Avatar 1 of 10 · Satya Yuga
Matsya
The first avatar: Vishnu as a great fish, who saved the king Manu, the sages and the seeds of life from the flood that ended an age, and brought back the Vedas from the deep.
- His form
- The fish
- Satya Yuga
- His day
- Matsya Jayanti
- Chaitra Shukla Tritiya
The story
Manu, the king, was washing his hands in a river when a tiny fish swam into his palms and begged to be saved from the bigger fish. He kept it in a pot, but by morning it had outgrown the pot; he moved it to a pond, a lake, and at last to the ocean, and still it grew.
Then the fish spoke as Vishnu. In seven days, he said, a great flood would cover the three worlds. Manu was to build a boat and take on board the seven sages, the seeds of every plant and a pair of every creature.
When the waters rose the fish appeared again, golden and horned. Manu tied the boat to its horn with the serpent Vasuki as a rope, and the fish towed it through the flood to the peak of a mountain. In the same age Vishnu killed the demon Hayagriva, who had stolen the Vedas from Brahma while he slept, and gave them back.
Why he came
To carry life and the Vedas safely across the flood into a new age.
How he is shown
As a great golden fish, or with the four-armed body of Vishnu rising from a fish’s tail, holding the conch and the discus.
His verse
प्रलयपयोधिजले धृतवानसि वेदं विहितवहित्रचरित्रमखेदम्।
केशव धृतमीनशरीर जय जगदीश हरे॥
Pralaya payodhi jale dhritavan asi vedam, vihita vahitra charitram akhedam;
Keshava dhrita mina sharira, jaya Jagadisha Hare.
In the waters of the great flood you held the Vedas safe, steering the boat without tiring, in the body of a fish. O Keshava, glory to you, Lord of the world, Hari!
प्रलय के जल में आपने वेदों को सुरक्षित रखा और बिना थके नाव को खेते रहे, मछली के शरीर में। हे केशव, आपकी जय, जगत के स्वामी हरि!
His day
Matsya Jayanti
Chaitra Shukla Tritiya, the third day of the bright half of Chaitra (March or April)
Where he is worshipped
- Vedanarayana Swamy TempleNagalapuram, Andhra Pradesh
Questions
Why did Vishnu come as a fish?
To save the king Manu, the seven sages and the seeds of life from the flood at the end of an age, and to bring back the Vedas that the demon Hayagriva had stolen.
Is the story of Matsya like the flood stories of other lands?
It is one of many flood stories in the world. In the Hindu telling, the saviour is Vishnu himself, and the boat carries the Vedas as well as life.