Agnipurana 2
English (machine translation) 2
- Language
- English
Contents
2.1
Vasiṣṭha said:
Tell of Viṣṇu in the form of the Fish and others, the cause of creation and the rest,
and the Āgneya Purāṇa, which is brahman, just as was heard formerly from Viṣṇu.
2.2
Agni said:
I shall speak of the Fish incarnation of Hari; listen, Vasiṣṭha!
For the act of incarnation is for the destruction of the wicked and the protection of the good.
2.3
At the end of the past kalpa, there was the occasional dissolution pertaining to Brahmā;
there, O sage, the worlds beginning with the earth were submerged by the ocean.
2.4
Manu Vaivasvata performed ascetic austerity indeed for worldly enjoyment and liberation.
Once, as he was making a water oblation in the Kṛtamālā river,
2.5
into the water in his hollowed palms a small fish came.
To him who wished to throw it into the water, it said: 'Do not throw me, O best of men!
2.5.p1
[Footnote]
2.5.p3
2 The reading in manuscript ga is 'agotracaraṇaṃ param'.
2.5.p4
3 The reading in the three manuscripts kha, ga, and gha is 'na māṃ kṣipa nṛpottama'.
2.6
Today I fear crocodiles and the like.' Hearing that, he placed it in a jar.
That fish, however, having grown, said to him again: 'Give me a large
2.7
place.' Hearing these words, the king then cast it into a water vessel.
There, having grown, it said to the king: 'Give me a wide place, O Manu!'
2.8
Cast then into a lake, it grew to the measure of that [lake].
It said: 'Give me a large place.' Then he threw it into the ocean.
2.9
In merely an instant, it became one hundred thousand yojanas wide.
Seeing that wondrous fish, Manu, astonished, spoke:
2.10
'Who are you? Surely you are Viṣṇu! O Nārāyaṇa, praise be to you!
Why do you delude me with your māyā, O Janārdana?'
2.11
Addressed by Manu, the Fish spoke to Manu, who was devoted to protection:
'I have descended for the welfare of this world, and for the destruction of the wicked.
2.12
On the seventh day, the ocean will indeed inundate the world.
When a boat has arrived, having placed seeds and other things in it,
2.13
surrounded by the Seven Sages, you will traverse the night of Brahmā.
Bind [the boat] to the horn of me who have arrived, with a great serpent.'
2.14
Having spoken thus, the Fish vanished. Manu, awaiting the time,
stayed [there]. Then, when the ocean overflowed, he boarded the boat.
2.15
The Fish, bearing a single horn, golden, one million yojanas [in length],
2.15.p1
[Footnote]
2.15.p2
1 The reading in manuscript kha is 'me 'tra'.
2.15.p3
2 The reading in manuscript kha is 'punaḥ sthānam'.
2.15.p4
3 The reading in the two manuscripts kha and gha is 'ambudhau manuḥ'.
2.15.p5
4 The reading in the three manuscripts kha, ga, and gha is 'nanu viṣṇustvam'.
2.15.p6
5 The reading in manuscript gha is 'ity uktāntarhito matsyaḥ'.
2.15.p7
6 The reading in manuscript ga is 'ity uktvā devamatsyātmā bṛhatkāraṇasaṅgataḥ'.
2.15_2
he bound the boat to its horn, and the Purāṇa called the Matsya
2.16
he heard from the Fish, which destroys sin, praising him with hymns of praise.
And the Dānava Hayagrīva, who had stolen the Vedas of Brahmā,
2.17
Keśava slew; he protected the Vedas, the Fish, and the others.
Then, when the Vārāha kalpa arrived, Hari assumed the form of the Tortoise.
2.17.p1
Thus ends the second chapter, named 'The Fish Incarnation', in the Ādi-Mahāpurāṇa Āgneya.
2.17.p3
Now the third chapter.
2.17.p4
Description of the Tortoise Incarnation.
Other recensions (1)
- Agnipurāṇa (Nag Publishers edition, Delhi) — Sanskrit
Linked texts (1)
- Agnipurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit