the detached stories in the mahabharata are a quaint account of the deluge, where we learn that an ascetic stood for ten thousand years on one leg, before a small fish implored him to save him from the big ones in the stream. this ascetic placed the petitioner first in an earthen vessel of water, then in a tank, then in the ganges, "the favorite spouse of the ocean," and finally in the sea, for this fish rapidly outgrew each receptacle. on reaching the ocean, the fish informed the ascetic, with a smile, that the dissolution of the earth was near. he also bade him build an ark provided with a long rope, told him to enter in it with seven other sages and seeds of every kind, and promised to appear as a horned fish to save him from destruction. when the flood came, the horned fish, seizing the rope, dragged the ark to the top of the himalayas, where it rested securely. there it declared, "i am brahma who saved you," and directed the ascetic, aided by his learned companions, to recreate everything by means of the seeds.