Matsya Avatāra: The Fish Avatāra (Bhāgavata)

Matsya Avatāra is the descent of Bhagavān Śrī Hari as a huge divine fish at the end of a kalpa (a day of Brahmā). The daitya Hayagrīva stole the Vedas from Brahmā as he slept. The three worlds began to sink in the pralaya waters. Bhagavān Śrī Hari came as a tiny fish to a great rājarshi (royal seer). The fish grew to fill every container and at last the ocean. He saved the Saptarshis and the seeds of all plants in a great boat. He slew Hayagrīva and gave the Vedas back to Brahmā. During the long voyage through the pralaya he taught the highest knowledge of the ātmā (the self). Here the account follows the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, and then gives the account of the Matsya Mahā Purāṇa.

The end of a kalpa

At the end of the earlier kalpa, Brahmā’s day was drawing to its night. The great Brahmaprālaya was near. In it the three worlds, bhūḥ, bhuvaḥ and suvaḥ, would sink under the pralaya ocean. Brahmā got ready to sleep through his night. The Vedas live as sound in his breath, and now they began to leave his mouth. At that moment the daitya Hayagrīva, who had been waiting close by, seized them. The source of all dharma, all knowledge and the pattern of all creation was now in the hands of an asura.

Bhagavān Śrī Hari knows all things. He saw this and took the form of a fish. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 8th Skanda, Chapter 24)

Satyavrata and the fish

In the earlier kalpa there lived in the Draviḍa country a great rājarshi named Satyavrata. He was known for his devotion to Nārāyaṇa, and in his tapas (austerity) he lived on water alone. Bhagavān Śrī Hari was to make him the Vaivasvata Manu in the next kalpa.

One day Satyavrata was doing tarpaṇa (an offering of water) at the river Kṛtamālā. He lifted water in his cupped hands and let it fall as an offering. In the water in his palms he found a small fish. He was about to put it back in the river. But the fish spoke to him in a sad voice: “O king! I am small, and I am afraid of the bigger creatures of this river. Do not throw me back. Protect me.” Satyavrata felt pity. He did not yet know who this was. He took the fish home in his kamaṇḍalu (water pot).

The fish grows to fill every vessel

That night the fish grew until it filled the kamaṇḍalu. It said: “This is too small for me. Give me more room.” Satyavrata moved it to a well. By the next morning it had grown three hastas (cubits) and filled the well. He moved it to a larger tank, and it filled that too. He moved it to larger and larger lakes, and each was filled as the fish grew to match it. At last he took it to the ocean. There too the fish said: “This place has mighty crocodiles and timi fish. They will eat me. Do not leave me here.”

Satyavrata was now deeply struck. He looked at the fish in wonder and said: “I have never seen or heard of such a creature, one that grows to fill every vessel in a single day. You filled a lake a hundred yojanas wide in an instant. You must be Nārāyaṇa himself, come in this form to show anugraha (grace) to us. I bow to you, O Purushottama! O ruler of the making, keeping and dissolving of the worlds, tell me why you have taken this form.” (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 8th Skanda, Chapter 24)

The command of Bhagavān Matsya

The fish, Bhagavān Matsya, now spoke with a clear purpose. “O king! Seven days from now the three worlds will go under the pralaya waters. I have made a great nāvā (boat) come to you. Gather the seeds of every plant and tree, small and large, and board that boat. The Saptarshis will go with you. With their tejas (inner light) they will guard you through the dark pralaya waters, when even light will fail. Take Vāsuki, the great serpent, and use him as a rope to tie the boat to my horn. I will pull the boat through the pralaya ocean for the whole of Brahmā’s night. During that journey, ask me whatever you wish to know. I will teach you the true nature of the highest Brahman. By my grace you will know it directly in your heart.”

Having said this, Bhagavān Matsya vanished. Satyavrata waited in meditation for the time that was set. He kept his mind on the lotus feet of Bhagavān Matsya. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 8th Skanda, Chapter 24)

The pralaya and the voyage

When the seven days had passed, great clouds poured down rain and the oceans broke over their shores. Bhūloka, bhuvarloka and svarloka were drowned completely. Satyavrata saw the great boat arrive. He gathered the seeds of all plants, boarded the boat with the Saptarshis, and waited.

Then Bhagavān Matsya appeared again on the pralaya ocean. He was a golden fish, a lāksha of yojanas long, with a single horn. As he had been told, Satyavrata took Vāsuki and tied the boat firmly to that horn.

In the huge, dark pralaya ocean the Saptarshis said to Satyavrata: “O king, meditate on Bhagavān Matsya. He alone will carry us safely through this.” Satyavrata sat in samādhi on Bhagavān Matsya and then sang a deep stotra (hymn of praise):

“Those who are deluded by beginningless ajñāna (ignorance), caught in saṃsāra, wandering through births, reach you unexpectedly by the will of Īśvara and are freed. You are the guru of gurus. Grant us moksha. The ignorant man binds himself with his own karmas. He seeks happiness and finds only duḥkha (sorrow). That ajñāna is driven away only by service to Śrī Hari. Even devas and gurus together cannot do for the jīva (the living being) even a small part of what you do. The jīva who chooses an ignorant man as guru is like a blind man led by the blind. You are the eye, the cit (pure awareness) itself. So we have chosen the all-knowing one as our guru. O Devadevanātha! Teach us the tattva (truth). Cut the knots of kāma (desire) from my heart. Show us your own true form.”

Bhagavān Matsya glided through the pralaya waters and taught Satyavrata the Matsya Purāṇa. It holds ātmajñāna (knowledge of the self), bhaktiyoga (the path of devotion) and the whole tattva-viveka (discernment of truth). Satyavrata heard it and asked the ṛshis questions, and his doubts were cleared. He did not only understand it with his mind. By the grace of Bhagavān Matsya he knew the true nature of the ātmā by direct experience (sva-anubhava). (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 8th Skanda, Chapter 24)

Hayagrīva slain and the Vedas restored

During this same voyage Bhagavān Matsya slew the daitya Hayagrīva and took back the stolen Vedas. When Brahmā’s night ended and Brahmā woke from the sleep of the pralaya, Bhagavān Matsya gave him the Vedas. The whole body of sacred knowledge was given back whole. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 8th Skanda, Chapter 24)

Satyavrata becomes Vaivasvata Manu

At the dawn of the present kalpa, the great rājarshi Satyavrata had received the highest knowledge directly from Bhagavān Matsya, and had seen the true form of the ātmā. Bhagavān Śrī Hari made him the seventh Manu, called Vaivasvata Manu (Śrāddhadeva), the son of Sūrya. He is the Manu now ruling in the present, seventh Manvantara. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 8th Skanda, Chapter 24)

What the Bhāgavata teaches through this narrative

The Bhāgavatam teaches that the free will (svātantryam) of Bhagavān Śrī Hari is not made smaller by any form he takes. The breath moves through great creatures and small ones, and it does not become great or small itself. He is nirguṇa (beyond the guṇas) and is the self of all that is made. He takes any body in order to guard dharma. The Matsya Avatāra does three things together: it saves one devoted rājarshi and the Saptarshis; it keeps the seed of all life through the pralaya; and it gives the highest knowledge of Brahman. The Bhāgavatam says these three happen in one event, because they are never separate aims of Bhagavān Śrī Hari.

Those who hear or recite this narrative are freed from pāpa (sin). The Bhāgavatam says that those who recite it every day will have their saṅkalpas (resolves) fulfilled and will reach moksha. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 8th Skanda, Chapter 24)

The account of the Matsya Mahā Purāṇa

The Matsya Mahā Purāṇa tells the Matsya Avatāra as the cause of the Purāṇa itself and as its content. The Purāṇa opens at Naimishāraṇya. There Śaunaka and the ṛshis gathered with him ask Sūta Lomāharshaṇa to tell what Bhagavān Matsya taught to Manu. Sūta answers: “What Bhagavān Matsya taught Vaivasvata Manu during the pralaya, that whole teaching is the Matsya Mahā Purāṇa.”

