"10. Then Manu went about with her, singing praises and toiling, wishing for offspring. And with her he begat that offspring which is called the offspring of Manu; and whatever blessing he asked with her, always accrued to him. She is indeed I_d_â, and whosoever, knowing this, goes about (sacrifices) with I_d_â, begets the same offspring which Manu begat, and whatever blessing he asks with her, always accrues to him." This, no doubt, is the account of a deluge, and Manu acts in some respects the same part which is assigned to Noah in the Old Testament. But if there are similarities, think of the dissimilarities, and how they are to be explained. It is quite clear that, if this story was borrowed from a Semitic source, it was not borrowed from the Old Testament, for in that case it would really seem impossible to account for the differences between the two stories. That it may have been borrowed[141] from some unknown Semitic source cannot, of course, be disproved, because no tangible proof has ever been produced that would admit of being disproved. But if it were, it would be the only Semitic loan in ancient Sanskrit literature--and that alone ought to make us pause! The story of the boar and the tortoise too, can be traced back to the Vedic literature. For we read in the Taittirîya Sa_m_hitâ:[142] "At first this was water, fluid. Pra_g_âpati, the lord of creatures, having become wind, moved on it. He saw this earth, and becoming a boar, he took it up. Becoming Vi_s_vakarman, the maker of all things, he cleaned it. It spread and became the widespread Earth, and this is why the Earth is called P_ri_thivî, the widespread." And we find in the _S_atapatha Brâhma_n_a[143] the following slight allusion at least to the tortoise myth: "Pra_g_âpati, assuming the form of a tortoise (Kûrma), brought forth all creatures. In so far as he brought them forth, he made them (akarot), and because he made them he was (called) tortoise (Kûrma). A tortoise is (called) Kâ_s_yapa, and therefore all creatures are called Kâ_s_yapa, tortoise-like. He who was this tortoise (Kûrma) was really Âditya (the sun)." One other allusion to something like a deluge,[144] important chiefly on account of the name of Manu occurring in it, has been pointed out in the Kâ_th_aka (XI. 2), where this short sentence occurs: "The waters cleaned this, Manu alone remained." All this shows that ideas of a deluge, that is, of a submersion of the earth by water and of its rescue through divine aid, were not altogether unknown in the early traditions of India, while in later times they were embodied in several of the Avâtaras of Vish_n_u.