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The Flood in World Myth and Folklore
Central Asia |
| © 2021 Mark Isaak |
Manu, the first human, found a small fish in his washwater. The fish begged protection from the larger fishes, in return for which it would save Manu. Manu kept the fish safe, transferring it to larger and larger reservoirs as it grew, eventually taking it to the ocean. The fish warned Manu of a coming deluge and told him to build a ship. When the flood rose, the fish came, and Manu tied the craft to its horn. The fish led him to a northern mountain and told Manu to tie the ship's rope to a tree to prevent it from drifting. Manu, alone of all creatures, survived. He made offerings of clarified butter, sour milk, whey, and curds. From these, a woman arose, calling herself Manu's daughter. Whatever blessings he invoked through her were granted him. Through her, he generated this race.
Frazer, 1919, 183-185; Kelsen, 1943, 128.
The great sage Manu, son of Vivasvat, practiced austere fervor. He stood on one leg with upraised arm, looking down unblinkingly, for 10,000 years. While so engaged on the banks of the Chirini, a fish came to him and asked to be saved from larger fish. Manu took the fish to a jar and, as the fish grew, from thence to a large pond, then to the river Ganga, then to the ocean. Though large, the fish was pleasant and easy to carry. Upon being released into the ocean, the fish told Manu that soon all terrestrial objects would be dissolved in the time of the purification. It told him to build a strong ship with a cable attached and to embark with the seven sages (rishis) and certain seeds, and to then watch for the fish, since the waters could not be crossed without it. Manu embarked as enjoined and thought on the fish. The fish, knowing his desire, came, and Manu fastened the ship's cable to its horn. The fish dragged the ship through roiling waters for many years, at last bringing it to the highest peak of Himavat, which is still known as Naubandhana ("the Binding of the Ship"). The fish then revealed itself as Parjapati Brahma and said Manu shall create all living things and all things moving and fixed. Manu performed a great act of austere fervor to clear his uncertainty and then began calling things into existence.
Frazer, 1919, 185-187.
This version is from the Matsya Purana, a comprehensive description of Vishu in his Matsha avatar, or fish incarnation.
The heroic king Manu, son of the Sun, practiced austere fervor in Malaya and attained transcendent union with the Deity. After a million years, Brahma bestowed on Manu a boon and asked him to choose it. Manu asked for the power to preserve all existing things upon the dissolution of the universe. Later, while offering oblations in his hermitage, a carp fell in his hands, which Manu preserved. The fish grew and cried to Manu to preserve it, and Manu moved it to progressively larger vessels, eventually moving it to the river Ganga and then to the ocean. When it filled the ocean, Manu recognized it as the god Janardana, or Brahma. It told Manu that the end of the yuga was approaching, and soon all would be covered with water. He was to preserve all creatures and plants aboard a ship which had been prepared. It said that a hundred years of drought and famine would begin this day, which would be followed by fires from the sun and from underground that would consume the earth and the ether, destroying this world, the gods, and the planets. Seven clouds from the steam of the fire will inundate the earth, and the three worlds will be reduced to one ocean. Manu's ship alone will remain, fastened by a rope to the great fish's horn. Having announced all this, the great being vanished. The deluge occurred as stated; Janardana appeared in the form of a horned fish, and the serpent Ananta came in the form of a rope. Manu, by contemplation, drew all creatures towards him and stowed them in the ship and, after making obeisance to Janardana, attached the ship to the fish's horn with the serpent-rope.
"The Matsya Purana," http://www.dharmakshetra.com/avatars/Matsya%20Purans.html, accessed 7/30/06; Frazer, 1919, 188-190.
This version of the story of Manu is from the Srimad Bhagavatam, the Bhagavata Purana.
At the end of the past kalpa, at the end of Brahma's day, as Lord Brahma lay down to sleep, the Vedas emanated from his mouth, and the demon Hayagriva stole the Vedic knowledge. The Lord Narayana, Supreme Personality of Godhead, assumed the form of a fish to save the Vedas.
A great king named Satyavrata was a devotee of Narayana and performed austerities by subsisting only on water. One day, on the bank of the River Kritamala, a small fish appeared in the water in his palms. Satyavrata threw it back into the river. But the fish appealed to the merciful Satyavrata, saying, "My dear King, protector of the poor, why do you throw me, so little, into a river of other aquatics which could eat me?"
