Week 13 Story: Makara Microfiction

 


1. Makara the Mythical Creature

Makara is said to be a mythical creature
being part crocodile and part dolphin.
Makara symbolizes strength, growth, beauty,
and pushes us to outgrow fear in facing problems.
Perhaps this is why Makara allows Ganga, The River Goddess, 
to ride upon his back.
As she carries the souls of the dead closer to liberation from the cycle of life and death,
which requires the most strength, growth, and beauty.
Makara gladly is the vehicle for Ganga,
and both mythical beings reside together in the river.

2. Makara Carries the Souls

Makara obeys Ganga, his goddess.
One day, Ganga married a handsome king, Santanu.
Makara remained in the river, 
waiting for Ganga's return.
Many nights later, Ganga returned to Makara carrying a beautiful baby boy.
"Take this child to the heavens, Makara. Give his soul strength to carry on."
Makara took the baby and brought him to the heavens to be with Indra.
Makara did this seven more times for Ganga.
When Ganga brought Makara the eighth child, Santanu begged her to spare the child.
She agreed, but took the child for a short period of time,
and returned to Makara, where they dived into the river.

3. Makara the Protector

Makara is always in the water, never appearing on land.
People would travel on the river and Makara would watch them,
protecting them from demons that might lurk about.
The people saw Makara and feared him, as he was an unknown creature.
They began to carve Makara onto their boats and their oars, 
in hope that Makara was indeed a protector.
They even began to add Makara to the gates of their temples,
as they noticed whenever Makara was around, all travel was well.
To this day, Makara continues to watch and keep evil forces at bay.

Author's Note: I began by rereading my notes I took about Ganga and her vahana, Makara. This allowed me to nitpick details I wanted to try and write about in my first attempt at microfiction. I specifically used details from the beginning of The Mahabharata, where Ganga marries King Santanu and sacrifices her children, who were actually human forms of Indra's attendants. By sacrificing them, their souls would return to the heavens to return to Indra. I also pulled information that I have read while doing my research for my storybook, which is about vahanas!

Bibliography: Narayan, R K. The Mahabharata. The University of Chicago Press, 1978.

Comments

  1. Hi Ashley!
    I really enjoyed how you chose to do the concept of writing microfictions. I think that it is super creative and a fun way to write little short stories. I also really liked the layout of your website it was super sleek and easy to navigate. Keep up the good work and I hope you have a great rest of your semester.

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