AVATARS OF VISHNU Avatars were like messengers, aspects of the gods who descended to Earth. In the Hindu mythos, the Avatars of Vishnu are many: firstly, Matsya, which appeared as a fish, to the good king Satyavrate, he and his family, and seven sages and their families having escaped the terrible flood which swamped the world, drowning all its wickedness, mirroring the Great Flood of Christian myth. Like Noah, Satyavrate escaped the deluge in a great ark, filled with the beasts of the earth, and the birds of the sky.