In a year a female was produced; and
she arose unctuous from the moisture, with clarified butter under her
feet. Mitra and Varuna came to her; and said to her, 'Who art thou?' (She
said), 'The daughter of Manu.' (They said), 'Say (thou art) our
(daughter).' 'No,' she replied, 'I am verily (the daughter) of him who
begot me.' They desired a share in her; she agreed and did not agree. She
went on and came to Manu. Manu said to her, 'Who art thou?' 'Thy
daughter,' she replied. 'How, revered one, art thou my daughter?' (She
replied), 'The offerings which thou hast cast upon the waters,--clarified
butter, coagulated milk, whey, and curds,--from them thou hast generated
me. I am a blessing. Do thou introduce me into the sacrifice. If thou wilt
introduce me into the sacrifice, thou wilt be (blessed) with abundance of
offspring and cattle. Whatever blessing thou shalt ask through me, will
all be given to thee.' Thus he introduced her in the middle of the
sacrifice; for the middle of the sacrifice is that which comes between the
final and the introductory prayers. He, desirous of offspring, meditating
and toiling, went with her. By her he begot this (offspring), which is
(called) 'The offspring of Manu.'"
The correspondence of this legend with the Biblical and the other accounts
is remarkable. We have the announcement of the Deluge, the construction of
a ship, the preservation therein of a representative man, the settlement
of the vessel on a mountain, the gradual subsidence of the water, and the
subsequent re-peopling of the world by the man thus preserved. The very
scene of the cataclysm is in singular agreement with the other accounts;
for the flood is said to carry Manu "over the northern mountain." This
places the scene of the Deluge in Central Asia, beyond the Himalaya
mountains, and it proves that the legend embodies a genuine tradition
brought by the progenitors of the Hindus from their primæval home, whence
also radiated the Semitic and Sinitic branches of mankind.
* * * * *
There has been much discussion as to whether the great inundation which
occurred in China during the reign of Yao is identical with that of
Genesis or not. The close proximity of date lends a strong support to the
assumption, and the supposition that the scene of the Biblical Deluge was
local in its origin, but possibly widespread in its results, further
favours the view.
As the rise of the Nile at Cairo is the only intimation which the
inhabitants of Lower Egypt have of the tropical rains of Central Africa,
so the inundation of the countries adjacent to the head waters of the
great rivers of China may alone have informed the inhabitants of that
country of serious elemental disturbances, only reaching, and in a
modified form, their western frontier; and it may well have been that the
deluge which caused a national annihilation in Western Asia was only a
national calamity in the eastern portion of it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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