It first appears in a seal in the Indus Valley– a fearsome sea creature that overturns ships going on ocean voyages.

Every subsequent text, ranging from the Puranas to the Jatakas talk about the gruesome makara that kills voyaging sailors.

No wonder early Indians developed a distaste for ocean crossings and forbade caste Brahmins to cross the oceans.

In most cultures, the makara was associated with both good and evil, strength and fear, fertility and destruction.

Temples all over Southeast Asia have the makara thorana: a garland that begins at the mouth of two makaras on either side of the temple entrance and joining to become a kirtimukha (ghoulish face or ‘face of glory’) in the centre.  The makara is linked to the kirtimukha or the face of glory through this story.

The gory lion-faced kirtimukha takes on the dangerous qualities while the makara grows gentle, tamasic, old, leaning towards death.

No wonder, in Hindu astrology, the makara is the sign for Capricorn, the door of the gods.

After pralaya comes rebirth, the beginning, dawn, and creation, hence the association of the makara with fertility.