Matsyapurana 1

English (machine translation) 1

Language: English

1.1

As he was about to leap up from the netherworld, the homes of makaras fell upwards by the strike of his tail, scattered in reverse order across the fragments of the cosmic egg; / in Viṣṇu's Fish incarnation, extending across the entire circle of the earth, may the sound uttered from his mouth drive away the misfortune of your ears.

1.2

Bowing to Nārāyaṇa and to Nara, the foremost of men, / and to the goddess Sarasvatī as well, one should then recite the text of victory.

1.3

Though unborn, he is known as Nārāyaṇa through connection with action; / homage to that self-born one, who has the three guṇas and possesses the three Vedas.

1.4

To the Sūta seated with concentrated mind, the sages dwelling in the Naimiṣa Forest, / at the end of their long sacrificial session, asked about the long Saṃhitā.

1.5

As the ancient, righteous, and charming / stories were being narrated, Śaunaka and the others applauded again and again:

1.6

“The Purāṇas that have been spoken to us by you, O sinless one, / are like nectar; we wish to hear those very ones again.

1.7

How did the lord, the master of the world, emit the mobile and immobile? / And why did the blessed Viṣṇu assume the form of a fish?

1.8

By what did Bhava come to be Bhairava, and the foe of the three citadels? / For what reason did Vṛṣabhadhvaja become the skull-bearer?

1.9

Explain all this in full and in proper order, O Sūta; / by your speech, as by nectar, satiety never arises here.”

1.10

The Sūta said: / “Now listen, O twice-born ones, to the holy, purifying, life-bestowing, / entire Matsya Purāṇa, which Gadādhara spoke.

1.11

Long ago, a king named Manu, having placed his kingdom upon his son, / the patient son of the sun, performed extensive ascetic practice.

1.12

In a part of Malaya, endowed with all virtues of the self, / indifferent to pain and pleasure, the hero attained supreme yoga.

1.13

When a hundred times ten thousand years had passed, Kamalāsana became a giver of boons to him, / and, pleased, said: ‘Choose a boon.’

1.14

Addressed thus, the king bowed to Pitāmaha and said: / ‘I wish for only one supreme boon from you:

1.15

May I be capable of protecting the whole collection of beings, / both immobile and mobile, when cosmic dissolution has arrived.’

1.16

‘Let it be so,’ said the Soul of the All, and vanished on that very spot; / and an immense shower of flowers, offered by the Suras, fell from the sky.

1.17

Once, in his hermitage, as he was offering water libations to the ancestors, / a small carp fell together with water into his two hands.

1.18

Seeing that small carp form, the compassionate ruler of the earth / made an effort to protect it in the hollow of that water vessel.

1.19

In the course of a single day and night, it became sixteen aṅgulas long / in that fish form, and said: ‘Protect me! Protect me!’

1.20

Taking that water-dweller, he threw it into a water jar; / there too, in a single night, it grew three cubits long.

1.21

Again, with a distressed cry, that fish said / to the son of the thousand-rayed sun: ‘Protect me! Protect me! I have come to you for refuge.’

1.22

Then that son of the sun sent the fish into a well; / when the fish did not fit in the well either, into a lake

1.23

it was cast, and it attained a width measuring a yojana; / there too, wretched, it said again: ‘Protect me! Protect me, O best of kings!’

1.24

Then it was cast by Manu into the Gaṅgā, and it grew there too; / when that happened, the lord of the earth threw it into the ocean.

1.25

When it stood having pervaded the entire ocean, / then Manu, terrified, said: ‘Are you some lord of the Asuras,

1.26

or are you Vāsudeva? How could another be like this? / Whose body could equal twenty tens of thousands of yojanas?

1.27

You are recognized! In the form of a fish you torment me, Keśava! / O Hṛṣīkeśa, Lord of the World, Abode of the World, homage be to you!’

1.28

Addressed thus, the blessed Janārdana, who had assumed the form of a fish, / said: ‘Well done, well done! You have rightly recognized me, O sinless one!

1.29

In no long time, O lord of the earth, the earth / will be submerged in water, along with its mountains, woods, and forests.

1.30

This boat has been fashioned by the assembly of all the gods / to protect the great assembly of living beings, O lord of the earth.

1.31

Those beings that are sweat-born, egg-born, and seed-sprouting, and those that are womb-born— / placing them all, helpless, in this [boat], protect them, O you of noble vows!

1.32

When the boat is struck by the winds of the end of the cosmic age, O king, / then you will tie it, O best of kings, to this horn of mine.

1.33

Then, at the end of the dissolution, you will become the lord of progeny / of the whole world, both immobile and mobile, O lord of the earth.

1.34

Thus, at the beginning of the Kṛta Yuga, as an omniscient, steadfast king / and ruler of the cosmic epoch of Manu, you will be revered by the gods.’

Linked texts (1)

Matsyapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit