MAKARA: (INDIA)

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This elephant-headed sea beast is considered by some to be a benevolent sea deity and by others to be a bizarre aquatic offshoot of the land based Pachyderm family.

Hailing from the vast subcontinent of India are tales of a bizarre SEA MONSTER known as the Makara. Occasionally associated with the Gambian SEA-ELEPHANT, these creatures are said to have the head of an elephant — with the exception of a few pieces of early art, where its features were depicted as those of a crocodile or antelope — attached to the body of a colossal, whale-like fish.

Dwelling in the Indian Ocean, the Makara is traditionally looked upon as a powerful deity, which was capable of harming or guarding seafarers, depending upon its whims. Many scholars naturally assume that the tales of the Makara are nothing more than myths based upon ancient eyewitness accounts of Indian elephants swimming off the coast of India, as they are sometimes known to do.

This having been said, there are some researchers who have suggested that the Makara may be, in fact, a unique species of aquatic Pachyderm like the Congolese WATER ELEPHANT, which supposedly took to the seas at about the same time that ancient cetaceans were sacrificing their legs in favor of flippers.

Still other researchers have been compelled to look across the vast stretch of the Indian Ocean toward South Africa, where, in 1922, a large, hairy, lobster-tailed, aquatic beast, bearing an elephantine trunk — thus earning it the designation of TRUNKO — washed up on the shores of Margate beach in the KwaZulu-Natal area.

These researchers have speculated that this as yet unidentified animal, which has allegedly been encountered throughout the southern hemisphere, may be responsible for the legends of the Makara.

It should be noted that natives living near the mountainous freshwater rivers and streams of Thailand tell legends of highly venomous AQUATIC ENIGMAS known as THAI WATER ELEPHANTS, which — unlike most pachyderms — are said to be just an inch in height.

These mysterious, miniature elephants — which are said to have left behind mummified remains — live in packs and spend their entire lives swimming in murky streams which weave their way through the dense Thailand jungle. It is also believed that their tusks are are filled with enough venom to kill a man long after the tiny animal’s death, which is why people who have brushes with this beast rarely live long enough to tell their fascinating stories.

While many modern Makara sightings may well be examples of misidentified elephants, there are more than a few investigators who feel that this HYBRID BEAST may well represent the most unique species of sea mammal ever recorded.

© Copyright Rob Morphy 2002 — 2011

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