In the last edition we saw how the same story about the great sacrifice was narrated differently in different parts of the world, though the names are different and the incidents are also slightly different. The main content of the legends is the sacrifice of their only son by the parents in obedience to the call of the Almighty.
Now we are going to deal in this edition another great episode narrated is most of the legends of the world. This is the story of The Great Flood.
Genesis 6 to 8
- And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,
- that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
- And the LORD said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years.
- There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
- And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
- And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
- And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
- But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
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These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.
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And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
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The earth also was corrupt before God; and the earth was filled with violence.
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And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
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And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
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Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.
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And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.
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A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.
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And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.
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But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee.
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And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.
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Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind; two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.
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And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.
- Thus did Noah according to all that God commanded him, so did he.
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And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
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Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.
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Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.
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For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.
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And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him.
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And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
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And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
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Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
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there went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
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And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
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In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
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And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
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In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;
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they, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort.
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And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.
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And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.
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And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lifted up above the earth.
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And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.
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And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.
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Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
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And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:
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all in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.
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And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.
- And the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days.
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And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged.
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The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained.
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And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.
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And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ar'arat.
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And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.
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And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:
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and he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.
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Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground.
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But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark; for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. Then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.
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And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark.
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And the dove came in to him in the evening, and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.
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And he stayed yet other seven days, and sent forth the dove, which returned not again unto him any more.
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And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.
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And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.
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And God spake unto Noah, saying,
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Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee.
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Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.
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And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him:
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every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.
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And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
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And the LORD smelled a sweet savor; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth: neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.
- While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
Gilgamesh was the king of ERECH, in Southern Babylonia. His name has been associated with a number of old stories. These put into the form of a short epic about 2000 B.C. have been preserved in 12 imperfect tablets which were recovered from the Ruins of Nineveh. The 11th tablet contains an account of the great deluge.
Gilgamesh was two third God and one third man and there was no one to match him.
The Priestess of Ishtar incited a great hunter Enkidu to fight with Gilgamesh. The two heroes met in a great struggle. Gilgamesh at last won but Enkidu had the King's respect by that time. Then & there the two formed an undying friendship.
Gilgamesh & Enkidu together fought against the monster Humbara in the cedar forests. Though they defeated him with the aid of Shamash, Enkidu become weak. The two also killed a heaven bull sent by Ishtar.
But Gilgamesh could not rejoice for long as Enkidu took to his bed and died.
After six days or mourning Gilgamesh left ramparted Erech and took his way over the steppes for he was minded to speak with Utnapishtim, his ancestor. Having wandered long he reached the mountain at the earth's end. He faced so many obstructions. & finally Ur-Shanabi, the shipmaid of Utnapishtim, sympathised with Gilgamesh took him to Utnapishtim after a ship-ride.
Gilgamesh angrily asked Utnapishtim who looked enough alike to be his brother why he himself was born to fight & to die whereas Utnapishtim like a God, was even then enjoying endless life?
Then Utnapishtim narrated the story of the great deluge. Ages ago, the Gods ruling over Shuruppak on the Euphrates resolved to send a flood against the inhabitants because of their sins but Ea warned Utnapishtim who there upon began, with the aid of his family and servants, to build a great ship, 200 feet long , 200 ft broad & 200 ft high.
The rest of the story is similar to the Biblical version.
The storm that came was very terrible but after 6 days & nights the hurricane passed away and the currents of rain ceased.
Utnapishtim told Gilgamesh to pick up a briar plant at the bottom of the underworld, because it was the plant of life which can give life to his friend Enkidu. Gilgamesh grasped the plant and started his return journey. However when he was bathing in a spring, a serpent took away the unguarded sweet plant (that is why the serpent is able to cast off his old skin and renew his youth.)
However Gilgamesh, through the mercy of Ea, met embraced Enkidus spirit though he could not give life to him.
The story of Vishnus incarnation as a fish Srimad Bhagavatham 8th Skanda 24th chapter
In the end of Kalpa, the entire universe was plunged into the sea-water when Brahma, wished to sleep, the demon Hayagreeva stole all the vedas from Brahma. Knowing the bad intention of the demon, Lord Vishnu took incarnation as a Fish.
In the previous Kalpa, one King-sage named Satyavrata was doing penance without partaking food & taking only water. The same gentleman in this Kalpa took birth as Vaivaswata Manu and was crowned as Manu by Lord Vishnu.
Once when he was doing Tarpana at Kritamala River, a small Fish come into his hand. This Dravidian King left that water along with the fish in the river. The fish requested that it may be kept in a safe place since there is danger of being swallowed by big fishes in the river water then that king kept it in his Kamandalu. Then, on the next day, in a well. Then the fish get enlarged and then be put it in a pond. Then in a river. At last in the sea. The king was surprised and prayed almighty to reveal the fu n or magic behind it. They Lord Vishnu appeared and told Manu.
Yes, I am Lord Vishnu in the form of a Fish. From today, on the 7th day the 3 lokas will be immersed in the sea water. Oh King, at that time, I will send one boat near you. You collect and keep all vegetables, all seeds and along with Saptarshi get into the boat and in the total darkness move ahead with the help of light from the Saptarshi. You tie the boat on my horns to protect from wind. I will be dragging that ship up to the end of Brahmas night. Then I will reply to your questions and you will know ab out Brahman. Then Lord Vishnu disappeared. The King sat on a Darbha with its ends towards east and facing to Esanya side. The saptarshis said Oh, King, you are well blessed, since you could see Lord Vishnu & here his words. Then the King tied the ship to the horn of the fish with the help of a snake as a rope.
The king praised Lord Vishnu who then gave him Atma-Jnana & Bhakti.
Then Lord Vishnu killed the Demon Hayagreeva & recovered the vedas.
Conclusion: Thus as per Srikrishnamangal, Vaivaswata Manu or Noah is the first person who heralded the current era in which we, the beings of the present world are living. The period starting from the creation of Adam or Swayambhuva Manu ended with the coming of the flood.
In the next edition we will be dealing with various legends connected with the creation of the world.