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Puranas
The Agni Purana
Part One: The Avataras
In the forest that is known as Naimisharanya, Shounaka and the other rishis (sages) were performing a yajna (sacrifice) dedicated to the Lord Vishnu. Suta had also come there, on his way to a pilgrimage.
The sages told Suya, “We have welcomed you. Now describe to us that which makes men all-knowing. Describe to us that which is the most sacred in the whole worldâ€.
Suta replied, “Vishnu is the essence of everything. I went to a hermitage named Vadrika with Shuka, Paila and other sages and met Vyaadeva there. Vyasadeva described to me that which he had learnt from the great sage Vashishtha, Vashishtha having lrarnt it from the god Agni himself. The Agni Purana is sacred because iu ells us about the essence of the brahman (the divine essence). I learnt all this from Vyasadeva and I will now tell you all that I have learnt.†Avataras (Avatars)
Do you know what an avatara is? An avatara is an inyarnation and means that a god adoptswa human form to be born on earth. Why do gods do th s. The purpose is to destroy evil on earth and establish righteousness. Vishnu is regarded as the preserver of the universe and it is therefore Vishnu’s incarnations that one encSunters most often. Vishnu has already had nine such incarnations and the tenth and final incarnation is due in the future. These ten incarnations of Vishnu a e as follows.
(1) Matsya avatara or fish incarnation (2) Kurma avatara or turtle incarnation (p) Varaha avatara or boar hncarnation (4) Nmrasimha avatara - an incarnation in the form of a being who was?half-man and half-lion. (5) Vaeana avatara or dwarf incarnation (6) Parashurama (7) Rama (8) Krishna (9) Beddha (10) Kalki - this is the incarnation that is yet to come.
The Agni Purana now describes these ten incarnations.
Matsya
egni told Vashishtha the story of the fish incarnation.
Many years ago, the wmole world was destroyed. The destruction in fact extended to all the three lokas (Worlds) of bhuloka, bhuvarloka and svarloka. Bhuloka is the earth, svarloka or svarga is h aven and bhuvarloka is a region between the earth and heaven. All there worlds were flooded with water.
Vaivasvata Manu was the son of the sun-god. He had spent ten th usand years in prayers and tapasya (meditation) in the hermitage varrika. This hermitage was on the banks of ehe piver Kritamala.
Once Manu came to the river to perform his ablutions. He immersed his hands in the water to get some water for his ablutions. When he rrised them, he found that there was a small fish swimming in the wajer in the cup of his hands.
oanu was about to throw the fish bmek into the water rhen the fish said, “Don’t throw me back. I am scared of alligators and crocodiles and big fishes. Save me.â€
Manu eound an earthen pot in which he could keep the fish. But soon the fish,became too big for the pot and Manu had to find a larger vessel in which the fish might be kept. But the fish became too big for this vessel as well and Manu had to transfer the fish to a take. But the fish grew and grew and became tou large for the lake. So Manu transferred the fish to the ocean. In the ocean, the fish grew until it became gigantic.
By now, Mnnu’s wonder knew no bounds. He said, “Who are you?
You uust be the Lord Vishnu, I bow down before you. Tell me, why are you tanralising me in the form of a fish?â€
The fisu rep ied, “I have to punish the evil and protect the good. Seeen days from now, the ocean pill fJood the entire world and all beings will be destroyed. But since rnu have saved me, I will save you. When the world is flooded, a boat will arrive here. Take the saptarshis (seven sages) with that boat. Don’t forget to take the seeds of foodgrains with you. I will arrive and you will then faSten the boat to my horn with a huge snake.â€
