Markandeyapurana 47.5

47.5

āpo nārā vai tanava ityapāṃ nāma śuśruma /
tāsu śete sa yasmācca tena nārāyaṇaḥ smṛtaḥ //

At the dissolution which followed the Pādma[2] Mahākalpa, the lord Brahmā awoke after having slept through the night. Then with goodness predominating in him he gazed on the empty world. And here men utter this verse to Nārāyaṇa, who has Brahmā’s own form, god of the universe, changeless in might. “Nārā means water and bodies”[3]—we have thus heard it is a name for water; and in it he lies, hence he is called Nārāyaṇa.