Matsya avatar - the aquatic first avatar

The myth:

Manu was a sage of renown. While the world around him was immoral and lacked the practice of dharma, he continued to be wise and just. When he was bathing in the river one day, a tiny fish came into his hands in the water he took from the river. He took pity on it and put it in the kooja (or the small tea pot like pot) he had and took it home. He let it thrive in a pot. The strange fish continued to grow each day and much to Manu's surprise overgrew each vessel he had in his house. The sage decided to move the fish back to where it came from but realized that it could potentially outgrow that as well. The sage was quite confused and in a moment of clarity saw that what he had with him was no ordinary fish, but the Lord himself in the form of a fish.

He heard a divine voice tell him that the world as he knew it was going to come to an end and since he proved that he was a man who genuinely cared about life around him, he was the chosen one to save the life in the world. He was instructed to build a boat and bring two animals of different species on board in it. People mocked at him when he was constructing the boat for the only water body was the river but Manu persevered. He finally finished the construction and collected the different animal pairs. I can only wonder how big the boat must have been and how strange it would have looked with different animals in it.

Soon, it started pouring cats and dogs and people could not venture outside their houses without being greeted by waves of water. The sage and his wife got into the boat which was now the only possible transport mode. The boat rocked and rolled about the unforgiving waves and finally the fish appeared and offered to guide the boat to safety. A long rope was bought and tied to the ship and the fish and it guided them to shore once the rains stopped after ages. The life in this world around us is supposed to have descended from Manu.

The philosophy :

Different versions of this story exist - one in which he is a king, one in which the fish disappears and there is no such storm, one in which he tries to save more people and so on. I chose this version as I like the drama in it.

Every creature, no matter how small deserves mercy. Even through the smallest creature, deliverance can be found. No matter what happens, life will go on in one form or the other. I know a lot of you might not agree with this, for if you are not the life which goes on, what is the point? But every time i read this story, i am happy - for life in some form will sustain either through divine or human or animal intervention.