Of Matsyavatara and Noah's Ark - The mythological stories of the great flood

At a time when differences between faiths are being bombarded at us via folks of different religions, it is worth noticing the similarities. There is one such similarity between Hinduism and Abrahamic religions (Judaism / Christianity / Islam) that caught my eye. A  great deluge (flood) that happened years ago....a message sent by God to a human being....a boat that provided refuge to life and knowledge on Earth. Sounds familiar? Going back in pre-history, this is a  specific event we can cite which all major religions speak of. We will look at the accounts from Hinduism and Abrahamic faiths to come to common terms on this event.

One of Hinduism's countless texts is called Matsya-purana. It mentions a story of how Lord Vishnu saved the 'purest of all' Vedas from landing up in the hands of Demons and ended all life from Earth in a bid to cleanse it. The story goes like this:

While Lord Brahma was creating the world, he decided to rest before he continued with the creation again at the start of the next kalpa. He inadvertently let flow the 4 Vedas out of his mouth. A demon named Hayagreeva snatched the flowing Vedas. He ran away with them to Patal lok (mythical third-world which provided refuge to Danavas (Demons).). When Brahma woke up and realized his slip-up, he ran to Lord Vishnu in order to save the Vedas. That moment Lord Vishnu decided to take a form of mortal life and manifest on Earth - something that happened 8 more times since and years later formed basis for Hindu epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. Lord Vishnu took a form of a matsya (a fish) and descended in Kritamala river where Satyavrata (later known as Vaivasvata Manu as first human of the new world) was offering Argya. The fish requested Manu to take itself home as it feared for life from larger fish in the river. Manu took the fish in its kamandalu (a small pot).

The next morning, the fish had grown somewhat and was unable to be accommodated in the small kamandalu. Manu then transferred the fish to a larger pot. The next day, the fish outgrew the large pot. Manu transferred the fish to a lake. The fish outgrew the lake as well. Manu had no option but to transfer the fish to sea. He traveled far and wide to reach the sea. As soon as he transferred the fish to sea, the fish grew even larger. It was time Manu realized he is not dealing with an ordinary being. It was Lord Vishnu himself. Lord manifest himself in front of Manu and narrated the purpose of his avatara as Matsya. Lord Vishnu informed him that on seventh day from then, a great flood will consume all the 3 worlds and nothing will remain. Lord said that he will send a boat in order to save all that is valuable in this world to be carried on to the next creation. He asked Manu to collect vegetables and other food materials and store in the boat along with animals and Rishis. He asked Manu to tie the boat on Matsya's horns to protect from wind. Matsya would drag that ship up to the end of flood. Then Lord Vishnu disappeared.

The story goes on wherein Lord Vishnu kills Hayagreeva in Patala and gets the Vedas back to Lord Brahma. Lord Brahma begins with creation afresh. The gist of this avatara is creation of a new world via cleansing of an older world. There can be no NEW if the OLD is not gotten rid of.

On similar lines is a story from Bible. Interesting fact is that the Biblical story also takes place at the time of Genesis, i.e. beginning of the world. Lets hear the story:

There was a man called Noah (called Nuh in Qur'an) who lived on Earth once. He is one of the chosen prophets in western religions. Noah was a righteous man, But the Earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. So God once said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people. So make yourself an ark of cypress wood." Then God explained how Noah was to build the arc. God instructed Noah to take his family, 2 of all living being - male and female, 2 of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal, every kind of food. God said that flood would begin 7 days from them. Noah did everything just as God commanded him. After the seven days the flood waters came on the earth and it flooded for 150 years.

Story goes on to explain how Noah and family survived and life was revived on Earth once the flood receded. The story explains how God cleansed the world of all evil and recreated life taking with it the righteous Noah;'s family.

Key pointers from the comparison of the 2 events are:
1. There was indeed a flood in eastern hemisphere few thousand years ago that was molded into stories by religious texts.
2. Religions have depicted the event in different stories but same idea - re-creation of Earth after emergence of evil.

While we see extreme differences in idea of God between eastern and western philosophies, it is a good idea to see how historical events that eliminate these differences.

300 Rise Of An Empire - White Man's Burden and Asian Civilizations

"Quiet everyone! This is not a street fight. This is a democracy!" This is said by Themistocles, the Athenian commander to the quarreling members of Greek senate. The senate itself is debating whether to go at, and if yes, the plan of action for the war against 'tyranny' named Xerxes, the king of Persia. Spectacular visual effects and gallons of bloodshed apart, the film also conveys a more than subtle message. It is spelled out in pockets and displayed fervently throughout the movie. Before we go into that, let's, in short, run through the plot of the movie.

