The Story of Matsya
1)
I am Brahma, the creator. I wish to tell you the story of Matsya, the first Avatar of Lord Vishnu. There have been claims made that I am, in fact, Matsya; these claims are unfounded. We, the gods, were less than pleased with human kind; they had lost touch with their gods. As you can imagine, we were not happy by this behavior. On a particularly treacherous day on Earth, when mankind had clearly ceased living lives of dharma, we the gods decided that perhaps a fresh start was in order. On this particular day, brothers stole from brothers, sons cheated their fathers, and the young no longer cared for the elderly. Ganesha, however, raised his voice to speak on behalf of man. Instead of carrying out our plans hastily, he argued, perhaps we should set a deadline. It was only fair to give the human race another chance before destroying it completely. He asked the question: "What if this day is only the worst of what was to come and we are only to see the best of man from this day forward? I vote to give them three years. In these three years, if it becomes clear that the humans have lost faith, then we act." Ganesha had spoken words of wisdom and, though many of us were less than pleased to wait, we decided the humans could have their three years. At the end of this time, if we determined that no change had occurred, we would unleash a flood of epic proportions- one in which the Himalayas would shake in fear.
During the chaos and confusion of this time, Lord Vishnu was drawn to one man who had remained pious in his faith and in his worship of us. Vishnu decided that this man, named Manu, was worth saving. It was at this moment that Vishnu decided to descend from the heavens for the first time as a lesser being. This lesser being, or Avatar, named Matsya, was in the form of a fish. Matsya went to Manu and gave him a warning - a warning of impending doom... and Manu's salvation. Matsya commanded Manu to build an ark big enough to store all of the animals and plants of the land. Manu was a bit perplexed; he lived nowhere near the ocean. Matsya explained that at the end of these three years that the gods would release a flood to clean the Earth. At the end of three years, Matsya warned, if this task was left unfinished there would be nothing he could do; Manu would be lost as well.
Matsya decided to stay on Earth for the duration of this time. He stayed, in part, to assist Manu with his mission and, also, to see how far humankind had fallen. It took Manu many months to complete his ark. As the ark got bigger and bigger, so too did Matsya. Matsya, who was once the size of a small goldfish and was content living in a bowl near Manu's bed, was now the size of a great whale and had to live in the ocean. At the end of the three years we, the gods, saw no difference in man's behavior , so we unleashed the flood. Manu, the animals, and plants were all aboard the ark when the flood came. Matsya came to greet Manu's ark and pulled him to the Himalayas. It was there that Matsya informed Manu that he was to await the receding of the waters before he released all the animals and replaced the plants in the Earth. Manu was quite stunned by the events that he was experiencing. Although he had done as he was told, Manu always questioned the small fish and his strange demands. He asked Matsya, "Why was I spared? Was there no one else deemed worthy of life?" Matsya replied, "Manu, you have led a life of devotion to the gods. They had decided to spare you the fate that the rest of humankind suffered. It is up to you to ensure that the next batch of humans remains true to their deities." With these words, Matsya left Manu to his task.
Believe it, or not, we were very sad the day that humankind fell from grace. We are fond of humans, mostly, and it was a difficult decision to release the flood. Vishnu, in his Avatar form, did the gods a mighty favor. We were quite pleased with the devotion of Manu. His life was found to be deserving and he was saved.
Author's Note: This story was particularly interesting. It reminded me so much of the story of Noah and the Ark. An interesting aspect of Avatars is that the gods don't necessarily return to Earth in human form. I also like that the name of this Avatar is Matsya; "Matsya" in Sanskrit actually means fish. Because Vishnu returned as a fish, he was able to assist Manu better than if he had appeared as a human. I found several story retellings about this particular Avatar. At first, it was extremely difficult to decide how to retell this story. For the most part, I kept everything true to the stories that I read. Because I decided to use Brahma as my storyteller, I felt that my story was a bit more personal. I tried to explain why the gods decided to do away with humankind. This was actually my favorite part of the story to write. It provided a great avenue to be creative. While doing the research to write this story, I was surprised to find that some people thought that Matsya was actually a form of Brahma. From most of the early research that I had done, I hadn't stumbled across this variation at all. I was extremely happy that I decided to write this story from Brahma's perspective.
Bibliography: "The Matsya or Fish Avatara" by W.J. Wilkins, from Hindu Mythology , Vedic and Puranic (1900). From Sacred Text Archives.
