List of flood myths

Flood myths are common across a wide range of cultures, extending back into Bronze Age and Neolithic prehistory. These accounts depict a flood, sometimes global in scale, usually sent by a deity or deities to destroy civilization as an act of divine retribution.

Africa

Many African cultures have an oral tradition of a flood including the Kwaya, Mbuti, Maasai, Mandin, and Yoruba peoples.[1]

Americas

North America

Mesoamerica

South America

Canari

Inca

Mapuche

Muisca

Tupi

Asia

Ancient Near East

Sumerian

Mesopotamia

Abrahamic religions

The Deluge, c. 1896–1902, by James Jacques Joseph Tissot

China

India

The Matsya avatar comes to the rescue of Manu
  • Manu and Matsya: The legend first appears in Shatapatha Brahmana (700–300 BCE), and is further detailed in Matsya Purana (250–500 CE). Matsya (the incarnation of Lord Vishnu as a fish) forewarns Manu (a human) about an impending catastrophic flood and orders him to collect all the grains of the world in a boat; in some forms of the story, all living creatures are also to be preserved in the boat. When the flood destroys the world, Manu – in some versions accompanied by the seven great sages – survives by boarding the ark, which Matsya pulls to safety.
  • Puluga, the creator god in the religion of the indigenous inhabitants of the Andaman Islands, sends a devastating flood to punish people who have forgotten his commands. Only four people survive this flood: two men and two women.

Korea

  • Mokdoryung

Malaysia

Philippines

Once upon a time, when the world was flat and there were no mountains, there lived two brothers, sons of Lumawig, the Great Spirit. The brothers were fond of hunting, and since no mountains had formed there was no good place to catch wild pig and deer, and the older brother said: "Let us cause water to flow over all the world and cover it, and then mountains will rise up."[6]

Tai-Kadai people

There are stories spoken by Tai-Kadai people, included Zhuang, Thai, Shan and Lao, talking about the origin of them and the deluge from their Thean (แถน), supreme being object of faith.

  • Khun Borom
  • Poo-Sankhasa Ya-Sangkhasi or Grandfather Sangkhasa and Grandmother Sangkhasi, who make the human beings and the deluge.

Europe

Classical Antiquity

Medieval Europe

Irish

Welsh

Norse

Modern era folklore

Finnish

Oceania

Polynesia and Hawaii

References

  1. ↑ Lynch, Patricia (2010). African Mythology, A to Z. Chelsea House. p. 45. ISBN 978-1-60413-415-5.
  2. ↑ SENĆOŦENStory – ȽÁUWELṈEW, FirstVoices.com
  3. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-06-11. Retrieved 2015-11-06. , Grand Council Treaty #3, The Government of the Anishinaabe Nation in Treaty #3
  4. ↑ , Flood Stories from Around the World, TalkOrigins.org
  5. ↑
  6. ↑ sacred-texts.com
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