Story happens during the same time period as the first part - 300. While Leonidas of Sparta leads his 300 men at Thermopylae against a massive Persian army, another Greek hero, the Athens Commander Themistocles is trying to unite all Greek states against a dreadful backlash from Persians. Reason for this backlash is the fact that years ago in battle of Marathon, Themistocles had killed King Darius of Persia as his son Xerxes looked on. Xerxes' vengeance is guided by a lady called Artemisia - a person close to King Darius and political guide of Xerxes. She is Greek by birth and her loyalty to Persia and reasons for it are graphically displayed in most pungent details. She over the years, converts Xerxes into a God-King with sole objective of crushing Greeks. Themistocles fails to convince Queen Gorgo of Sparta to send Spartan navy to his aide in Straits of Salamis. Remember, King Leonidas is at war with Xerxes at this point. Themistocles takes on Artemisia's Armada and the rest of the movie showcases this epic 'battle of Salamis' till Artemisia dies in the end. Not to forget, Spartan navy joins Athens and the Greeks unite. Hence the name, rise of an empire.

It is said that history is written by the victorious. Few things are clear, story is inherently based on patriotic Greek records and at times rejects history for the need of drama. There are number of historical blunders committed  (eg. Themistocles killing Darius and portrayal of Xerxes as homosexual psychopath are blatant falsehoods) which need not form part of this post. However, I will touch the aspects relevant to today's geopolitics and west's imagination about Asian civilizations.

The film makes numerous overtures to Greece being democratic, patriotic and free. The Greek army is inspired to fight by projecting the Persians as savage, ruthless, uncivilized murderers coming to snatch Greece's 'freedom.' Greeks are shown as torch-bearers of humane practices and strive to protect its free thought. Persians on the other hand do not follow democracy, are rules by a demi-god King. In Greece, there is no practice of employing laborers for war related hard physical labor (like paddling navy boats). Greek soldiers and marines (even children) are natural volunteers. Persians employ bonded laborers and practice war slavery. Greeks respect fallen or failed soldiers. While, Persians kill their failed generals. Bottom line : Greeks brought civilization to the world and made humans a better race. Persians are still animals in disguise of a human body.

Were the Persians really as bad? Not really, they were like any other culture looking to expand. You would have guessed by now that Persians tell a different history. Persian culture was one of the greatest cultures in the world along with few others like Greek, Roman, Indian and Egyptian. Their demonisation is inappropriate.They had excelled in arts, architecture, literature and trade. Persians invaded other lands and practiced slavery just like Greece did. They also shared good relations with neighbors. India and Persia have had historical relations in business, arts and politics for centuries. There were friends and foes in politics for every culture. Greeks were their foes owing to natural resources, proximity and strategic locations. There was nothing evil about them.

It is true that any historical war will have two sides of the story. However, 300 seems to twist history in order to demonize powers other than European. The film makers have purposely eliminated the existence of slavery and barbarism in Greece. They have neglected the practice of forced army service for Spartans - where children used to get killed while training for wars at a very young age. They have ignored countless invasions by Greece on other lands (world conquest by Alexander, fall of Troy and so on) and lack of their democratic principles on these lands. All they want to portray is that Greece (and thereby the western civilization) is the only civilization to have brought sense and sanity to the world. The world was full of barbaric people eg. Persians who needed to be shown the light of democracy. It is laughable to believe. Maybe they should read about various other experiments in governance that came from Asian powers. Take Mahajanapadas from Maurya and Chanakya to start with.

It is important to note that all western powers today consider Greece and Rome as the foundation of their nations and hence tow the same line as depicted above. Rudyard Kipling from Britain, the author of 'The Jungle Book' had mentioned about the White Man's burden in a poem and stressed upon the need to spread the light of democracy and decency to the world. West still sees the powers that oppose it as ruthless savages and offers to sanitize the world of animals. Recent invasions of Iraq and Syria by west and political lecturing by USA to Iran/India/Japan etc. are examples. West still maintains the 'holier-than-thou' approach to world affairs and as a result, end up angering the eastern powers which have now started to develop self confidence. Since the 2 millenia that have passed, Europe has seen Christianisation and Persia (Iran) has seen Islamisation. However, the animosity has not lessened. Movies are mirrors to society (Bollywood is an exception). Hence, it is fearful if the western people believe in the idea even today. A truly equal geopolitical world can only be possible if all nations and cultures respect each other.

Before I end this, it is interesting to know Iran's reaction to the movie 300 in year 2007. They outraged! Officially banned the movie and issued official statement through government! You can adhere to a religion different to your forefathers but cannot take the history of the land out of people's hearts!
Here's the link : http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1598886,00.html