Mara

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Mara may mean:

Contents

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[edit] Zoology

[edit] Demographics

  • Mara people, in southern part of Mizoram, a state of the Republic of India and Chin State and Rakhine State of western part of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma
  • Mara people (Australia), an Australian Aboriginal tribe
  • Mara Salvatrucha, a violent street gang in Central America and the United States.
  • Maravar a dominant caste of people in Tamil Nadu state in India.

[edit] People

[edit] Geography

  • Mara, Tanzania, an administrative region of Tanzania
  • Mara, Italy, an Italian commune in the province of Sassari in the island of Sardinia
  • Mara, South Africa, a small town in South Africa
  • Mara River, a river of Kenya and Tanzania
  • Masai Mara, a reserve near the Mara River
  • Mara River (Romania), a river in Romania
  • Mara, Spain, a municipality (pop. 199) in the Spanish province of Zaragoza or Saragossa, in the autonomous community of Aragon

[edit] Religion / Mythology / Cultural History

  • In the Bible, Naomi called herself Mara, meaning "bitterness", after she suffered the deaths of her husband and her two sons; see Book of Ruth.
  • Mara is a Sanskrit and Pali word meaning death-bringing or the destroying.
    • Mara (Hindu goddess): goddess of death according to Hindu mythology
    • Mara (demon): a "demon" of the Buddhist cosmology, the personification of Temptation.
    • Sri Mara or Mara Varma is an honorific title of Pandya kings of South India
    • In Hindu mythology, Valmiki was told to chant mara as a mantra which meant kill as he was a villain and it pleased him to chant this. Valmiki found himself chanting rama rama rama which is the name of God instead of mara mara mara, and thus was enlightened.

[edit] Fiction

  • The Mara (Doctor Who), an evil being in two Doctor Who serials, Kinda and Snakedance.
  • A Celtic shamaness known for moving barefoot on any surface.
  • Marller ("Mara"), a demon in the manga and anime series Oh My Goddess!
  • Mara Jade, a fictional character in the Star Wars Expanded Universe
  • the lead character in the Raymond E. Feist / Janny Wurts "Empire" Trilogy (Daughter of the Empire, Servant of the Empire, Mistress of the Empire).
  • One of the two homeworlds of the Exotics in the Childe Cycle, written by Gordon R. Dickson
  • A Goddess in the video game series The Elder Scrolls, worshipped in nearly all the various religions as a mother goddess and goddess of love
  • "Mara, Lord of Illusion", a powerful character in Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light
  • a sorceress from the planet Sagar, the central planet featured in the Filmation animated series, BlackStar.
  • in the fiction of David Eddings, see Deities in The Belgariad
  • Mara (comics) is a character in the Micronauts comic book series published by Marvel Comics.
  • Mara is the main character in the book Mara: Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw.
  • In the game Freespace 2, the SF Mara is a fast and agile Shivan fighter. Although only lightly armed and has a low hull strength, its powerful shield and high maneuverability makes up for its weaknesses. When deployed in squadrons, it easily overwhelms other craft if left unchecked.
  • Mara is a character in Austrian writer Ingeborg Bachmann's "A Step Towards Gomorrah," a narrative about two women contemplating a lesbian relationship
  • Mara is the antagonist of Disneyland's Indiana Jones Adventure attraction

[edit] Organisations

[edit] Popular Culture

[edit] Dentistry

  • MARA, an appliance mounted to the molars used to correct an over/underbite

[edit] Law

  • MARA (Law), the Michigan Antitrust Reform Act, passed in 1984.