Images:
1) "Vision of the Ayahuasca Leal" by Nixon Yuimachi at Village Earth
2) "Lord Brahma: Creator of the Universe (Pendant) at Exotic Indian Art
I am Brahma, the creator. I wish to tell you the story of Matsya, the first Avatar of Lord Vishnu. There have been claims made that I am, in fact, Matsya; these claims are unfounded. We, the gods, were less than pleased with human kind; they had lost touch with their gods. As you can imagine, we were not happy by this behavior. On a particularly treacherous day on Earth, when mankind had clearly ceased living lives of dharma, we the gods decided that perhaps a fresh start was in order. On this particular day, brothers stole from brothers, sons cheated their fathers, and the young no longer cared for the elderly. Ganesha, however, raised his voice to speak on behalf of man. Instead of carrying out our plans hastily, he argued, perhaps we should set a deadline. It was only fair to give the human race another chance before destroying it completely. He asked the question: "What if this day is only the worst of what was to come and we are only to see the best of man from this day forward? I vote to give them three years. In these three years, if it becomes clear that the humans have lost faith, then we act." Ganesha had spoken words of wisdom and, though many of us were less than pleased to wait, we decided the humans could have their three years. At the end of this time, if we determined that no change had occurred, we would unleash a flood of epic proportions- one in which the Himalayas would shake in fear.
During the chaos and confusion of this time, Lord Vishnu was drawn to one man who had remained pious in his faith and in his worship of us. Vishnu decided that this man, named Manu, was worth saving. It was at this moment that Vishnu decided to descend from the heavens for the first time as a lesser being. This lesser being, or Avatar, named Matsya, was in the form of a fish. Matsya went to Manu and gave him a warning - a warning of impending doom... and Manu's salvation. Matsya commanded Manu to build an ark big enough to store all of the animals and plants of the land. Manu was a bit perplexed; he lived nowhere near the ocean. Matsya explained that at the end of these three years that the gods would release a flood to clean the Earth. At the end of three years, Matsya warned, if this task was left unfinished there would be nothing he could do; Manu would be lost as well.
Matsya decided to stay on Earth for the duration of this time. He stayed, in part, to assist Manu with his mission and, also, to see how far humankind had fallen. It took Manu many months to complete his ark. As the ark got bigger and bigger, so too did Matsya. Matsya, who was once the size of a small goldfish and was content living in a bowl near Manu's bed, was now the size of a great whale and had to live in the ocean. At the end of the three years we, the gods, saw no difference in man's behavior , so we unleashed the flood. Manu, the animals, and plants were all aboard the ark when the flood came. Matsya came to greet Manu's ark and pulled him to the Himalayas. It was there that Matsya informed Manu that he was to await the receding of the waters before he released all the animals and replaced the plants in the Earth. Manu was quite stunned by the events that he was experiencing. Although he had done as he was told, Manu always questioned the small fish and his strange demands. He asked Matsya, "Why was I spared? Was there no one else deemed worthy of life?" Matsya replied, "Manu, you have led a life of devotion to the gods. They had decided to spare you the fate that the rest of humankind suffered. It is up to you to ensure that the next batch of humans remains true to their deities." With these words, Matsya left Manu to his task.
Believe it, or not, we were very sad the day that humankind fell from grace. We are fond of humans, mostly, and it was a difficult decision to release the flood. Vishnu, in his Avatar form, did the gods a mighty favor. We were quite pleased with the devotion of Manu. His life was found to be deserving and he was saved.
2)
Author's Note: This story was particularly interesting. It reminded me so much of the story of Noah and the Ark. An interesting aspect of Avatars is that the gods don't necessarily return to Earth in human form. I also like that the name of this Avatar is Matsya; "Matsya" in Sanskrit actually means fish. Because Vishnu returned as a fish, he was able to assist Manu better than if he had appeared as a human. I found several story retellings about this particular Avatar. At first, it was extremely difficult to decide how to retell this story. For the most part, I kept everything true to the stories that I read. Because I decided to use Brahma as my storyteller, I felt that my story was a bit more personal. I tried to explain why the gods decided to do away with humankind. This was actually my favorite part of the story to write. It provided a great avenue to be creative. While doing the research to write this story, I was surprised to find that some people thought that Matsya was actually a form of Brahma. From most of the early research that I had done, I hadn't stumbled across this variation at all. I was extremely happy that I decided to write this story from Brahma's perspective.
Bibliography: "The Matsya or Fish Avatara" by W.J. Wilkins, from Hindu Mythology , Vedic and Puranic (1900). From Sacred Text Archives.
Images:
1) "Vision of the Ayahuasca Leal" by Nixon Yuimachi at Village Earth
2) "Lord Brahma: Creator of the Universe (Pendant) at Exotic Indian Art