⇝WATER⇜

MATSYA

Matsya is the Fish Incarnation of the Hindu God Vishnu. Often described as the first of Vishnu's Ten Primary Incarnations, Matsya is described to have rescued the first man Manu from a great deluge. Matsya may be depicted as a giant fish, often golden in color, or anthropomorphically with the torso of Vishnu connected to the rear half of a fish.

MAKARA

Makara is a legendary sea-creature in Hindu mythology. In Hindu astrology, Makara is equivalent to the Zodiac sign Capricorn. Makara appears as the vahana (vehicle) of the river goddess Ganga, Narmada and of the sea god Varuna. Makara are considered guardians of gateways and thresholds, protecting throne rooms as well as entryways to temples; it is the most commonly recurring creature in Hindu and Buddhist temple iconography, and also frequently appears as a Gargoyle or as a spout attached to a natural spring. Makara-shaped earrings called Makara kundalas are sometimes worn by the Hindu gods, for example Shiva, the Destroyer, or the Preserver-god Vishnu, the Sun god Surya, and the Mother Goddess Chandi. Makara is also the insignia of the love god Kamadeva, who has no dedicated temples and is also known as Makaradhvaja, "one whose flag depicts a makara''.

VITRA

Vritra is a Vedic serpent, dragon or demon in Hinduism, the personification of drought and adversary of Indra. Vritra is identified as an asura. Vritra was also known in the Vedas as Ahi. He appears as a dragon blocking the course of the rivers and is heroically slain by Indra.

THE RAINBOW FISH

In Hinduism, the Rainbow Fish was a legend about a fish that was as large as a whale. It ate Buddha, an incarnation of the deity Vishnu, but then was caught and killed by fishermen who freed Buddha from its stomach. After the Rainbow Fish was caught, it provided an entire nation with food for a year.

⇝LAND⇜

AIRAVATA

Airavata is a white elephant who carries the deity Indra. It is also called 'abhra-Matanga', meaning "elephant of the clouds"; 'Naga-malla', meaning "the fighting elephant"; and 'Arkasodara', meaning "brother of the sun". 'Abhramu' is the elephant wife of Airavata. Airavata has ten tusks and five trunks and is spotless white.  Airavata is also the third son of Iravati. In the Mahabharata he is listed as a great serpent.

YALI

Yali is a mythical creature seen in many South Indian temples, often sculpted onto the pillars. It may be portrayed as part lion, part elephant and part horse, and in similar shapes. Also, it has been sometimes described as a leogryph (part lion and part griffin), with some bird-like features.

Descriptions of and references to yalis are very old, but they became prominent in south Indian sculpture in the 16th century. Yalis were believed to be more powerful than the lion, the tiger or the elephant.

KAMADHENU

Kamadhenu, also known as Surabhi, is a divine bovine-goddess described in Hinduism as Gou Mata "cow mother". She is a miraculous cow of plenty who provides her owner whatever he desires and is often portrayed as the mother of other cattle. In iconography, she is generally depicted as a white cow with a female head and breasts, the wings of a bird, and the tail of a peafowl or as a white cow containing various deities within her body. Cow veneration in Hinduism is directed at the earthly embodiment of the Kamadhenu. As such, Kamadhenu is not worshipped independently as a goddess; rather, she is honored by the veneration of cows in general by subsets of the Hindu population.

ICHCHADHARI NAAG

Ichchadhari Naags (female: Ichchadhari Naagins) are mythical shape-shifting cobras in Indian folklore. They are great devotees of Lord Shiva.

SARAMA

In Hindu mythology, Sarama is a mythological being referred to as the female dog of the gods, or Deva-shun. She first appears in one of Hinduism's earliest texts, the Rig Veda, in which she helps the king of the gods Indra to recover divine cows stolen by the Panis, a class of demons. This legend is alluded to in many later texts, and Sarama is often associated with Indra. The epic Mahabharata, and some Puranas, also make brief reference to Sarama.

SUPRATIKA

In Hindu ancient epic there were three elephants by the name Supratika. The foremost among them is listed as one of the Diggajas, each representing the eight quarters. The Hindu epic Mahabharata describes two more elephants by the same name – an elephant that was an incarnation of a sage, and the one that belonged to Bhagadatta, the king of Pragjyotisha.

UCHCHAIHSHRAVAS

In Hinduism, Uchchaihshravas is a seven-headed flying horse, created during the churning of the milk ocean. It is considered the best of horses, prototype and king of horses. Uchchaihshravas is often described as a vahana ("vehicle") of Indra (the king of gods), but is also recorded to be the horse of Bali, the king of Asuras (demons). Uchchaihshravas is said to be snow white in colour.

