Elements of Hindu Iconography v1.c11.8

v1.c11.8

The Matsyavatara. The *Mahābhārata* (see Vanaparvan, 12, 797 *ff.*) says—“ Then the God (*lit.* the Unwinking), kindly-disposed, said to those *rishis*, ‘I am the Prajāpati Brahmā, above whom no being is discoverable: by me in the form of a fish you have been delivered from this danger. [By ‘you’ here the God Brahmā is meant].’” The *Bhāgavata-Purāṇa* gives the following account of the origin of the fish *avatāra* of Vishṇu :—“ Being thus addressed by Vishṇurāta, the divine Bādarāyaṇi related the deed of Vishṇu achieved by him in the form of a fish. At the end of the past *kalpa* there was a Brahma, that is, there was a partial dissolution of the universe, in which the earth and other worlds, became submerged under the ocean. Then the powerful Hayagrīva (a rākshasa), coming near, snatched away the Vēdas which had proceeded from the mouth of the creator, who from the drowsiness, which had come on through lapse of time, had become disposed to go to sleep. On discovering this deed of Hayagrīva, the chief of the Dānavas, the divine lord Hari took the form of a saphari fish and recovered the Vēdas."* This fish avatāra, as seen from the above extarcts, was meant to recover the lost Vēdas from the ocean.