Matsya

So in these stories, we get some themes of innocence, of abundance, of spiritual nourishment, of like survival a little bit, and then this trust in the divine and perhaps following a spiritual leader.

In Hindu mythology, we get Matsya.

So Matsya is the fish avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu.

In some stories, it's also Brahma, and so it kind of changes.

But in one very well-known story, Matsya visits Manu, who is a human king.

And Manu finds a little fish in his hand, which is Matsya, while he's performing some kind of water ritual, water offering.

The fish tells Manu that it fears being eaten by a larger fish and asks for his protection.

In return, the fish says it will rescue Manu from an incoming flood.

Hmm.

You know, Vishnu's incarnation as a fish was named Matsya.

Matsya.

I think it goes without saying that they missed a primetime opportunity to call him Fishnu and then join the Marvel Universe to save Cumberbatch from selling out so hard.

Fishnu.

But the Indian story does not always imagine survival as the rescue of one man alone.

In later Hindu versions, especially in the Puranas, the fish is identified as Matsya, an avatar or earthly manifestation of the god Vishnu.

The little fish has become a divine protector, and Manu's boat has become more like the arks of the Western flood stories.

It carries seeds, sometimes the seeds of every plant.

Rituals, laws, memory, language, and sacred teaching do not have to be invented again from nothing.

The world can begin anew because something of the old world has been protected from the water.

And Matsya does more than pull the boat.

In some later tellings, he defeats a demon who has stolen the Vedas, the ancient sacred texts.

Uh, he stole his father.

Uh, so, uh, uh, in his, uh, Dasavatara Stotras, where Jayadev glorifies all the various incarnations of Krishna, there's Nrsimhadev, Varaha, Matsya, Kurma, Buddha, Parashurama, everyone.

He always ends every single verse with a song.

You please join me.

Which one is the horse, uh, avatar?

So the Matsya avatar had a particular demon in there who stole the Vedas.

Lord Vishnu took up the Matsya avatar just to retrieve the Vedas from this particular demon who happened to be a horse-headed one.

Matsya avatar is the, the one where he appeared as a fish, right?

Yes.

He appeared as a fish.

Classic Dashavatar.

Um-