Flood Myths Across Time

 

            

Valentin Bousch, The Deluge, 1531. The Metropolitan Museum of Art

 

            Within mythology there are many universal themes, archetypes and symbols that echo across time and place to connect humanity together. One of the most significant of these themes and symbols is that of the “flood,” during which the earth is inundated and destroyed with water, often because of humanity’s failures. This theme can be found in almost every culture around the world, all the way back to the first written accounts of the Sumerians. And while it is very possible that these myths are all attempting to capture the reality of a natural disaster, they also help to explain human behavior, the cyclical nature of life, and the notion of divine wrath. And though each culture is unique, often focusing on the specific values and beliefs that are significant to their personal society, the stories themselves are universal. This unique but universal theme, and the ways in which various cultures employ it, is beautifully seen within the oldest recorded flood myths available to humanity, the Sumerian myth “Tablet XI: The Story of the Flood” within the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Christian myth found within the Bible “Genesis Flood Myth,” and the Hindu myth located in the Mahabharata “Canto 186 Markandeya Samaya Prava.”

            In all three of these myths, the flood itself is deployed in a fit of divine wrath, where the God, or Gods/Goddesses, of a culture are angered with humanity and seek to erase them from the face of the earth. In the Sumerian “The Story of the Great Flood” humanity was too noisy and was overpopulating the earth, and their great Gods were moved “to inflict the flood (para 2).” While in the Biblical creations story of Genesis, the Great Flood was brought about by God, in his disappointment over the rampant wickedness and evil within humanity, and so he floods the world to destroy them. Whitin the Hindu myth “Canto 186,” the flood is designed by the God Vishnu, to destroy sin and all life on earth, as part of a continuous cycle. Each of these myths highlight divine retribution against humanity for their failures, showing water as a type of cleansing force that washes away the sin and filth of the old world.

And yet within each of these myths we also see the commonality in the preservation of life within a small group of humanity who have remained faithful and lived pure lives. Within the Sumerian flood myth, for example, Utanapishtim and his wife are warned by the Ocean God Ea to “tear down the house and build a boat,” and are encouraged to save every living thing, before Enlil brings forth the flood (para 4). In the Biblical flood myth within Genesis, God spares Noah and his wife, and their sons and their wives, and are told to build an ark to house them and two of every animal on earth. While in the Hindu myth, Manu and the 7 Rishis are warned by the God Vishnu, in fish form, “a Pralaya is at hand, the dissolution of the world is near” and is told to gather every seed for life before the flood hits, and he too is told to build a ship to house them (para 7).

While these myths bring to light these universal patterns and themes, they are each unique to their respective cultures, as each myth reflects the values and beliefs that they believe are central to their societies. For example, in the Biblical flood myth in Genesis, the story is told as one of hope and promise, in which God joins in a covenant with Noah, and every other creature on earth, in which he promises to never flood the earth again, and sets his “rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me (God) and the earth (Ch 9, v13).” This myth highlights the beliefs in the power and love of God to the Christian faith, and to his promise of the future. While in the Sumerian flood myth, while there is hope, in the survival of Utanapishtim and his wife, the story is more foreboding and ominous, and depicts humanity at the mercy of the Gods, they describe the flood as a war, “like a woman writing in labor,” and explain that Enlil was furious with them for surviving. Both contrast with the tone and significance of the Hindu flood myth, for while it is a solemn and cautionary tale, it attempts to present the events as part of a continuous cycle. When Manu is told of the approaching Pralaya, and Vishna is seen in his forms of the destroyer and the creator, as he bestows upon Manu, “Manu will create all beings again,” the power of creation to bring the world into its proper state. Highlighting the significance of the cycle of life, death, and rebirth that is central to their culture.

 

 

Works Cited:

Bible gateway passage: Genesis 6-9 - new international version. Bible Gateway. (n.d.). https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+6-9&version=NIV

Carnahan, W. (n.d.). The epic of gilgamesh. Epic of Gilgamesh: Tablet XI. http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/mesopotamian/gilgamesh/tab11.htm

Menon, R. (2009). Canto 186 Markandeya Samasya Parva . In The Complete Mahabharata Adi Parva (pp. 1414–1416). essay, Rupa Publications India Pvt. Ltd. 

Image Credit:

Valentin Bousch, The Deluge, 1531. The Metropolitan Museum of Art