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This question was taunting me since I watched Animal Planet's revelation on Mermaids wikipedia about mermaids I wonder that as we have a great culture and mythology, this fact should be included in that.

Animal planets mermaid video.

Kedarnath
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  • Suvannamaccha( Ravana's daughter) in thai version of Ramayana. – Ankit Sharma Jul 05 '14 at 10:08
  • Wow amazing answer. I was thinking in "Dasavathara" one of the avatara is "masthya" –  Jul 05 '14 at 10:12
  • Is suvannamaccha is described in Ramayana? –  Jul 05 '14 at 10:12
  • Not in the main version. Matsya is also can be a contender. But not sure on it. – Ankit Sharma Jul 05 '14 at 10:17
  • isn’t that Our mythology gave less importance to mermaids compare to western folklore? They seem to have plenty of knowledge about mermaids and stuff. –  Jul 05 '14 at 10:22
  • @AnkitSharma Matsya was just a giant fish, he wasn't a half-man half-fish as sometimes portrayed in art. – Keshav Srinivasan Jul 05 '14 at 17:04
  • @KeshavSrinivasan that's why i didn't added an answer. Because both example are not completely acceptable. – Ankit Sharma Jul 05 '14 at 17:06
  • My question was were mermaids in Hinduism?Because all other mythologies in the world has plenty of stories and folklores. I heard Alexander the great's sister Thessalonike of Macedon is mermaid. Our country is the greatest and one of most respected in the whole world since ancient times, it must contain some knowledge about mermaids and stuff. I am very much interested in knowing about it. –  Jul 06 '14 at 15:02
  • @MaxTechnoware This question is poorly motivated. Is there some reason that you expect there to be mermaids in Hinduism? If not, this question is not really any better than "were there sasquatches in Hinduism?" or "did the Loch Ness monster appear in the Mahabharata?". – senshin Jul 07 '14 at 20:30
  • @senshin hello brother, you mean to say that we need to ask questions like "why lord ganesha has a broken tooth?" or "why there are 365 days in a year" etc etc .. you tell me? I'll change my question according to that. Our mythology is mother of all other mythologies in the world. I hope you understand there is nothing wrong in asking this question. Research on our mythology you may find "Loch Ness". –  Jul 08 '14 at 05:54
  • @MaxTechnoware Our mythology is mother of all other mythologies in the world. - okay, to take an extreme example, do you think it would make sense for me to ask the question "Did the Flying Spaghetti Monster appear in the Ramayana?"? If you think it wouldn't make sense, in what way do you see this question as differing from the one you asked? – senshin Jul 08 '14 at 17:48
  • @senshin Dear friend, I completely agree with you that Flying Spaghetti Monster may not be in Ramayana but there may be similarities between our great mythological characters with other mythological stories around the world, you know what I mean! For example in Mahabharatha Kunthi mother of Karna (who was born with body Armour just like Achilles in Greek mythology.) was blessed with her virginity by Sun God just like description of virgin Mary in Bible. I asked this question purely out of my interest in the subject. Anyway I hope I cleared all the doubts!?!? :) –  Jul 09 '14 at 07:30

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There has been instances of mention of matsyakanyaka or mermaids, such as this "Our mythology speaks of many Vyasas; and it is said that there had been twenty-eight Vyasas before the present Vyasa—Krishna Dvaipayana—took his birth at the end of Dvapara Yuga. Krishna Dvaipayana was born of Parasara Rishi through the Matsyakanya—Satyavathi Devi—under some peculiar and wonderful circumstances."

Reference : Maharshi Vyasa

Kedarnath
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    Satyavati is called a "Matsyakanya" or fish girl, only because she was born from the womb of a fish, not because she was a half-fish half-human. Her body looked fully human. – Keshav Srinivasan Jul 07 '14 at 07:44
  • http://www.hindupedia.com/en/Maharshi_Vyasa,even this link refers to her as matsyakanya. Maybe that is the Indian version of a mermaid. – Smartish_Girl Jul 07 '14 at 07:50
  • I explained to you why she's called Matsyakanya, it's not because of the nature of her body, it's because she came out of a fish. – Keshav Srinivasan Jul 07 '14 at 08:24
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    If you could provide a link to the same, I would edit my answer accordingly. – Smartish_Girl Jul 07 '14 at 09:47