Although not knowing that the fish was Matsya, the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the incarnation of a fish, King Satyavarata was happy to give the fish protection, and he placed it in a water jug and took it to his home. But in one night the fish grew so much that it could not move easily in the jug, and it complained as much to the King. The King took it and placed it in a large well, but in a moment the fish grew to a length of three cubits and pleaded for a larger pool. The King threw it in a lake, but it again quickly grew to exceed the extent of the water, and it again asked larger home to save it. The King took it to the largest reservoir, and when the fish outgrew that too, he threw the giant fish into the ocean. At this, the fish said to King Satyavrata, "O hero, there are dangerous sharks in the ocean that will eat me, so you should not throw me here."
The King at last recognized that the fish was Lord Vishnu. He offered obeisances to Him and asked for what purpose He had assumed the form of a fish. The Supreme Lord said, "On the seventh day from today, the three worlds, heaven, earth, and sky, will be flooded by an ocean of destruction. I will send a large boat to you. You shall gather all kinds of herbs and seeds and take them on the boat along with all kinds of living creatures and the seven rishis (sages). Then you shall travel easily on the ocean, with no light but the effulgence of the rishis. Attach the boat to my horn with the great serpent Vasuki. I will be close to you, pulling the boat over the water of devastation until the Lord Brahma's sleep is over. You will be thoroughly advised and favored by me." After instructing the King thus, the Lord left, and the King began to wait for the appointed time, meditating on the feet of the Lord in the form of a fish.
Incessant water from giant clouds swelled the ocean so that it overflowed the land. As Satyavrata remembered the orders of the Lord, he saw a boat coming toward him. He gathered the herbs and seeds and, with the seven saintly brahmanas, boarded the boat. While the King meditated upon the Lord, a large golden fish with one horn appeared. Following its instructions, Satyavrata anchored the boat to the fish's horn, using the serpent Vasuki as a rope. Then he began offering prayers to the Lord, declaring his acceptance of the Supreme Lord as the supreme spiritual master.
After Satyavrata had prayed, the Lord in the form of Matsya, while moving on the waters, explained the Absolute Truth to him. The Lord Vishnu explained all of the timeless Vedic literatures.
At the end of the inundation, the Lord killed the demon Hayagriva and delivered all the Vedic literatures to Lord Brahma when he awoke.
King Satyavrata, illuminated with all Vedic knowledge, took birth in this age as Vaivasvata Manu, the son of the sun-god.
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Srimad Bhagavatam, (Los Angeles: Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1987), Canto 8, chap. 24, 807-859, www.srimadbhagavatam.org/canto8/chapter24.html; Frazer, 1919, 190-192.
The story also appears with minor variations in the Agni Purana.
Agni said, "I shall tell of the Fish-incarnation of Vishnu. At the close of the past kalpa, there occurred the occasional dissolution of the universe caused by Brahma's sleep, when the Bhurloka and other worlds were inundated by the ocean. Manu, son of Vivasvat, practiced austere fervor. Once, while offering the libation of water to the Pitris [ancestor spirits] in the river Kritamala, a small fish came into his hands and said to him, 'Do not throw me into the stream, for I am afraid of alligators and other monsters there.' So Manu placed it in a jar, transferring to a larger container, and then a pond, and then the sea as the need arose from the fish's growth. The instant it entered the sea, it grew immensely. Manu, in astonisment, realized it was Vishnu and paid it adoration. The Fish told him, 'In seven days this ocean shall inundate the world. A ship shall come for thee, in which you shall place seeds and, accompanied by the rishis, shall sail during the night of Brahma. When I arrive, bind the ship to my horn with the great serpent.' Then the fish vanished. Manu acted as instructed and, aboard the ship, heard from the Fish the Matsya Purana, together with the Veda.
Frazer, 1919, 192-193; http://www.indiadivine.org/agni-purana1.htm.
The Brahma Vaivart Purana includes an account in which Markandaya is witness to the pralaya, the Dissolution which occurs at the end of an age.
Many years ago, there was a great destruction. Darkness shrouded the earth. Lightning crushed mountains; meteors fell; lakes and rivers dried up. Fire engulfed the whole earth and down into the underworld, consuming all living things, including gods and demons.
But one sage named Markandeya continued meditating while all this took place. His power was such that the fire dared not touch him. Nonetheless, he worried about the fire raging around him, and he suffered hunger, thirst, and fear. Noticing a banyan tree untouched by the fires, he retired to its shade and prayed to Vishnu.
Clouds gathered, thickened, and spread over the earth. Rain poured down continuously for twelve years. The water put out the fires, but it also flooded the earth. Markandeya, floating on the water, continued to pray to Vishnu.
Vishnu spoke to him. "Do not be frightened, Markandeya. You are devoted to me, and I shall protect you."
