Symbols representing strength are among the most common, including the khas ( swastika ) and four powerful beasts ( lion, tiger, garuda and dragon ), as well as stylized representations of the five elements ( fire, water, earth, metal, and wood ), considered to be the fundamental, unchanging elements of the cosmos.

On prayer flags and paper prints, windhorses usually appear in the company of the four animals of the cardinal directions, which are " an integral part of the rlung ta composition ": garuda or kyung, and dragon in the upper corners, and tiger and snow lion in the lower corners.

The nyen then is made to see his mistake by a mediator and compensates Khri-to's six sons with the gift of the tiger, yak, garuda, dragon, goat, and dog.

In this context the snow lion, garuda and dragon represent the Ling ( wylie: Gling ) community from which Gesar comes, while the tiger represents the family of the Tagrong ( wylie: sTag rong ), Gesar's paternal uncle.

They are marked by animals that represent the day, galon ( garuda ) for Sunday ( ta nin ganway ), tiger for Monday ( ta nin la ), lion for Tuesday ( in ga ), tusked elephant for Wednesday a. m .( bouddahu ), tuskless elephant for Wednesday p. m. ( yahu ), mouse for Thursday ( kyatha baday ), guinea pig for Friday ( thaukkya ) and naga ( mythical dragon / serpent ) for Saturday ( sanay ).

The middle section of the retaining wall is decorated with life size garuda and lions ; towards either end are the two parts of the famous parade of elephants complete with their Khmer mahouts.

In Indian legend the garuda on which Vishnu rides is the king of birds ( Benfey, Panchatantra, 98 ).

The fourth enclosure wall bears 5 m garuda s holding naga ( mythology ) | naga s. Buddha images in the niches above were destroyed in the anti-Buddhist reaction of Jayavarman VIII.

Khmer motifs use many creatures from Buddhist and Hindu mythology, like the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, use motifs such as the garuda, a mythical bird in Hinduism.

Some mythical creatures are believed to act as divine mounts, such as garuda in Hinduism and the winged horse Pegasus in Greek mythology.

Gustav Bickell, 1876 ), the simurgh takes the place of the garuda, while Ibn al-Molaffa ( Calila et Dimna, ed.

Like the tengu, the garuda are often portrayed in a human-like form with wings and a bird's beak.

The name tengu seems to be written in place of that of the garuda in a Japanese sutra called the Emmyō Jizō Kyō ( 延命地蔵経 ), but this was likely written in the Edo period, long after the tengu's image was established.

In other respects, however, the tengu's original behavior differs markedly from that of the garuda, which is generally friendly towards Buddhism.

De Visser has speculated that the tengu may be descended from an ancient Shinto bird-demon which was syncretized with both the garuda and the tiāngoǔ when Buddhism arrived in Japan.

The seal was first designed in 1940, later a garuda as the symbol of Thailand and the name of the province were added.

Relief of Vishnu on garuda carved directly out of the brick walls.

The east facing gopura, in particular, has well-preserved garuda images on its corners.

The garuda of the Cymek speak an unnamed language.

The garuda are nomadic humanoid birds of prey.

A small ghetto of garuda live in New Crobuzon, and a few are described as living near the Cacotopic Stain in Iron Council.

But more conventionally, the karura ( garuda ) is depicted as a winged being with human torso and avian head, as in the Vajra Hall () section of the Womb Realm mandala () and other iconographic books and scrolls.

The karura ( garuda ) mask is one of the stock character masks worn by performers of the ancient Japanese courtly dance art of gigaku.

( If a dragon or a sea monster came along, didn't he have a red Swiss hunting knife on his belt -- ten blades and a corkscrew??

The word dragon entered the English language in the early 13th century from Old French dragon, which in turn comes from Latin draconem ( nominative draco ) meaning " huge serpent, dragon ," from the Greek word δράκων, drakon ( genitive drakontos, δράκοντος ) " serpent, giant seafish ", which is believed to have come from an earlier stem drak -, a stem of derkesthai, " to see clearly ," from Proto-Indo-European derk-" to see " or " the one with the ( deadly ) glance.

Although dragons occur in many legends around the world, different cultures have varying stories about monsters that have been grouped together under the dragon label.

The name for the top is therefore " Dragonshell " ( Ryuko / 竜甲 )( the Asian dragon is believed to have a shell like a turtle ), the lower part is called the " Dragonstomach " ( Ryuhara / 竜腹 ), one end of the koto, noticeable because of the removable colorful fabricshell, is known as the " Dragonhead ".

The Komodo dragon was believed to have differentiated from its Australian ancestors 4 million years ago.

The Komodo dragon does not have an acute sense of hearing, despite its visible earholes, and is only able to hear sounds between 400 and 2000 hertz.

The Komodo dragon may have evolved to feed on the extinct dwarf elephant Stegodon that once lived on Flores, according to evolutionary biologist Jared Diamond.

Even if the lizards have venomlike proteins in their mouths, Schwenk argues, they may be using them for a different function, and he doubts that venom is necessary to explain the effect of a Komodo dragon bite, arguing that shock and blood loss are the primary factors.

On December 20, 2006, it was reported that Flora, a captive Komodo dragon living in the Chester Zoo in England, was the second known Komodo dragon to have laid unfertilized eggs: she laid 11 eggs, and seven of them hatched, all of them male.

Volcanic activity, earthquakes, loss of habitat, fire, loss of prey due to poaching, tourism, and illegal poaching of the dragons themselves have all contributed to the vulnerable status of the Komodo dragon.

On 4 August 1933, the Courier published as a full news item the assertion of a London man, George Spicer, that a few weeks earlier while motoring around the Loch, he and his wife had seen " the nearest approach to a dragon or pre-historic animal that I have ever seen in my life ", trundling across the road toward the Loch carrying " an animal " in its mouth.

He claimed to have heard from multiple independent sources about a creature living in the Congo region which was described as " half elephant, half dragon.

After all players have set their original hand they are asked in turn if they would like to place another bet to play the dragon hand.

The traditional legends have offered a historicised narration of George's encounter with a dragon: see " St. George and the Dragon " below.

Certain descriptions in The Hobbit seem to have been lifted straight out of Beowulf with some minor rewording, such as when each dragon stretches out its neck to sniff for intruders.

Some species such as the Nile Tilapia, Australian skink lizard, and Australian dragon lizard have sex determined by chromosomes, but this can later be switched by the temperature of incubation.

La Gargouille is said to have been the typical dragon with batlike wings, a long neck, and the ability to breathe fire from its mouth.

The venom of the serpent is thought to have a fiery quality similar to a fire spitting dragon.

Ancalagon the Black is considered to have been the greatest dragon of Middle-earth, undoubtedly the largest, and is often referred to as the ‘ father of the winged-drakes ’.

The presence of dragons within Chinese culture dates back several thousands of years with the discovery of a dragon statue dating back to the fifth millennium BC from the Yangshao culture in Henan in 1987, and jade badges of rank in coiled form have been excavated from the Hongshan culture circa 4700-2900 BC.

The modern Chinese word for dinosaur is konglong ( 恐龍, meaning " terrible dragon "), and villagers in central China have long unearthed fossilized " dragon bones " for use in traditional medicines, a practice that continues today.