The kalaśas are however not the only point of origin of the scrolling vegetal forms bearing lush foliage, buds and blossoms, for they also spring from the open jaws of paired monstrous creatures, known as makaras. Often rendered with scaly undulating bodies, these are described as river or sea monsters invested with a tutelary function. Marine hybrids, the legendary makaras cross over from the vegetative world into animal exuberance, forming the basis for a multiplication of symbolic images and ideas vaguely associated with the entire complex of aquatic mythology. The creatures’ heads in profile – portrayed with large almond-shaped eyes, elongated gaping proboscis-like snouts with raised upper lips ending in curled tips and projecting tongues – are depicted as issuing exquisitely intricate vines. Since the frieze framing the portal describes a continuous flow that winds through the monstrous jaws, the vegetation may be seen as both outpouring and inflowing. Paired molded ruff-like collars set just before the small rounded ears, folded to the back, separate the makara heads from their bodies which, in turn, merge with the vines. At the apex above the lintel the makara heads come to face each other, their gaping mouths bearing scrolls that entwine to form a loop and terminate in lotus buds enclosing pinwheel rosettes in the interstices.

Excerpt from “Appendix,” in: Monsters or Bearers of Life-Giving Powers? Trans-Religious Migrations of an Ancient Western Asian Symbolism. With a Foreword by Lokesh Chandra (New Delhi: Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts 2016), 75–80, 101–104.