Manu's fish & Noah’s Ark

 Manu, in the mythology of India, the first man, and the legendary author of an important Sanskrit law code, the Manu-smriti (Laws of Manu). 

The name is cognate with the Indo-European “man” and also has an etymological connection with the Sanskrit verb man-, “to think.”

 Manu appears in the Vedas, the sacred literature of Hinduism, as the performer of the first sacrifice. 

He is also known as the first king, and most rulers of medieval India traced their genealogy back to him, either through his son (the solar line) or his daughter (the lunar line).

In the story of the great flood, Manu combines the characteristics of the Hebrew Bible figures of Noah, who preserved life from extinction in a great flood, and Adam, the first man.

Flood myth , also called deluge myth, any of numerous mythologies in which a flood destroys a typically disobedient original population. 

Myths of a great flood (the Deluge) are widespread over Eurasia and America. 

The flood, with a few exceptions, is an expiation by the water, after which a new type of world is created.

Biblical flood myth

The biblical account of the Deluge features Noah as the hero of the Flood story. 

In his account, Noah is represented as the patriarch who, because of his blameless piety, was chosen by God to perpetuate the human race after his wicked contemporaries had perished in the Flood. 

A righteous man, Noah “found favour in the eyes of the Lord” .

 Thus, when God beheld the corruption of the earth and determined to destroy it, he gave Noah divine warning of the impending disaster and made a covenant with him, promising to save him and his family. 

Noah was instructed to build an ark, and in accordance with God’s instructions he took into the ark male and female specimens of all the world’s species of animals, from which the stocks might be replenished.

 Consequently, according to this narrative, the entire surviving human race descended from Noah’s three sons and their wives.

The religious meaning of the Flood is conveyed after Noah’s heroic survival, having safely landed on Mount Ararat.

 He then built an altar on which he offered burnt sacrifices to God, who then bound himself to a pact never again to curse the earth on humanity’s account. 

God then set a rainbow in the sky as a visible guarantee of his promise in this covenant.

 God also renewed his commands given at Creation but with two changes: humankind could now kill animals and eat meat, and murder would be punished by humans.

 Despite the tangible similarities of the Mesopotamian mythologies and the biblical Flood, the biblical story has a unique Hebraic perspective. 

In the Babylonian stories the destruction of the flood was the result of a disagreement among the gods, 

while in Genesis it resulted from the moral corruption of human history. 

The primitive polytheism of the Mesopotamian versions is transformed in the biblical story into an affirmation of the omnipotence and benevolence of the one righteous God.

According to Indian flood mythology,

Manu lived in a cottage on the banks of a river. 

He was a sage respected by all. 

In fact, people hailed him as their ruler. 

But Manu continued to live a simple life. 

He befriended every — man and animal. 

He would pay attention to plants and trees, collecting seeds of any new one he came across.

One morning, he went to the river, had a dip, and scooped some water in his palms to offer it to the sun god. 

To his surprise, he found a tiny fish in the water he had scooped. 

He brought it home and put it in a bowl.

The next day, he found that the fish had grown bigger. 

He transferred it to a vessel. 

By the next day the fish had grown too big for the vessel. 

Manu had to put it in a tank behind his cottage. 

But the tank too turned out to be too small for the fish the next day. 

Manu carried it to the sea. “You are strong enough to take care of yourself, friend,” said Manu. “Go. May God be with you.

Manu was putting the fish in the ocean, the fish told him, "I am Matsya, the avatar of Vishnu. 

In a few days, a big flood will submerge the whole earth.

 You must build a big ship and fill it with good people and animals and plants of all kind."

“I’ll ever remember your kindness. Should you ever need help, I’ll be there for you,” said the fish as it swam away.

Manu returned to the hermitage.

A few months later, all of a sudden it started raining heavily. 

Water started rising. 

It reached the ankles first, then the knees and soon you could 

swim in it. 

But the rain showed no signs of stopping.

Manu got worried.

 He started building a boat. 

Other people joined him and together they built a huge boat. 

As the water continued to rise, Manu loaded all the grains and all the seeds he had collected.

 He called out to animals to take shelter in the boat.

 Some birds joined the animals too. 

The men and women who had helped Manu build the boat got into it along with Manu.

As the fish had predicted, it rained continuously for seven days and seven nights and all the creatures drowned in the flood except those who were of Manu's ship. 

 The entire land was now covered with water.

 The boat was carried by a swift current and soon it headed out to the sea.

The sea was rough. Giant waves shook the boat.

 Manu thought that all was lost. 

Then he spotted his friend, the fish, swimming towards the boat. 

The fish had grown a huge horn.

Manu took a rope, made a loop and threw it over to the fish. 

The loop fell around the horn of the fish.

The fish started swimming fast, pulling the boat with it.

The fish swam for days and nights until the rain subsided. 

By that time, it had reached the Himalayas.

Its foothills were submerged under the water. 

But the mountains themselves were above it.

“I’ll leave now, Manu,” said the fish. “Wait till the water recedes and then begin a new life.

Manu created a new kingdom on earth with the creatures who had survived.

After the flood, Manu became lonely because only he and the animals aboard the ship had survived. 

He offered a sacrifice and was rewarded with a wife, with whom he began to repopulate the earth.

The story of Manu and the flood also has parallels with the biblical stories of Noah's Ark and Adam . 

Interesting  na?

These stories are connected to  Argo Navis  constellation. 

Good  bye till we meet again with another story. 

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