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10. Matsya Purāṇa 1
First revision: Mar.11, 2026
Last change: Apr.20, 2026
Searched, gathered, rearranged, translated, and compiled by Apirak Kanchanakongkha.
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Chapter 1
(Description of Matsya avatara)
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Bhava's1 terrible Tāṇḍava01 dance scattered the diggajas.2 May his lotus feet remove all impediments. In his Matsya avatara, when Viṣṇu rose from Pātāla02, the blow of his tail caused the oceans to rise and mingle with the upper half of Brahmāṇḍa03, before they fell again and sprinkled the surface of the earth.3 May the words uttered through his avatara's mouth, which are the words of the Śruti texts, remove everything inauspicious. Jaya should be uttered after bowing down to Nārāyaṇa, Nara, supreme among men, Devi Sarasvatī04 and Vyāsa.4 I also prostrate myself before Svayambhū05, who is described as Aja,
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1. Bhava (भव) is Śiva's name.
दिग्गज - Diggaja or अष्टदिग्गज - Aṣṭadiggajas, developed on Apr.12, 2026.
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2. Diggaja (दिग्गज), Diggajas are elephants (gaja) who support and guard the directions (दिक् - dik - direction, quarter, space). One (Diggaja) of the eight elephants said to guard and preside over the eight cardinal points.
3. Matsya avatara is Viṣṇu's incarnation in the form of a fish. There are seven nether regions. Pātāla02 is a generic term for all of these taken together and also the name for one of these. Brahmāṇḍa is the cosmic egg.
4. This is an invocation that occurs at the start of the Mahābhārata, originally known as Jaya. But it is an invocation that also occurs at the beginning of a Purāṇa, Jaya now signifying the Purāṇa. Nara and Nārāyaṇa are ancient Ṛṣis, usually spoken of together. Sarasvati is the goddess of learning and speech.
Notes & Narratives:
01. Tāṇḍava (ताण्डव - ตาณฑวะ) - Śiva's cosmic dance.
02. Pātāla (पाताल) —The lowest of the seven lower planetary systems. (cf. Śrī Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta) (Vaishnavism - Vaishava dharma).
03. Brahmāṇḍa (ब्रह्माण्ड) - cosmic egg or the aṇḍa of Brahmā (अण्ड - aṇḍa-egg), the Supreme Being which is the root of the origin of the universe.
04. Sarasvatī (सरस्वती) - Name of a river originating from Himālaya, a holy mountain (kulaparvata) in Bharat, the Goddess of speech and learning is the wife of Brahmā. She is represented as of a graceful figure, white, wearing a slender crescent on her brow and sitting on a lotus.
05. Svayambhū (स्वयम्भू) - A teacher - priest, The Self-Born Deity, and represents an epithet of Śiva, according to the Śivapurāṇa 2.2.15., Self-existent.
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Triguna, Triveda and Nārāyaṇa, who practices kriya-yoga.5
The sages who resided in Naimiṣāraṇya6 completed a long sacrifice. Sūta was also seated there, alone. At the end of the sacrifice, Śaunaka and the other sages started to ask about the beautiful and long collections, the Purāṇas, which were full of dharma.
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