ย That being said, the focus of this series of posts will be on the lesser known avatars and some interesting facets of these stories.
Without further ado, the story of the Matsya Avatar follows
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While the origins of the Matsya Avatar are quite hazy in terms of the fact that some sources state it to be a form of Brahma and others cite it to be that of Vishnu, I personally subscribe to the fish being an avatar of Vishnu and present a relatively hybrid version of the story from the Puranas here.
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King Manu, the seventh of his name (ie, the seventh king of his era who was called Manu), also called Vaivasvata Manu, the son of Vivasvana was just ruler. And when it was time for him to retire, he handed over the kingdom to his son and went to the foothills of Mount Malaya and started a penance in the name of Lord Brahma. Pleased with his meditation, Brahma appeared in front of him and offered him a boon. Manu replied โI am well versed with the laws of creation and am therefore aware that sooner or later there will be pralaya (widespread destruction) after which the world as we know it will no longer exist. Please grant me the boon that it will be I who will save the world when it begins afresh after the destruction.โ Pleased with his devotion, Brahma granted the boon to Manu.
A few years passed and one day when Manu was performing his morning ablutions in a pond near his hermitage in the forest, he immersed his hands in the water so that he might offer some water as a prayer to his ancestors. When he raised his cupped hands, he noticed that a small fish was wriggling around in the water that he had collected in his palms. The fish looked at him in the eye and told him โPlease do not put me back in the water. There are so many large fish in the pond that I am scared of being eaten up.โ Manu was first surprised to have encountered a speaking fish and he immediately realized that this was no ordinary fish. Moved by the simple and sincere request of the fish, he put it inside his kamandalu (small jug with a spout carried by sages and holy men, to store water).
That night Manu went to sleep knowing fully well that the small fish to which he had offered protection would be safe from any dangers. However, when he woke up the next day, he heard the fish talking to him from inside the kamandalu โPlease help me, your kamandalu is very small and stifling. I am unable to breathe inside this.โ Hearing this, a surprised Manu went to his kamandalu and noticed that the fish has grown unusually large (upto sixteen finger lengths) in just one day. Overcoming his surprise, Manu took some water in a bigger vessel and put the fish inside that.
This is a nice series that you have started. I like the avtaars of Vishnu, and have heard this story of Manu. Looking forward to read the next part ๐
@Kajal, this is going to be a small two part story, but am glad you liked the first part ๐
Thank you Mahobore..thanks to your efforts, I am able to entertain R with stories, which keep her reverted…the last series of yours was a hit in the R household ๐
@R’s Mom, glad I could help ๐
Waiting for the Ii part even though I know the story. Reading your story is soothing.
@Kalpana, that sure is a huge compliment that you have paid me ๐ Thank you so much ๐
Engaging narration. I wish there were videos of mythological tales for kids. Something which captures a young mind. With nuclear families, our kids miss these stories narrated by elders. Why, even I am not aware of this one. How about a book?
@Alka, a book on Indian mythological stories ??
The language in most I read long ago was tiresome.
@Alka, the point about the English in these sacred texts being tiresome is something that I fully agree with, having to read through quite a few of them to actually pen down these mythology related posts ๐
Great series to start writing on. I would love to read the less-known stories of the Vishnu’s Avatars. ๐
@Praveen, thank you, the intention is to cover at least one mythological story every three weeks or so ๐
In the Bhagvatam it is clearly mentioned about which all avatars Narayana took and yes, Matsya is definitely one amongst them. Matsya is mentioned as the 10th avatara.
In one day of Brahma (one day of Brahma is 4300000*1000years by our standards) there are 14 Manus. So now u calculate how many Manus are there in the lifetime of Brahma. Brahmas life is only for (his) 100 years.
We are still in the era of Vaivasta Manu.
@Bhagyashree, yes, with so many Manus around I thought it might help the readers to figure out which one this was ๐
I know u know ….was just showing off/ brushing my own memory ๐
@Bhagyashree, most of your comments add value to the posts themselves, so please do continue commenting ๐
Thanks for sharing…. All the best
@Shelly, my absolute pleasure in sharing these wonderful stories from Indian mythology with readers ๐
Glad to find someone with similar interest in Mythology…hooked on ๐
http://www.numerounity.com/2014/02/home-is-where-heart-is.html
@numerounity, glad you happened to stumble upon one of my mythology related posts, there are quite a few of them already on the blog, with more to follow ๐
The arc of Noah : Indian Version….
I really love how much religion/myth you read….do you read others too or are you attracted towards Hindu only…?
@ayush, at this point in time I am restricting myself to Indian mythology only, but am interested in mythological tales from other regions as well, will get around to them sometime I guess ๐
Yeah, that will take you at least 1 day of Bramha’s life, considering the amount of text/stories we have in our religion ๐
@Ayush, then that is a lifetime well spent, no ?? ๐
Absolutely, ignorance might be bliss…but knowledge is POWER…
@Ayush ๐
Will you be writing on all the avataras? ๐
@Pixie, am consciously avoiding Rama, Krishna and Buddha as there are too many stories about these avatars anyways ๐ But yes, will attempt to write about the remaining ones for sure ๐
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