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Indian Mythical Creatures II


My earlier post “Indian Mythical Creatures” stated the similarities between the mythical beings of India and that of the western countries. Now I have found more similarities. These mythical beings are very commonly seen but we ignore them. Hollywood filmmakers still use these creatures in movies and hence they are part of the Popular Culture just like ware-wolf and vampires and witches. These are Griffin, Sphinx, dragons etc. They also had Indian counterparts as well. But as we have not preserved and presented them in movies properly these creatures and unknown. The European creatures and their Indian counterparts are as follows:

Indian Griffin


Griffin(European):- Griffins are partly eagle and partly lion with body of lion but wings and head of an eagle. These creatures were and still are used in emblems, coat of arms of European countries and also in stories and movies like Harry Potter series.


Sharabha [शरभ]:-  This Indian counterpart of Griffin is mentioned in the Hindu epic of Mahabharata and many other texts. This creature is described as a lion with wings of an eagle and sometimes also said that it had a face of an elephant, there are variations depending upon different texts, drawings & sculptures.
 In a text it is mentioned that when Narsimha, the 4th avatar/incarnation of Hindu god Lord Vishnu was raged and not in control, Hindu god Shiva took the form of Sharabha to calm him.
In Mahabharata, it says a dog transformed into a tiger, then elephant, lion and finally a sharabha with help of a sage. If ancient Indians were advanced then this could be a genetic engineering and sharabha could be a chimera.
Sharabha was used by many kingdoms and empires in their emblems. Presently it exists in seals, emblems and logos of Karnataka State and Mysore University.


Eagles with Two Heads


Two headed Eagle:- The two headed eagle was used as the emblem of many Empires including Holy Roman Empire and Russian Empire. It is still used in emblems and coat of arms of Russian Federation and many European countries.



Gandaberunda:- This is the Indian version of the above bird. With the same description it was used in emblems of many Indian nations like Mysore state, Vijaynagara Empire etc. It is still used in Karnataka state seal. I had seen the bird design inside Mangeshi Temple, Goa. That time I thought it might be there because of Portuguese influence. But later realized that it was mentioned in Hindu scriptures as well. When Lord Shiva took the form of sharabha to calm down Narsimha, the Narsimha took form of this bird. Hence the bird is symbol of the Hindu god.


Indian Sphinx


Sphinx:- Everyone knows about the Egyptian sphinx who is created to guard the treasures in the tombs of kings inside pyramid. But it had European, Persian and Indian counterparts as well. The Indian sphinx is said to be the guard of Hindu temples and prevent evil from entering temples. Usually it is at the entrance of the temple. Sometimes it is also shown guarding the Shiva-linga inside the temple. In short, its work is to guard important things.
Egyptian Sphinx


European Sphinx

I know where you are looking at 
Persian Sphinx
Indian Sphinx


Indian Dragon


Dragons:-  Unlike Europeans and East Asians like Chinese and Japanese, Indian dragons are not very popular but it is said that Vritra – a demon who was killed by Indra the king of heaven was a dragon like creature. Also it is said that in ancient world(India) snakes had bat like wings. Co-incidentally Chinese refer their dragons as ‘snakes with wings’. So it might be a possibility that they were same creatures.
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