This myth is not found in our regular text Myths of the Asanas, but there is a story about the dolphin in Hindu mythology, so I will tell you about it. I discovered it after finding a picture of the Hindu goddess Ganga riding on a water creature. Here’s what I found about the water creature and the story:
This water monster is called in sanskrit makara. It means crocodile, but I also found that it could be a representation of a river dolphin which has a long snout and sharp rows of teeth that resemble a crocodile.
The Ganges River Dolphin is a real creature primarily found in the Ganges and Brahmaputra Rivers and their tributaries in India, Bangladesh and Nepal.
All dolphins are mammals rather than fish and thus need to breath air, although they can dive for a long periods of time. River dolphins live in fresh water unlike the salt sea dolphins with which we are more acquainted. River dolphins have very long beaks, are slow swimmers so they have rather floppy appendages, nondescript color patterning, and a small pinhole eye, and thus functionally blind. All of these features are considered adaptations to living in an environment where the water is typically shallow and very turbid. The Ganges river Dolphin has been recognized by the government of India as its National Aquatic Animal. Several varieties of river dolphins are threatened with extinction at the present, including the Ganges River Dolphin.
In mythology, the river dolphin or a crocodile was the vehicle to transport goddess Ganga from heaven to earth. The Ganges river is considered sacred in India and as the story goes, Ganga flowed only in heaven until ordered to come to earth. Not wanting to, she threatened to flood the whole world. The gods were so afraid of her that they sought the help of Shiva. Shiva broke the fall of Ganga by capturing her in his mighty locks of hair. Since then, Ganga resides on top of Shiva’s head as his second wife. In drawings of Ganga, the Ganges river queen, she is seen riding on the long-beaked water creature, Makara, carrying a lotus among other things.
The river dolphin was the vehicle to safely transport Ganga so she would flow on earth. We will use Makarasana, dolphin pose as a safe approach to headstand. It builds up the muscles needed to do headstand, and helps get alignment principles in place before worrying about balance, and for those for whom headstand is not appropriate, dolphin is a great alternative. Makarasana is also a great modification for Down Dog when the pressure and intensity is too much for the wrists or hands.
Pictures and reference information from here, here, and here.