⇝AIR⇜

GARUDA

Garuda , also Galon or Nan Belu in Burmese and Karura in Japanese, is a legendary bird or bird-like creature in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain faith. He is variously the vehicle mount (vahana) of the Hindu god Vishnu, a dharma-protector and Astasena in Buddhism, and the Yaksha of the Jain Tirthankara Shantinatha. The Brahminy kite is considered as the contemporary representation of Garuda.

GANDABERUNDA

The Gandaberunda or Berunda, or Bheruṇḍa is a two-headed bird in Hindu mythology, believed to possess immense magical strength. It is a form of Vishnu to fight Sharabha, a form of Shiva created to pacify and calm down Vishnu's lion-man Narasimha avatar.

SHARABHA

Sharabha or Sarabha is a part-lion and part-bird beast in Hindu mythology, who, according to Sanskrit literature, is eight-legged and more powerful than a lion or an elephant, possessing the ability to clear a valley in one jump. In later literature, Sharabha is described as an eight-legged deer.

CHAKORA

Chakora, is the Crow-pheasant, is a legendary bird described in Hindu mythology. It is believed to reside upon the beams of the moon, that is, the Chandra. The association of Chakora and Chandra has given rise to a number of folk love stories in north India. In the Mahabharata, when Kuchela was on his way to meet Krishna, he saw the Chakora pakshi. He was a rich man by the time he reached his house after meeting Krishna. So the Chakora pakshi is believed to bring good luck.

HAMSA

The hamsa is an aquatic migratory bird, referred to in ancient Sanskrit texts which various scholars have interpreted as being based on the goose, the swan, or even the flamingo. Its image is used in Indian and Southeast Asian culture as a spiritual symbol and a decorative element. It is also used in a metaphorical sense with the bird attributed with the mythical ability to extract milk from a mixture of milk and water or good from evil. In Hindu iconography, hamsa is the vahana (or vehicle) of Brahma, Gayatri, Saraswati, and Vishvakarma.

⇝ABSTRACT⇜

DAKINI

The concept of the ḍākinī somewhat differs depending on the context and the tradition. For instance, in earlier Hindu texts and East Asian esoteric Buddhism, the term denotes a race of demonesses who ate the flesh and/or vital essence of humans. In Hindu Tantric literature, Ḍākinī is the name of a goddess often associated with one of the six chakras or the seven fundamental elements of the human body. In Nepalese and Tibetan Buddhism, meanwhile, 'ḍākinī' (also wisdom ḍākinī) can refer to both what can be best described as fierce-looking female embodiments of enlightened energy and to human women with a certain amount of spiritual development.

JAMBAVAN

In Hinduism, Jambavana also known as Jambavanta is the divine-king of bears, created by the god Brahma to assist the avatar Rama in his struggle against the Lanka king Ravana. Jambavanta is an Asian black bear or sloth bear in Indian epic tradition, though he is also described as a monkey in other scriptures. Jambavana was present at the churning of the ocean and is supposed to have circled Vamana seven times when he was acquiring the three worlds from Mahabali.

NAVAGUNJARA

In the Hindu epic Mahabharata, Navagunjara or Nabagunjara is a creature composed of nine different animals. The animal is a common motif in the Pata-Chitra style of painting, of the Indian state of Odisha. The beast is considered a form of the Hindu god Vishnu, or of Krishna, who is considered an Avatar (incarnation) of Vishnu. It is considered a variant of the virat-rupa (Omnipresent or vast) form of Krishna, that he displays to Arjuna, as mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita, a part of the epic Mahabharata.

GAJASIMHA

The gajasimha or gajasiha is a mythical hybrid animal in Hindu mythology, appearing as a sinha or rajasiha (mythical lion) with the head or trunk of an elephant. It is found as a motif in Indian and Sinhalese art,[1] and is used as a heraldic symbol in some Southeast Asian countries, especially Cambodia and Thailand. In Siam (pre-modern Thailand), the gajasimha served as the symbol of the kalahom, one of the king's two chief chancellors. It appears as a supporter in the coat of arms of Siam, in use from 1873 to 1910, and the royal arms of Cambodia, officially adopted in 1993.

KANJIROTTU YAKSHI

Kanjirottu Yakshi (Sreedevi) is a folkloric vampire. According to the myth, she was born into an affluent Nair tharavad by name Mangalathu at Kanjiracode in Southern Travancore (now in Tamil Nadu). Being a ravishingly beautiful courtesan she had an intimate relationship with Raman Thampi, son of King Rama Varma and rival of Anizhom Thirunal Marthanda Varma. According to the story, she was murdered by her servant and she turned into a Yakshi, (a class of mythical beings in Malayalam folklore) waylaying men with her beauty and drinking their blood.

KIRTIMUKHA

Kirtimukha is the name of a swallowing fierce monster face with huge fangs, and gaping mouth, very common in the iconography of Hindu temple architecture in India and Southeast Asia, and often also found in Buddhist architecture.

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