Matsya Avatara

Chapter 24

Responding to Maharaja Pariksit’s enquiry, Sukadeva Goswami narrated the pastimes of Matsya, the first incarnation of the Lord, who appeared in two different Manvantaras.

When the demon Hayagriva wanted to steal the Vedic knowledge away from Lord Brahma at the time of annihilation, the Lord appeared as a fish. Matsya avatara killed the demon, saved the Vedas, and then delivered that knowledge to Brahma when he awakened from slumber. []

When King Satyavrata, who subsisted only on water, offered shelter to a small fish and kept it in a water jug, he wasn’t aware that it was the Supreme Lord. The fish expanded His body, and though the king offered bigger and bigger residences, from a jug, to a well, to a lake, and to the sea, it was all insufficient. The King then understood the fish’s divine identity. The Lord informed him that there would be an inundation within a week during which the King and all living entities would be protected in a boat which would be attached to the transcendental fish’s horn. This indeed transpired. Having been saved, King Satyavrata offered many beautiful prayers to the Lord. In response, the Lord illuminated Satyavrata with the essence of Vedic wisdom.