1st Avatar Matsya
Matsya Avatar is the Preserver or Sustainer of life.
In Matsya Avatar, Sriman Narayana incarnates as a fish in this world to protect life from a huge flood.
1st AVATAR – MATSYA AVATAR
In MATSYA Avatar, Sriman Narayana incarnates as a fish. It relates to protecting KIng Manu, the “Progenitor” of mankind. While performing penance at the river Kritamala, a tiny fish appeared before King Manu and requested him to protect it from larger fish. Manu lifted it on his palm and brought it to his palace and placed it into a pot.
In two days it began to grow larger than the pot’s size. Manu transferred it to a larger pot but in next two days that pot too failed to contain it. Manu now put it into a tank but in another few days it grew to a size larger than the tank. King Manu placed the fish into the river Ganges but as before the Ganges too fell short to its size.
Finally, the fish revealed itself as Sriman Narayana and advised that within seven days the world would have a great flood. Hence, King Manu should make a large boat, board it along with Sapta-Rishis – seven sages, Brahma’s spiritual sons, and their wives. He must also take along all every specimen of plant, animal, reptile, insect, bird, etc to ensure the continuation of life. As advised by the fish, Manu made a boat and when the Great Deluge began enveloping the world, they boarded it along with Sapta-Rishis, their wives and other life forms. With the help of the fish they paddled it to safety.
In the Mahabharata the Himalayan peak where Manu’s boat moored has been named as Naubandhana, meaning ‘where the boat was moored’ while in other texts, as Navaprabhanshana, meaning, ‘which rescued the boat’. The Matsya Purana alludes to Manu as the ruler of Dravinda.
Significantly, world literatures including Greek, Latin, European, Babylonian and South Asian have tales of the Great Flood with someone like Manu escaping it under Divine commandment.
The Holy Bible (Genesis, Chapters 6, 7 and 8) in Noah’s episode seems to recount an identical flood and emergence of God instructing Noah to make an ark with given length, breadth and height to protect him his wife, sons, wives of his sons, males and females of different species of animals and birds, creepers, and vegetables – seeds of life in all its shades and kinds for He was going to flood the world to destroy it along with all flesh which was dirtied by so much of violence.
Noah acted as commanded and was instrumental in protecting the seed of life and recreating it. This Biblical story is repeated almost verbatim in the Holy Koran (11.3, 25-49). God manifests, and this action from swelling His body-size, caused the flood.