The Story:

Two intermingling stories form the essence of the Matsya avatar. One is of the divine knowledge contained in the Vedas and the other is of the Pralay or the Great Flood.

It is said that, at one time, the demon Hayagriva stole the Vedas from Lord Brahma and went into hiding in the sea. Without the knowledge of the Vedas, the world was in danger of being pulled into darkness.

Satyavrat, the King of pre-ancient Dravid (later known as Manu) and a devotee of Vishnu, was washing his hands in a river when a little fish swam into his hands and pled for protection from other, bigger fish. He put it in a jar, which it soon outgrew. As the fish grew in size and form, the King moved it to a tank, a river and then finally the ocean, but to no avail. The fish then revealed itself to be Lord Vishnu, thanked the King for his benevolence and warned him of an imminent deluge. The fish advised the King to build an ark, one that could be attached to its horn. When the great deluge started destroying the Earth, Matsya appears, pulls the ark with its horn to safety and thus saves all earthly forms of life.

When the floodwaters subside, the demon Hayagriva is exposed. The Matsya avatar kills the demon, recovers the Vedas and hands them back to Lord Brahma, the God of Creation, who uses the wisdom contained in the Vedas to rejuvenate the Earth once again.

At VR Chennai:

The Matsya avatar has been represented as a 3ft-long catfish, laser-cut out of a metal sheet. It can be found at the Tamarai Sadukam outside the Ulòka Gopuram.