The Complete Story of Matsya Avatar

Lord Vishnu took many avatars or incarnations. Some of them were in the form of human beings like Rama, Krishna, Balarama, etc., while others were part human and part animal forms like Matsya, Varaha, and Narasimha. All these incarnations had one purpose, which was to restore Dharma or righteousness in a world that was under threat from evil forces.

Though the Shrimad Bhagavatam says that Vishnu has numerous avatars, the rishis of yore focus on only 10 of them, which they felt represented the rest as well. These 10 avatars of Vishnu came to be called Dasavatar. Dasa means ‘10’. They are Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Parashurama, Rama, Krishna, Buddha, and Kalki. In the Shiva Purana, instead of Buddha, Balarama is mentioned as the 8th avatar.

Story of Matsya Avatar

The Matsya form is half-fish and half-man. He appeared at the end of Satya Yuga. As the Satya Yuga neared its end, a great flood was supposed to destroy all life on earth so that a new Yuga could begin afresh. Before this happened, one day, Lord Brahma was sleeping soundly after being busy with creation the entire day.

As Brahma slept, an asura or demon called Hayagriva came out from Brahma’s nose. Hayagriva was the son of Sage Kashyapa and his wife, Danu. He was the king of the demons, and he did not want humans to become more powerful than the demons. Hayagriva wanted to establish the superiority of the Danav (demon) clan. So, he made many attempts to thwart the progress of human beings. On hearing that Lord Vishnu had given the four Vedas to Lord Brahma, he decided to steal them so that human beings could not lay hands on the sacred texts.

Seeing Brahma fast asleep, Hayagriva thought it was an opportune time to steal the knowledge of the Vedas. He stole the Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharva Veda from Brahma. Then he hid in the depths of the ocean, where nobody could find him.

But Lord Vishnu saw all this and felt worried. If the Vedas were not recovered, the knowledge in them could not be passed on to the next Yuga. As the God of Preservation, he had to ensure that the knowledge survived and was handed over to the next Yuga. So he took the form of Matsya, a big fish, to retrieve the Vedas from the ocean.

But Brahma was aware that people on earth would not be able to use the Vedas until they were purified. Also, values had degraded, and it was time to create a new world. So, asked Lord Shiva to destroy humanity, as only then would there be a conducive atmosphere to revive the human race.

Vishnu knew that Shiva's plan was to cause a huge flood to destroy the world. Hence, he took the form of Matsya or the fish. He also had to save Manu and his wife Shatarupa, as they were needed to conceive humans for the next Yuga.

Thus, after killing Hayagriva and recovering the Vedas, Vishnu as Matsya saved Manu, Shatarupa, the Saptarishis (who symbolized knowledge), and one set of all the living beings. Finally, he gave the Vedas to Manu so that he could use them for the welfare of humanity.

King Manu and Matsya

During Satya Yuga, King Manu performed severe penance for a long time. One day, while performing ablutions with river water, a small fish slipped into his hands. When he was about to throw it back into the river, the fish asked the king to rescue its life.

Hence, the king put the fish into a jar of water. But the fish began to grow in size. Soon it became too big for the jar. The king then threw it into the river, but it outgrew the river, too. The king then threw the fish into the Ganges and later into the ocean.

The king finally realized that the fish was Lord Vishnu himself. Vishnu then appeared before him and made a special request. He said that the world would come to an end in 7 days because of a huge Pralaya or flood. He wanted the king to build a huge boat and take the seven rishis (sages), the seeds of all plants, and the male and female of each animal in the boat and keep them safe from the flood.

He also assured him that he would come as a fish and propel the boat to Mount Himavan so that those who were in it would survive the flood and make it to the next yuga(eon). Just as he said, Vishnu appeared after seven days as a big fish or Matsya. The king, meanwhile, had carried out all his instructions. He used the serpent Vasuki to tie the boat to the fish. The fish took the boat and its occupants to Mt Himavan, where they remained safe from the flood. When the flood came to an end, a new Yuga began, and procreation began afresh.

Thus, Vishnu’s Matsya avatar saved the earth from complete annihilation.