Makara

Makara (Sanskrit मकर makara m.) is an Indian name, used by the Indian Vedic tradition. Most of these names are roughly 3000 years old and pre-date Hinduism but were taken over by it. It refers to a constellation in Capricornus depicted as a mythical mixed sea-creature.

Concordance, Etymology, History

A makara is a mythical fusion of different animals. Above is one with tail of a peacock, body of a lion, face of a crocodile. It is depicted as a vahana, a vehicle (CC BY Subbhashinee S).

A "makara" is a mythological figure, a mixed mythical sea creature in Hindu and Buddhist mythology. Frequently, it is depicted as a hybrid with the body of a crocodile, fish, or seal, and the head of an elephant, stag, or deer. It serves as the vahana (mount) for the river goddess Ganga and the ocean god Varuna. As a guardian of gateways and temples, it symbolizes protection, transformation, and the unity of nature's forces.

The Sanskrit term means "crocodile".

Origin of Constellation

In mythology, cult and religion, the makara is attested since the Vedic tradition (second millennium BCE). However, the constellation of the makara only occurs as the tenth "rāśi", the Indian version of the Graeco-Babylonian zodiacal signs. These were introduced only in the middle of of the first millennium CE, when Hinduism took over the zodiac as an additional division of the ecliptic. Hence, the Indian constellation appears as a cultural adoption of the exotic creature depicted in Capricorn (the Babylonian Goat-Fish, ^mulSUḪUR.MAŠ₂ is a mixed creature without direct equivalent in other cultures).

Religion/ Tales/ Mythology

mnemonic tales and cultural significance

References

• References (general)