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वैवस्वतोपाख्यान (vaivasvatopAkhyAna)

 
Mahabharata
English
[Vaivasvatopākhyāna(ṃ)]
(“story of Manu Vaivasvata”). § 457 (Mārk.). Requested by Yudhishṭhira, Mārkaṇḍeya said: The maharshi Manu, Vivasvat's son, equal to Prajāpati (i.e. Brahmán), excelled his father and grandfather in strength, etc. He practised austerities in Badarī, standing on one foot, etc., for 10, 000 years. Once a small fish came to him on the banks of the Cīriṇī and asked his protection from the greater fishes. He first reared it in a water vessel, and as it grew larger, he carried it to a large tank, and thence into the Gaṅgā, and at last into the ocean. The fish, saying that the world was about to be destroyed, caused him to build a strong ship with a long rope and ascend it with the seven ṛshis and the seeds that were enumerated by the brahmans of old. The fish then appeared and was recognized by a horn, to which Manu tied the noose. And, while there was water everywhere, the fish dragged the boat through the flood for many years, until, advised by the fish, Manu tied the ship to the highest peak of Himavat, thence called Naubandhana. The fish told him that he was Brahmán, and caused Manu to create (again) by austerities all creatures with gods, Asuras, and men. This is the Mātsyakaṃ Purāṇaṃ (III, 187).