Makara is an aquatic monster in Hindu Mythology. It means "sea dragon" or "water monster" in Sanskrit and relates to "magar", the Hindi word for "crocodile". Its depictions vary widely through history, but it's always a hybrid creature that is at home in the water and capable of going on land. The front may resemble a short-snouted creature, but more often the makara has an elongated face like an elephant, crocodile, or dolphin. The makara may have any number of legs: none, two, or four, and while variations of its kind exist, it usually ends in a fish tail.
The makara ranks among the vahanas, divine mounts, and are known to carry Ganga and Varuna. Other gods wear makara-shaped earrings, and Kamadeva has the makara as his insignia. Statues of makaras are commonly in use as guardians of gateways of important buildings, and also are in use as waterspouts.
Cross-culturally, makara are the counterpart to the Zodiac's Capricorn and may be one of the inspirations to the Japanese shachihoko. It's theorized they may be an adaptation of the Greek ketos.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Berserk: The makaras are among the strongest pishachas in the Kushan Army. They're created by infusing whales with the astral essence of war elephants, which makes them vicious and hybridizes them to have tentacle-like trunks, finned ears, and finned legs that allow them to go on land. On land, they aren't fast, but they are big, strong, and have a hide barely anything gets through. They also have a ranged attack in that they can spout a high-pressure stream of water from their trunks.
- GeGeGe no Kitarō: Pii is one of the non-humanoid vampires of the series. He's from South Asia and resembles a crocodile-fish posed with the tail up as makara statues occasionally are. He walks on his two front legs. As a vampire, he has the ability to convert and control others by biting them or making them wear his hat, which contains his ancestors' blood. Pii is always accompanied by his wife, the human-looking vampire Monroe, a Shout-Out to Marilyn Monroe.
Literature
- Aru Shah and the End of Time: Makara is a guardian of the Otherworld that Aru encounters while on her way to the Court of the Sky. It is a crocodile-like creature that is only properly visible due to the many bioluminscent moths flying around and perched on it. After Makara confirms that the visitors are human, it opens the gate to the Court of the Sky.
- Lord of Shadows: Makaras are huge sea demons whose appearance is part octopus, part slug creature, topped by the oversized head of a bee. They furthermore have mottled green skin and tentacles covered in pink suckers. Makaras only rarely trade the ocean's bottom for the surface, and if they come on land that's a curiosity. If a makara's remains make it to shore, they dissolve into a puddle of green-pink goo within two days. So when the Shadowhunters find a makara's tentacle at Malcolm's house, a dilapidated residence quite a distance from the shore that is owned by a powerful but now dead warlock, and no reports that anyone saw such a creature, a number of questions come up. It is later deduced that Malcolm had enchanted the tentacle as a tool to command the sea demons in Los Angeles.
Mythology
- Gajendra Moksha: Depending on the version, the Gandharva king called Huhu reincarnates as either a crocodile or a makara for pranking a sage during prayer. The makara dwells in the waters of Varuna's garden Rtumat and attacks the elephant Gajendra, the equally unfortunate reincarnation of King Indradyumna. The makara and Gajendra struggle for a long time until Gajendra appeals to Vishnu. Vishnu beheads the makara, thereby freeing the both of them from further reincarnation.
Tabletop Games
- Beast: The Primordial: Makara is the name for the Beast Family which represents the fear for the depths of the seas and oceans. The Horrors of this Family resemble all kinds of aquatic monsters.
- Monster Collection: Jade Fish Makara is card MC8-034 and its element is water. The card depicts a sea serpent with fins, an elephant trunk, and appendages that follow the outline of elephant ears. The Flavor Text implies but questions if it solely dines on marimo.
- Lord of Vermilion: Makara is a huge golden fish with tusks and three appendages attached to its face that hold the middle between trunks and tentacles. One's on its nose, the other two are located at the corners of its mouth. It's classified as a Seirei Kemono, said to be the mount of a god, and apparently tastes delicious.
- Z/X Zillions of enemy X: Five Luminous Holy Beast, Makara is card B22-057 of the Code:Samsara - Fate Vanisher set. It depicts an elephantine serpent composed of fire and decked out in jewelry. Makara is the Luminous Holy Beast of the East and as such an inhabitant and protector of the White World.
Video Games
- Boku to Watashi no Kizuna Monsters: Makara belongs to the cow body type and as such it looks like a bovine with the tusks and elephant ears. Its various shades of blue and has fins wherever there is room. Makara evolves from pulukishi and into ganesha, both of which are of the light element while makara is of the water element. Its moves are either physical or ice-based and its free to enter any body of water except for the sea.
- Civilization: Beyond Earth: Rising Tide: Makara, also known as Astacoposis Choanae, is a large, alien lobster with a medium snout that splits open three-ways. It's comfortable both in the water and on land, but it does need to keep moving in the latter to breathe which reduces its efficiency.
- Culdcept Revolt: Makara is a water-type monster with an item limit for weapons and scrolls. It looks a monstrous cross between a fish and a pinniped and has a trunk above its maw with which it spews an endless supply of water. Therefore, it has the special ability to turn occupied terrain into water territory.
- Darkness Rises: The objective of Chapter 5 and Chapter 7 is to deal with a demon that has take up residence in the Underground Waterway. It turns out to be a makara, a blue and red humanoid amphibian creature with two long tentacles sprouting from its back. A yellow makara known as the Ancient Makara is later fought in the overgrown Ancient Ruins of Nekempe. Both makaras deal physical damage and close-range elemental damage.
- Final Fantasy XI: Pugils are a class of enemies that resembles fishes with crocodile snouts and backs. They all could qualify as makaras, but three of them draw attention to it in their names: Makara, Mercurial Makara, and Nightmare Makara.
- Indivisible: The makara is an optional boss encountered in the underground of Port Maerifa as one of the targets of Kogi's Regional Delicacies sidequest. It's an alligator with gold scales, a snout that turns into an elephant truck, and a fish tail. In combat, it opens its mouth to let out either two serpents for a drill attack or three serpents for an uppercut.
- Mitrasphere: The makara is a boss-type enemy that looks like a mixture of a toad and an anglerfish. A knight is seated atop its head and guides it by manipulating the barbels on its upper lip. The makara attacks with water and light attributes and also has the ability to inflict poison.
- Shin Megami Tensei: Makaras are fish with the head and hind legs of a deer. They're usually classified as dragons, but on occasion are grouped with snakes. Its alignment is Light-Chaos and it usually makes use of ice-related moves.
- Sky Lock: As a runt, makara is a long-tailed fish with an elephant trunk and fins placed high enough to look like elephant ears. As a majuu, the looks is converted to a humanoid form. And as a majin, makara is human-looking with elephant trunks as ears, fish tails on his wrists, and four fins protruding from his back. Makara's element is water and consequently their technique is Water Last, which does water damage to one enemy, and their skill is Gekiryuu Gouyabu, which raises the attack power of water-aligned combatants.
- Tokyo Afterschool Summoners: Makara hails from Deva Loka and is implied to have served as a vahana to Varuna. He looks like a blue humanoid crocodile and although he's fine on land he really livens up in the water. He is a member of Toyosu Marine Academy's water polo team and works as a lifeguard at the beach in Edogawa Ward. Makara has no alliances, only shows up during events, and is aggressively concerned with other people's safety and wellbeing, which is reflected in his restorative and movement-based skill list.
Webcomics
- Kubera: Makara is an inhabitant of the Sura Realm. In reference to the makara's status as a vahana, he is the second in command of the Gandharva Clan.
- Homestuck: Gamzee Makara's zodiac motif is the capricorn, hence the "makara" part of his name.