In this account, at the end of the earlier kalpa, as Brahmā went down into the sleep of the pralaya, the asuras took the chance to steal the Vedas. Bhagavān Vishṇu saw this and took the form of a fish. The rājarshi Vaivasvata Manu was doing tarpaṇa at the holy river Kṛtamālā when a tiny fish appeared in the water in his cupped palms. The fish begged: “O great king, I fear the bigger creatures of this river. Do not let me go back into it.” Manu felt pity and took it home in his kamaṇḍalu. In the night the fish grew and filled the kamaṇḍalu. Manu moved it to a well, then to bigger and bigger tanks and lakes, until at last he took it to the ocean. Even there the fish said: “The great creatures of the deep will swallow me. Do not leave me.” Manu was amazed at this growth that could not be. He said to the fish: “You are no common being. You must be Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa himself, appearing to me in this form.” The fish showed who he was: “I am indeed Matsya-Vishṇu. I have taken this form for a great purpose.” (Matsya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 1)

Bhagavān Matsya then gave his command. Within seven days the three worlds, bhūloka, bhuvarloka and svarloka, would sink in the pralaya ocean. A great boat would come to Manu. He was to gather on it the seeds of every plant and tree, and the Saptarshis would join him. When the great fish appeared in the ocean, Manu was to take Vāsuki, the king of serpents, and use him as a rope to tie the boat to the single horn of the fish. Bhagavān Matsya would then pull the boat through the dark pralaya waters for the whole length of Brahmā’s night. “During this journey,” Bhagavān Matsya said, “ask me all that you wish to know. I will teach you the true nature of the highest Brahman and all sacred knowledge.” Then Bhagavān Matsya vanished. Manu waited in meditation with his mind fixed on Bhagavān Matsya. (Matsya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 1)

When the set time came, the pralaya clouds gathered and the oceans burst their limits and flooded the three worlds. The great boat appeared. Manu boarded it with the Saptarshis and the seeds of all creation. The great golden fish, with one shining horn and a length of a lāksha of yojanas, appeared in the ocean. Manu took Vāsuki and tied the boat to the horn of the fish. Drawn by Bhagavān Matsya through the wide dark waters, Manu and the Saptarshis were carried safely through the whole night of the pralaya. On the way Bhagavān Matsya taught Manu the Matsya Mahā Purāṇa. It holds ātmajñāna, bhaktiyoga, dharmaśāstra (the law of dharma), vaṃśāvalī (the lists of royal lines) and cosmology. Bhagavān Matsya also slew the daitya Hayagrīva who had stolen the Vedas. When Brahmā woke from the sleep of the pralaya at the dawn of the new kalpa, Bhagavān Matsya gave the Vedas back to him whole. Manu became the seventh Manu now in office, Vaivasvata, and rules the present Manvantara. (Matsya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 1–2)

In Chapter 2, Bhagavān Matsya begins the teaching on the cosmos by telling Manu about the nature and kinds of pralaya:

The naimittika pralaya comes at the close of each day of Brahmā. The three worlds sink, but the higher realms remain.
The prākṛtika pralaya comes at the death of Brahmā. All creation, including mahat and ahaṃkāra, dissolves back into Prakṛti.
The ātyantika pralaya is that of the individual jīva, which is moksha.
The nitya pralaya is the dissolving from moment to moment that is known in sleep and in death.

He then sets out the frame of time. Brahmā’s day is 4,320,000,000 human years. His night is as long. His life is one hundred divine years. From this base the whole teaching on creation, the Manvantaras and the family lines goes forward. (Matsya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 2)

Sources

Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 8th Skanda, Chapter 24
Matsya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 1–2

Matsya Avatāra (Bhāgavata Purāṇa)