Deity

Matsya

मत्स्य

verses
1,086
books
23
chapters
354
Avatar of
Vishnu
One of
Dashavatara

What the texts say

In the Matsya Purana, Matsya is the fish form Vishnu assumed, and the work opens by asking why he took it. Matsya Purana 1.1, 1.7 The Padma Purana says that Vishnu, in the form of a fish, slew the demon Shankha and safeguarded the Vedas. Padma Purana 5.22.33 In the Matsya Purana, the compassionate king Manu shelters a small fish in his hand, and in one night in a jar it grows three hand-spans. Matsya Purana 1.18, 1.20 In the Bhagavata Purana, the fish tells Manu to board the boat with the seven sages, and promises to pull it through the waters of devastation. Bhagavatam 8.24.34, 8.24.37 In the Mahabharata, the fish brings the boat to the highest peak of Himavat, the Himalayas. Mahabharata 3.185.44 After the flood, the Matsya Purana says, this Purana was spoken in the form of Matsya to Manu. Matsya Purana 2.20

Where to read

Every verse that names Matsya, book by book.

  1. Matsya Purana

    761 verses · 153 chapters

    All 761 verses in the Matsya Purana
    • 2.3

      Matsya said: “From today onward there will be no rainfall upon the earth; for a full hundred years and more, a dire famine—bringing inauspiciousness—will arise.”

    • 16.4

      Lord Matsya said: One should perform the śrāddha every day—using cooked food and other offerings, or even with water alone, or with milk, roots, and fruits—thereby bringing satisfaction to the Pitṛs (ancestral spirits).

    • 167.1

      Matsya said: Thus, when the world had become a single ocean, the greatly radiant Lord Nārāyaṇa—manifest as the Haṃsa—reposed, having covered the earth with waters.

  2. Skanda Purana

    76 verses · 48 chapters

    All 76 verses in the Skanda Purana
    • 6.1.263.45

      Seeing that fish within the womb of the ‘huṃ’ sound, Maheśvara immobilized it by his fiery splendor, and then spoke these words.

    • 1.1.33.15

      Then Puṣkasa, of wicked conduct, climbed down from a tree; coming to the water-like expanse, he began to kill fish.

    • 1.2.13.194

      Pārada (quicksilver) is ‘Śivā Devī’, and it is also ‘Tryambaka’. The Matsya and other forms are the ‘Śāstra-liṅga’, and it is also named ‘Vṛṣākapi’.

  3. Bhagavatam

    62 verses · 16 chapters

    All 62 verses in the Bhagavatam
    • 8.24.2

      What was the purpose for which the Supreme Personality of Godhead accepted the abominable form of a fish, exactly as an ordinary living being accepts different forms under the laws of karma? The form of a fish is certainly condemned and…

    • 10.40.17

      I offer my obeisances to You, the cause of the creation, Lord Matsya, who swam about in the ocean of dissolution, to Lord Hayagrīva, the killer of Madhu and Kaiṭabha, to the immense tortoise [Lord Kūrma], who supported Mandara Mountain…

    • 1.3.15

      When there was a complete inundation after the period of the Cākṣuṣa Manu and the whole world was deep within water, the Lord accepted the form of a fish and protected Vaivasvata Manu, keeping him up on a boat.

  4. Padma Purana

    32 verses · 29 chapters

    All 32 verses in the Padma Purana
    • 1.3.29

      Then, recognizing (the need for) Viṣṇu’s form, in order to lift up the Earth by his own divine power, he entered another body—the boar-form—(as he had earlier taken forms) such as the Fish and the Tortoise.

    • 1.75.90

      Repeated salutations to You who assumed the body of the Fish; salutations to You who took the form of the Tortoise. Salutations indeed to You in the form of Narasiṃha; and again, salutations to You in the form of Vāmana.

    • 2.19.70

      Homage to the all-knowing Matsya; homage to you, O Rāma. Homage to Kṛṣṇa; homage to Buddha; homage to the destroyer of the mlecchas (barbarous/impious forces).

Also named in

Key chapters

The chapters where Matsya matters most.

  1. Matsya-avatāra: The Lord as Fish Saves the Vedas and Guides Satyavrata

    Bhagavatam 8.24 · 43 verses

    Avatāra and rescuer

  2. Intermediate Dissolution (Antarakṣaya), Matsya’s Rescue of Manu, and the Opening Outline of Creation Topics

    Matsya Purana 2 · 12 verses

    Teacher and preserver

  3. Śrāddha Procedure: Types, Eligible Guests, Exclusions, and the Pārvaṇa-Anvāhāryaka Rite

    Matsya Purana 16 · 15 verses

    Teacher and ritual authority

  4. Nārāyaṇa as Haṃsa in the Cosmic Ocean: Vedic Yajña-Puruṣa and Mārkaṇḍeya’s Vision within Pralaya

    Matsya Purana 167 · 12 verses

    Primary teacher-narrator in dialogue with Manu

  5. Soma, the Pitṛs, and the Science of Śrāddha: Why Purūravas Ascends on Amāvāsyā + Parva-Sandhi Time Rules

    Matsya Purana 141 · 10 verses

    Primary teacher

  6. War of Devas and Asuras; Birth of Aurva Fire; Countering Tamasī Māyā through Soma

    Matsya Purana 175 · 9 verses

    Primary narrator and theological guide to Manu

  7. Rite and Layout for Consecrating Ponds, Wells, and Water-Reservoirs (Taḍāga-vidhi)

    Matsya Purana 58 · 9 verses

    Primary teacher

  8. Saubhagya-Śayana Vow: Lalitā/Gaurī-Śiva Worship, Saubhāgya-Aṣṭaka Offerings, and Bed Donation

    Matsya Purana 60 · 9 verses

    Primary teacher-narrator

  9. Brahmā-Gāyatrī as a Divine Pair and the Early Genealogies of Creation (Manu to Dakṣa)

    Matsya Purana 4 · 8 verses

    Teacher-narrator

  10. Catalogue of the Eighteen Puranas, Their Measures, and the Dharma of Donating Sacred Texts

    Matsya Purana 53 · 8 verses

    Divine preserver of śāstra during pralaya

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