# Matsya Avatara 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. \[26[^1]] 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. [^1]: This was in Svayambhuva Manu --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://bhagavata.keshavaswami.com/canto-08/g.o.l.d/d-dwarf-incarnation-15-24/matsya-avatara.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.