Note 8 — Chapter XIII · The Symbolism of Jade
Reading edition
In India, as a Bengali friend, Mr. Jimut Bahan Sen, M.A., informs me, a native medicine administered to those who are believed to be at the point of death is a mixture of pounded gold and mercury. It is named Makara-dhwaja. The makara8 is in India depicted in a variety of forms. As a composite lion-legged and fish-tailed “wonder beast” resembling the Chinese dragon, it is the vehicle of the god Varuna, as the Babylonian “sea goat” or “antelope fish” is the vehicle of the god Ea or of the god Marduk (Merodach). The makara of the northern Buddhists is likewise a combination of land and sea animals or reptiles, including the dolphin with the head of an elephant, goat, ram, lion, dog, or alligator.9