[4] In later versions, Matsya slays a demon named Hayagriva who steals the Vedas, and thus is lauded as the saviour of the scriptures.

[7][8][9] The Sanskrit grammarian and etymologist Yaska (c. 600 BCE) also refers to the same stating that fish are known as matsya as "they revel in eating each other".

[11] The section 1.8.1 of the Shatapatha Brahmana (Yajur veda) is the earliest extant text to mention Matsya and the flood myth in Hinduism.

[15][16] The fish thanks him, tells him the timing of the great flood, and asks Manu to build a ship by that day, one he can attach to its horn.

The boat that Manu builds to get help from the saviour fish, states Bonnefoy, is symbolism of the means to avert complete destruction and for human salvation.

The legend thus signifies how man (Manu) can sail the sea of sins and troubles with the ship of sacrifice and the fish-Agni as his guide.

[22] In a prayer to kushta plant in the Atharvaveda, a golden ship is said to rest at a Himalayan peak, where the herb grows.

Manu is envisioned as a title, rather than an individual) performing religious rituals on the banks of the Chirini River in Vishāla forest.

Manu is asked by the fish, as in the Shatapatha Brahmana version, to build a ship and additionally, to be in it with Saptarishi (seven sages) and all sorts of seeds, on the day of the expected deluge.

Pleased with his austerities on Malaya mountains (interpreted as Kerala in Southern India[32]), Brahma grants his wish to rescue the world at the time of the pralaya (dissolution at end of a kalpa).

At the end of the kalpa, a demon Hayagriva ("horse-necked") steals the Vedas, which escape from the yawn of a sleepy Brahma.

While carrying them to safety, the fish avatar teaches the highest knowledge to the sages and Satyavrata to prepare them for the next cycle of existence.

[40] After the deluge, Matsya slays the demon and rescues the Vedas, restoring them to Brahma, who has woken from his sleep to restart creation afresh.

It mentions Vaivasvata Manu only collecting all seeds (not living beings) and assembling the seven sages similar to the Mahabharata version.

[51] The Narada Purana states that the demon Hayagriva (son of Kashyapa and Diti) seized the Vedas of the mouth of Brahma.

[52] The Shiva Purana praises Vishnu as Matsya who rescued the Vedas via king Satyavrata and swam through the ocean of pralaya.

Implored by the gods, Vishnu wakes on Prabodhini Ekadashi and takes the form of a saphari fish and annihilates the demon.

[55] Another account in the Padma Purana mentions that a demon son called Makara steals the Vedas from Brahma and hides them in the cosmic ocean.

Beseeched by Brahma and the gods, Vishnu takes the Matsya-form and enters the waters, then turns into a crocodile and destroys the demon.

[56] The Brahma Purana states that Vishnu took the form of a rohita fish when the earth was in the netherland to rescue the Vedas.

On the request of Brahma, Vishnu takes the Matsya form, pulls the demon from the waters and crushes him on land.

[80] Similar flood myths also exist in tales from ancient Sumer and Babylonia, Greece, the Maya of Americas and the Yoruba of Africa.

The creator, fish-god Ea in the Sumerian and Babylonian version warns the king in a dream of the flood and directs him to build a boat.

[81] The idea may have reached the Indian subcontinent via the Indo-Aryan migrations or through trade routes to the Indus Valley civilisation.

[82] Another theory suggests the fish myth is home-grown in the Indus Valley or South India Dravidian peoples.

[83] Even if the idea of the flood myth and the fish-god may be imported from another culture, it is cognate with the Vedic and Puranic cosmogonic tale of Creation through the waters.

[85][34] Another symbolic interpretation of the Matsya mythology is, states Bonnefoy, to consider Manu's boat to represent moksha (salvation), which helps one to cross over.

[86] The Agni Purana suggests that Matsya be installed in the Northern direction in temples or in water bodies.

[57][98][58] A temple to Machhenarayan (Matsya) is found in Machhegaun, Nepal, where an annual fair is held in honour of the deity.

The Sree Malsyavathara Mahavishnu Temple is located in the small town of Meenangadi situated on the highway between Kalpetta and Sulthan Bathery in Wayanad.