Markandeya could not see anyone anywhere, and he did not know where the voice had come from. "Who dares address me like I was a child?" he demanded, "I am Markandeya, blessed by Brahma himself."
Uncertain, he again started praying to Vishnu. Then he saw the banyan tree floating on the water. A golden bed sat on its branches, and a small boy sat upon the bed. The astonished Markandeya did not realize that the boy was Vishnu himself.
"You are tired," the boy said to Markandeya. "Enter my body and rest awhile."
Before he could react, Markandeya entered through the boy's mouth. Inside the boy's stomach, Markandeya discovered all the worlds, the seven lands and the seven oceans, all the mountains and kingdoms and living things.
Dumbdounded by all this, Markandeya again started praying to Vishnu. The moment he began, he emerged from the boy's mouth, and Vishnu appeared to him and blessed him. The sage spent a thousand years with Vishnu, and then Vishnu granted him a boon.
"I wish to build a temple to Shiva in Purushottama Kshetra," said Markandeya, "to show that Vishnu and Shiva are one and the same." Vishnu granted the boon, and the temple which Markandeya built is known as Bhuvaneshvara (Lord of the World).
Dharmic Scriptures Team, The Puranas, 3
Oct. 2002 (Issue 1, Draft 1),
This myth is the basis for the Govardhana Puja festival which continues to the present.
When Krishna was seven years old, he saw his father and other people of Vrindavana preparing for a sacrifice to Indra, which they did yearly to obtain the blessings of rain for their crops and livestock. Young Krishna, however, saw that Indra was inflated with pride and persuaded the people instead to give the offerings to the brahmins (priests), cows, and to Govardhana Hill, which provides all their necessities. After the ceremony, Krishna assumed a different, huge form and revealed that he and the hill were equivalent.
Indra, angered at the people neglecting him, sent clouds of universal destruction which released a furious storm of rain and hail against the community, submerging the ground. The cows and the people, in their distress, appealed to Krishna. Krishna protected them by picking up Govardhana Hill, holding it aloft on the little finger of his left hand, while the people took shelter beneath it. For seven days he sheltered them thus, and under his divine influence, they experienced no discomfort. Seeing Lord Krishna's power, Indra was forced to give up his false pride, and he ordered his clouds to stop.
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Srimad Bhagavatam, (Los Angeles: Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1987), canto 10 part 2, chap. 24-25, 379-440, http://www.srimadbhagavatam.org/canto10/chapter24.html.
The Mahabharata also includes a story about the flooding of the city Dvaraka (also known as Dvaravati). The war which resulted in the killing of Gandhari's sons, and thence Gandhari's curse, is the main story of the Mahabharata.
One day, a group of Vrishni boys saw three learned ascetics come to Dvaraka and, remembering punishments received from them, decided to play a trick on them. They dressed up Samva, son of Krishna, as a pregnant woman and asked the ascetics whether her child would be a son. But the sages were not fooled and said, "He will bring forth an iron bolt which will someday exterminate the race of Vrishnis and Andhakas." Samva brought forth an iron bolt the next day. The king, hearing of these events, caused the bolt to be reduced to powder and cast into the sea.
Years later, when many evil omens were seen in the city, Krishna realized that the time had come for the fulfillment of the curse uttered by Gandhari at the death of her sons. He told the Vrishnis to make a pilgrimage to some sacred water, and they, troubled by the omens, gladly complied and went to Prabhasa on the sea coast. But there they became drunk and began fighting. Krishna, seeing his son killed in the melee, became enraged. The took up a handful of Eraka grass, which became a terrible iron bolt. With it, Krishna slew all whom he encountered. In the general rage, none thought to quit, and they all fought to destruction.
Krishna told his charioteer Daruka to bear the news of the destruction of the Yadavas to Dvaraka; then he wandered for some time in the forest and sat down on the earth. A hunter, Jara, passed by, mistook Krishna's foot for the face of a stag, and shot it. Krishna died and left the human world.
Daruka went to Dvaraka and spoke to Arjuna and to Krishna's father, and the latter warned that Dvaraka would soon be swallowed by the ocean. Arjuna arranged to lead the Vrishni women, children, and old men from the city, and on the seventh day they all set out. Whatever portion of ground the people left was immediately flooded by the ocean. When bandits saw the rich train leaving the city, they were overcome by greed and lust and attacked and carried off the women. Arjuna took the remainder to the city of Indraprastha.
Kisari Mohan Ganguli, trans., The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Book 16: Mausala Parva. http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m16/, accessed 5/26/2008. See also Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty, The Origins of Evil in Hindu Mythology (Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 1976), 260-271.