Through these forms, Vishnu upholds a constant cycle of creation, death and rebirth. Then Vishnu destroys life on earth, he is in the form of Shiva-Rudra. First, he scorches the earth with intense heat for one hundred years. He then exhales storm clouds and floods the earth, covering up all land as well as killing any other gods that are left. As the great flood buries all life, a golden egg appears. This egg contains all the life that previously existed, thus making way for rebirth. .
Though each myth has its own unique vision of the earth being flooded, they all have many similarities as well. The Christian and the Roman flood myths are both similar in that the reason mankind was destroyed is because God and/or the gods were unhappy with the evil and the wickedness found in humans. "The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time." [Gen 6:5] And for the Hindu myth, although Vishnu floods the earth in a repetitive cycle, mankind is still in a dark age before the destruction comes. The dark age is when man is wicked and there's three times more evil in the world than the first age of man. .
Another strong similarity found in the flood myths between the Christian version and the Roman version is the fact that the survivors of the great flood are always pure and holy in the eyes of their god(s). Noah was the man God decided to save because he stayed humble to God and worshiped him daily while the rest of the world was wrapped up in greed, lust and sinfulness. Although Jove didn't plan on saving Deucalion and Pyrrha, he still let them live because he realized that they were pure humans. "There was no better man than this Deucalion ; there was no woman more scrupulously reverent than Pyrrha. So, when Jove saw the world was one great ocean, only one woman and only one man left , both innocent and worshipful, he parted the clouds and the sea's anger dwindled.
