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This article concerns the Hindu avatar. For the ancient kingdom, see Matsya Rajya.

Matsya Incarnation of Vishnu as a Fish, from a devotional text Devanagari: मत्‍स्‍य Affiliation: Avatar of Vishnu Weapon: Chakra and Mace

Matsya (Sanskrit: मत्‍स्‍य) (Fish in Sanskrit) was the first Avatara of Vishnu.

According to legend, the mantri to the king of pre-ancient Dravida, Satyavrata who later becomes known as Manu was washing his hands in a river when a little fish swam into his hands and begged him to save its life. He put it in a jar, which it soon outgrew; he successively moved it to a tank, a river and then the ocean. The fish then warned him that a deluge would occur in a week that would destroy all life. Manu therefore built a boat which the fish towed to a mountaintop when the flood came, and thus he survived along with some "seeds of life" to re-establish life on earth.

The Bhagavata Purana narrates the following tale about Vishnu's Matsya incarnation (avatar):-

"Long ago, when life first appeared on the earth, a terrible demon terrorized the earth. He prevented sages from performing their rituals and stole the Holy Vedas, taking refuge in a conch shell in the depths of the ocean. Brahma, the creator of the world approached Vishnu for help and the latter immediately assumed the form of a fish and plunged into the ocean. He killed the demon by ripping open his stomach and retrieved the Vedas. Four forms emerged from the demon's stomach representing the four Vedas: Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Atharva Veda, and Yajur Veda."

Matsya is generally represented as a four-armed figure with the upper torso of a man and the lower of a fish. Similar legends are found in many other cultures around the world.

• Ashtamangala
• Deluge
• Noah's Ark

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