Dashavatar Series Part I: Matsya Avatar!

Most people that I have interacted with on the topic of ancient Hindu scriptures are familiar with the concept of Dashavatar of Hindu and they are well familiar with some of the more popular avatars like Ram and Krishna as they were the central figures in great Epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata.

However most people are not very familiar with the other avatars and the interesting legends behind them. Through this collection of posts I plan to share some details about all the Avatars of Vishnu and how they form a chain across the cycle of evolution of society as a whole.

What does Dashavatar of Vishnu Mean?

Before I get into the details of Matsya Avatar let me start by sharing some context about the concept of Dashavatar in Hinduism.

As per Hindu beliefs whenever evil forces rise beyond tolerable limits on Earth then Vishnu takes up a special incarnation called Avatar and appears on Earth to set the balance.

It is believed that the Earth continuously goes into cycles of creation and destruction so these incarnations appear again and and again as per the cycle.

As per the current time nine of ten Avatars have appeared and left and the final Avatar called Kalki is yet to come as he is destined to come before the Earth gets completely destroyed and signals the start fo a fresh cycle.

Dashavatar literally translates to 10 Avatars and Matsya is the first Avatar in the cycle. Avatars can be in animal or human form and the Narsimha Avatar is half human and half animal.

What is the Legend behind Matsya Avatar?

As Matsya Avatar, Vishnu appeared on Earth in the form of a fish. The story begins with King Manu taking a bath in a river called Chirini when a small fish comes onto his palm. The fish asks Manu to rescus it as if he leaves the fish in the river it will be eaten by the bigger fishes.

Manu takes pity on the fish and takes it to his palace, where he places it in a small glass jar.

Next morning Manu notices that the fish has grown in size and the jar appears too small for it.

Manu wonders how can the fish grow so fast and gets a large tub and shifts it there. Soon the fish has grown too big for the tub so Manu has it shifted to a nearby lake. The fish keeps growing and has to be shifted to the river. As it keeps getting bigger and bigger it is evetually shifted to the ocean.

Next morning Manu goes to the ocean and sees that the fish has become really huge. The fish thanks Manu for taking care of it all these days and tells him that soon there is going to be a disastrous deluge that will flood the entire Earth and the flood will continue for many years to come. The fish tells Manu that he should build a large ship and come with the Saptarishi who are the seven wise sages of hinduism.

Manu gets the ship constructed and arrives on the seashore with the Saptarishi. As instructed by the fish he ties the ship to the horn of the fish by a large snake. The Earth starts getting flooded and the fish carries the ship towards Himalaya mountains. Once they reach Himalayas they notice that the entire earth is submerged in water and only the tip of Himalayas is above water. Vishnu appears from the fish and grants special powers to Manu to create life on Earth with support from the wise Saptarishi.

In some versions of the story they encounter a monster called Hayagriva who tries to steal the ancient scriptures from the sages and Matsya slays it with it’s horn. This signifies preservation of knowledge during calamity.

Similarity of Matsya Avatar to Legends in other Cultures!

Reading the story behind Matsya Avatar you would have surely noticed how similar it is to the legend of Noah’s Arc in the bible and in fact there are similar stories across all ancient cultures across Greeks, Mayan and Egyptians.

There are diverging views regarding which story was the original and which culture’s story influenced the others.

In my opinion Matsya Avatar came much before the others as it is mentioned in the ancient scriptures like Puranas and Vedas which pre-date all other civizations.

I will be writing shortly about the other Avatars that form part of the Dashavatars of Vishnu.

Om Namah Shiv