Matsya means Fish in Sanskrit. The term Matsya has relevance to the word Maccha meaning fish. One of the 10 primary incarnations (avatars) of Lord Vishnu, is Matsya who saved the world from the great flood, in this appearance. He is also called as Prajapati, the fish savior. Manu was one of the first sapient beings to develop on earth. The first man, Manu, caught a small fish that that grew very huge in size. The fish had a horn on its head to which Manu tied his boat to save himself during the great flood.
The Matsya deity may be represented in animal form or in a combination of animal-human form with the lower half as fish and the upper half as man. Matsya is depicted with 4 arms with one holding the chakra (discus), one as bestowing a boon in the Varada Mudra, one arm holding a conch shell and one in the pose of Abhaya Mudra (the protection affording) pose.
The Satapatha Brahmana has earliest accounts of the deity Matsya which is also associated with Prajapati. In the post Vedic period, Matsya merges with Brahma’s identity and gets transferred to Vishnu still later. Legends related to Matsya are seen evolving and expanding in different Hindu texts. His iconography is at times is anthropomorphic in the form of rear parts as half of a fish and the top of a human torso and at times is zoomorphic as just huge fish with a horn.
