Makara

The makara is a sea creature of Indian myth and art, part crocodile, part fish, and often part elephant, that serves as the mount of the river goddess Ganga and the sea god Varuna and guards temple gateways across Asia.

What a Makara Is

The makara is less a character in stories than a creature of symbol and design. It is a water beast whose front half usually resembles a crocodile, often with an elephant's trunk or a curling snout, and whose back half ends in a fish's tail. Early forms look much like a crocodile, which is probably where the idea began: the Sanskrit word makara can mean crocodile, and the mugger crocodile of Indian rivers is a likely model. Over centuries artists added tusks, a trunk, scrolling foliage, and an ornate tail until it became a fantastic sea dragon.

In Myth

The makara is the vehicle, or vahana, of two water deities. Ganga, goddess of the sacred river, is shown standing on a makara, and Varuna, the old god of the waters and the sea, rides one. Kamadeva, the god of love, carries a banner with a makara on it, and so is called Makaradhvaja, "he whose emblem is the makara." Vishnu and other gods wear makara-shaped earrings.

In Indian astrology the makara is the sign that corresponds to Capricorn, the sea-goat. The festival of Makar Sankranti in January celebrates the sun's entry into this sign.

In Art and Architecture

Makaras appear in some of the oldest Indian Buddhist art, on the stone railings and gateways of the stupas at Bharhut and Sanchi in the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE. They became a standard part of temple design. The makara torana, an arch formed by two makaras spitting out a garland or a stream of vines, frames doorways and images of gods. Makara heads serve as water spouts on temples and public fountains, and many of the old stone water spouts of Nepal's cities pour water from a makara's mouth.

Across Asia

With Hinduism and Buddhism, the makara spread to Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, Tibet, and China. At Borobudur in Java, makara heads guard the bottom of stairways under monster-faced arches. Tibetan art calls it chu-srin, and Tang dynasty Chinese silver and ceramics show a winged fish-dragon called moji, adapted from the makara.

Legacy

The makara is one of the most widespread water-dragon images in Asia, even though few people outside India know its name. Compare the serpent beings on our India and Southeast Asia page.

Related

• Nāga: Nāgas are serpent beings of Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain tradition, often cobras or half-human figures with cobra hoods, who live in underwater or underground kingdoms, guard treasure, and control rain and water.
• Cetus: Cetus, from the Greek ketos, is the sea monster of Greek myth sent by Poseidon to devour princesses chained to the shore, slain by Perseus to save Andromeda and by Heracles to save Hesione.
• Leviathan: Leviathan is the great sea monster of the Hebrew Bible, a fire-breathing, scale-armored serpent of the deep that only God can tame, descended from the Canaanite sea serpent Lotan.
• Phaya Naga: The Phaya Naga is the great serpent king of Thai and Lao Buddhist folklore, a crested, often many-headed serpent believed to live in the Mekong River and to guard temples, water, and the Buddhist faith.
• Dragons Across Cultures
• Dragon Types

Sources and Further Reading

• Anna L. Dallapiccola, Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend (Thames & Hudson, 2002)
• Gösta Liebert, Iconographic Dictionary of the Indian Religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism (Leiden: Brill, 1976)
• Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, Yakṣas, 2 parts (Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1928–1931)
• Robert Beer, The Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs (Shambhala, 1999)

Cite this entry: “Makara,” Draconika Encyclopedia of Dragons, https://www.draconika.com/dragons/makara.