Separate the Wheat from the Chaff
Prelude
Many cultures and religions have their own narration of an almost identical mythical flood. The episode of the flood is a highly recycled story over a while by different cultures/religions. Though the event is a common one cited by all, there are nevertheless, some differences in terms of narration, cause, and personnel involved. There is also discrepancy about the exact rime of occurrence. These differential narrations cause much confusion making its acceptability questionable.
In Christianity, it is a biblical story of a cataclysmic flood as God felt saddened by the evil that was pervading the earth and decided to destroy all life on earth (Old Testament, Genesis 6-9). Though a re-narration of the Biblical flood myth, the Quran puts it in its own way (11: 25-48, 23: 22-30, 29: 14-15, 54: 9-15, 71: 1-28). The narration of Quran is more as a parable or moral anecdote of earlier generations (mathal; 24: 34, 25: 33, 29: 43; cf. 3:3-7; 5:27) and, not a literal historical event. The flood event is more popularly in circulation based on these narrations of Bible and Quran. Now the question is, are these the only and original mention about a flood that was supposed to have wreaked much havoc on earthly life?
Throwback over time: Immediate past
The flood was a popular megahit myth in circulation even before the Jesus and Bible in the ancient Mesopotamian and Mediterranean worlds. The flood myth had probably originated in Sumer about 4000 years ago. Somebody had perhaps deposited new versions of the flood in the imperial libraries of the Mesopotamian empires of Babylonia and Assyria. The Biblical authors fashioned out their own versions of the myth, and, post-biblical authors continued to remain in search of possible meaning. The Flood episode has appeared in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
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Throwback over time: Distant past
If we dig deeper, we find that flood stories are found not only in Near Eastern societies but also in many other civilizations throughout the world. Accounts of a great deluge find mention in ancient Sumerian tablets, the Deucalion in Greek mythology, the lore of the K’iche’, and Maya peoples in Mesoamerica. Apart from American Indian and African legions, stories of a flood are to be found in the Gun-Yu myth of China, the stories of the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa tribe of North America, and of Muisca people. But the Hindu mythology perhaps records the oldest and most exciting episode of a great flood. Though there are some differences, the story of Noah and his ark has quite a bit of similarity with the flood of Hindu mythology.
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The flood myth of Noah and his ark parallels many of the ancient flood myths of earlier times. For example, the Mesopotamian flood myths inscribed on tablets that are hundreds of years older than the Bible. The Sumerian tale of 2800 BC records the priest King Ziusudra as the hero, who built a boat to survive a flood. In the epic of Gilgamesh of Babylonia, the hero Gilgamesh meets the immortal man, Utnapishtim. In this meeting, Utnapishtim tells how god Ea has instructed him to build a boat in anticipation of a god willed flood that would destroy the world; again, having some similarity to the Biblical flood of Noah.
There are more than 2000 myths about a great deluge in the Middle Eastern area. Similar stories of a flood that affected earlier civilizations are found in many other cultures the world over, especially those, which evolved along river valleys. Looking to the many similarities between these various myths, it goes without saying that there is some relation between them and, may have not only evolved from the earlier versions chronologically but also may have influenced each other.
Hindu flood legend of Manu
Indian mythology records one of the oldest and most fascinating account of Manu’s flood. The biblical version of Manu is Noah. As per the scriptures of Matsya Purana and Shatapatha Brahmana, the ‘Fish Incarnation’ of Godhead Vishnu had forewarned about an impending flood. The incarnation says thus: “Manu, the yuga is about to end in seven days. “There will be a great flood, and all living things on the earth would perish. I want you to build a big ship. Take the seeds of all plants, the male and female of every animal, and the seven sages along with their families. Take them all on the ship”. The incarnation also told Manu to build a boat, which the Fish Incarnation itself will help tow it. Manu was said to be a virtuous person, who, by penances and prayers, had won the favour of the lord of heaven. He had three sons before the flood named Charma, Sharma, and Yapeti.
Soon there came torrential rains flooding all over. The incessant downpour led to a great flood. Manu set sail on the ship, and it wobbled precariously many times almost capsizing. Soon the fish came as promised, ‘Manu, used Vasuki as a rope to tie the ship to the horn of the fish. Manu tied the ship to the fish, and the fish towed it safe in the sea as the storm kept raging. The fish taught the Vedas to Manu and the others during the voyage. After the storm abated and the flood washed away everything, the fish steered the ship on to Mount Himavan for Manu to repopulate the land to herald new yuga.
The biblical Noah seem to resemble Manu in all respects, and the sons were named Ham, Shem, and Japheth. God also asked Noah to build a strong ark to protect life and good people from the flood. God also asked him to fill the ark with seeds of all things and a pair of each animal. After the flood, the ark of Noah rested on the mountains of Ararat. The only difference is that Noah’s flood was a divine punishment while that of Manu was a part of the natural order of things.
Both the narrations seem to derive from the same source probably due to the proven links between Hindu and Sumerian civilizations.
In a nutshell
There is a flood story across time and civilizations. Clearly, later flood stories have been derived from the earlier records on a time scale. As it gets retold and passed down across cultures, it is natural that some modifications/changes expectedly happen to suit the prevailing civilization, its geographical location and the time. Hindu religious philosophy derived from very ancient Vedic philosophy being the earliest, the Hindu mythological flood story has to be the first story of a great flood. This story then percolated down to Europe and America via Asia Minor countries (whole or part of the modern-day countries of Italy, Greece, Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Egypt, Libya, Israel and Lebanon) and Africa.
Now the question is about the veracity of the flood stories and their timing. Is there any scientific validity or proof for the flood? Irrespective of the evidence, what could be the basis and reality of the flood myth? We shall explore these aspects and, separate the wheat from the chaff in the next part of Flood myth.
