Placing them side by side based on the same criteria reveals how each civilization understood disaster
| Category |
China · Gun-Yu's Flood Control |
India · Manu-Matsya |
Australia · Rainbow Serpent / Dreamtime |
| Estimated period of tradition |
Traditionally around 2300–2200 BC, archaeologically linked to the Yellow River flood around 1900 BC |
Documented around the 6th century BC in Shatapatha Brahmana |
Date cannot be specified · Oral tradition, existed before European contact |
| Cause of disaster |
Natural disaster itself, not divine judgment |
Advance warning of an impending disaster |
Part of the world-forming process, a 'state' rather than an 'event' |
| Method of survival/success |
Flood control Do not block, but open waterways to let it flow |
Repayment Received warning and rescue in return for saving a fish |
Creation The Rainbow Serpent itself is a being that creates water and terrain |
| What the ending created |
Founding of the Xia Dynasty, the beginning of a hereditary dynasty |
New ancestors of humanity, reconstruction of lineage |
The rivers, lakes, and terrain that still remain today |