The Deity was herein manifested under the form of a fish. They say that in the Dráviḍá* country at the extremity of the Dekhan in the city of Bhadrávatí, during the Satya Yuga on the eleventh lunar day of the month of Phálguna (Feb.-March), Rájá Manu, having withdrawn himself from all worldly concerns, and being then ten hundred thousand years of age, lived in the practice of great austerities. He was performing his ablutions on the banks of the river Kṛitamála when a fish came into his hand and said “preserve me.” It remained in his hand a day and night and as it increased in size, he put it into a cup, and when it grew larger, he placed it in a pitcher. When the latter could not contain it, he put it into a well and thence transferred it to a lake and after­wards to the Ganges. As the Ganges could not hold it, he gave it place in the ocean, and when it filled the ocean, the Rájá recognised the origin of the miracle and worshipped it and prayed for a revelation. He heard the following answer: “I am the Supreme Being. I have assumed the form of this creature for thy salvation and that of a few of the elect. After seven days the world will be destroyed and a flood shall cover the earth. Get thou into a certain ark with a few of the righteous together with the divine books and choice medicinal herbs and fasten the ark to this horn which cometh out of me.” The deluge continued one million, seven hundred and twenty-eight thousand years after which it subsided.*