---
type: Reference
bundle: cosmology-creation
bundle_version: "0.7.2"
id: matsya-purana
title: "Matsya Purāṇa"
description: "Maha-purana of the fish avatara; the flood narrative and kalpa-manvantara reckonings."
timestamp: "2026-07-01T00:00:00Z"
iast: "Matsya Purāṇa"
devanagari: "मत्स्य पुराण"
text: "Matsya Purāṇa"
text_division: "291 Chapters"
language: "Classical Sanskrit"
approximate_date: "c. 250-500 CE"
tags: [purana, matsya, cosmology, kala, yuga, pralaya, avatara, brahmanda]
okf_version: "0.2"
license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

# Matsya Purāṇa

## Text Overview

The Matsya Purāṇa is one of the 18 Mahā-Purāṇas, narrated by Viṣṇu in the form of the Matsya (Fish) Avatāra to the primordial king Manu at the time of the great Pralaya flood. The text's framing device is itself cosmologically significant: the entire Purāṇa is spoken within the context of a cosmic dissolution and restoration, making the Kāla system and Pralaya central to its narrative structure.

## Key Passages for Cosmology-Creation Bundle

**Chapters 1-6 (Cosmogony and the Matsya Avatāra Frame):**
- The Matsya Avatāra narrative: Manu discovers the divine fish (Viṣṇu) in a pot of water; the fish warns of the coming great flood (Pralaya); Manu builds a boat; the Matsya tows the boat through the cosmic waters as the world dissolves and is renewed
- This is both a Pralaya narrative and an Avatāra narrative: Viṣṇu descends (Avatāra principle) precisely at the moment of greatest cosmic need (Sthiti threatened by Pralaya)

**Chapters 2-3 (Kāla System):**
- Yuga definitions consistent with the standard Purāṇic framework
- The Matsya Purāṇa is notable for including the Kāla system within the Pralaya framing narrative, connecting time (Kāla) and dissolution (Pralaya) explicitly

**Chapters 167-170 (Brahmāṇḍa and Cosmography):**
- Description of the Brahmāṇḍa's layers (āvaraṇas): the concentric shells of earth, water, fire, air, space, Ahaṃkāra, Mahat, and Avyakta
- The 14-Loka arrangement within the Brahmāṇḍa

**Chapters 165-166 (Pralaya Types):**
- Detailed treatment of Naimittika Pralaya (Kalpa-end) including what dissolves and what persists
- The primordial waters (Āpa) as the state of Naimittika Pralaya: Brahmā sleeps; the three lower Lokas dissolve; Viṣṇu rests on Śeṣa

## Significance for the Bundle

The Matsya Purāṇa is particularly important for:
1. **The Avatāra-Pralaya connection**: the Matsya Avatāra directly enacts the principle that Avatāras descend to maintain Sthiti at the moment of greatest Pralaya threat
2. **The Brahmāṇḍa cosmography**: one of the clearest accounts of the concentric-shell structure
3. **The Kāla-Pralaya integration**: the text explicitly shows that the time system (Kāla) and the dissolution system (Pralaya) are two faces of the same cosmic reality

## Primary Concepts Using This Reference

- avatara.md (Matsya as founding narrative)
- pralaya.md (Naimittika Pralaya; Pralaya-flood narrative)
- brahmanda.md (concentric shell structure)
- sapta-loka.md (cosmography)
- kala.md (Kāla-Pralaya integration)
