manu : in the vedasthat superb religious literature with no known parent ( passed down from the time of the gods ) we are given a description of how manu ( the indo-european root man ) with warning from a fish whose life he had saved ( a small fish which grew and grew and is interpreted as vishnu in disguise ) escaped the global deluge and became the great patriarch of the vedic people , perpetuating not only life , but passing on the knowledge and wisdom of the antediluvian world .