MANU VIS-A-VIS NOAH - THE BOATMEN WHO SAVED THE WORLD

 

 

             

              

 

MANU  VIS-A-VIS  NOAH -  THE BOATMEN WHO  SAVED THE  WORLD

In the story of the great flood, Manu combines the characteristics of the Hebrew Bible figures of Noah, who preserved life from extinction in a great flood, and Adam, the first man.

 

It is believed that Brahma created Shatarupa  (Goddess Saraswati  -  Satarupa had 100 forms) and out of their unison Manu was born.   Thus, Manu was the first human in the universe.

 

The Shatapatha Brahmana recounts how he was warned by a fish, to whom he had done a kindness, that a flood would destroy the whole of humanity. He therefore built a boat, as the fish advised. When the flood came, he tied this boat to the fish’s horn and was safely steered to a resting place on a mountaintop. When the flood water receded, Manu, the sole human survivor, performed a sacrifice, pouring oblations of butter and sour milk into the waters. After a year there was born from the waters a woman who announced herself as “the daughter of Manu.” These two then became the ancestors of a new human race to replenish the earth. In the Mahabharata (“Great Epic of the Bharata Dynasty”), the fish is identified with the god Brahma, while in the Puranas (“Ancient Lore”) it is Matsya, the fish incarnation of Lord Vishnu.

 

                       

  Dasavatar of Lord Vishnu :

1.  Matsya
2.  Varaha
3.  Narasimha
4.  Kurma
5.  Vamana
6.  Parashurama
7.  Rama
8.  Krishna
9.  Budha
10.  Kalki

The biblical account of the Deluge (Genesis 6:11–9:19) features Noah as the hero of the Flood story. In his account, Noah is represented as the patriarch who, because of his blameless piety, was chosen by God to perpetuate the human race after his wicked contemporaries had perished in the Flood. A righteous man, Noah “found favor in the eyes of the Lord” (Genesis 6:8). Thus, when God beheld the corruption of the earth and determined to destroy it, he gave Noah divine warning of the impending disaster and made a covenant with him, promising to save him and his family. Noah was instructed to build an ark (ship), and in accordance with God’s instructions he took into the ark male and female specimens of all the world’s species of animals and birds, from which the stocks might be replenished. Consequently, according to this narrative, the entire surviving human race descended from Noah’s three sons and their wives (Adam died 126 years  before Noah was born).

 

Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. He was 500 years old when he had his three sons.

 

There are many interesting facts about Noah and his Ark.

 

• Methuselah, the oldest person in the Bible at 969 years old, is Noah’s grandpa.

• Noah is the 10th-generation descendant of Adam.  He was a farmer and also built bigger boats like vessels.

• The Ark had three stories and a roof with a small opening below it – but no steering wheel. It was made to float, and God steered the ship at will.

• Noah lived to be 950 years old, 350 years after the Flood.
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•  Titanic ship was three times bigger than Noah's Ark.
  

 

Noah's Ark is the vessel in the Genesis flood narrative through which God spares Noah, his family, and specimens of all the world's animals and birds from a global deluge. The story in Genesis is repeated, with variations, in the Quran, where the Ark appears as Safinat Nūḥ and al-fulk.

                                  

                             

The Lord commanded Noah to build an ark in which his family and “every living thing of all flesh” (Genesis 6:19) were saved from the Flood. Floodwater destroyed the wicked and all creatures that lived on the land except those in the ark. When the floodwater receded, Noah and his family exited the ark which was descended from the mount Ararat.  They took all the animals and birds so that they may reproduce and spread over all the earth as per the God's command.

 

 

The dimension of the Ark (Vessel) was 133 metres long, 22 metres wide and 13 metres high.

 

There was a small opening below the roof.

 

 

Manu, in the mythology of India, the first man, and the legendary author of an important Sanskrit law code, the Manu-smriti (Laws of Manu). The name is cognate with the Indo-European “man” and also has an etymological connection with the Sanskrit verb man-, “to think.” Manu appears in the Vedas, the sacred literature of Hinduism, as the performer of the first sacrifice. He is also known as the first king, and most rulers of medieval India traced their genealogy back to him, either through his son (the solar line) or his daughter (the lunar line).

 

Sanskrit word  Manus (Manushya)  is originated from Manu.  The Manu has written a Sanskrit Code of Law  called "Manusmriti".  Though some people like Dr. B.R. Ambedkar criticised Manusmriti and burnt a copy  of the same on 25th December, 1927.   Dr. Ambedkar found Manusmriti promoting Chaturvarna and advocating inequality, cruelty, and injustice to the lower castes.

 

In the cosmological speculations of later Hinduism, a day in the life of Brahma is divided into 14 periods called manvantara, each of which lasts for 306,720,000 years. In every secondary cycle the world is re-created, and a new Manu appears to become the father of the next human race.  

 

There are  14 Manus so far.