Vayu(Air): the whispers of life
The Makara Pendant is being examined through the elements of Hindu mythology, which are similar to alchemist depictions of elements in Europe. The elements portrayed in this story are the basic elements of all cosmic creation in Pancha Bhoota (The great Elements in Hinduism).
This unique pendant is also a whistle. Looking at Tibetan drawings of Makaras, in which Makaras were not only shapeshifters but blended into the air and water, blowing air into the snout of the Makara Pendant is paramount to the object’s function and agency. A characteristic of a whistle is that it converts energy flow to sound - in the case of the Makara Pendant, from the wearer’s life force of air into the Makara itself. At that moment, the performance of this act in which the wearer transfers air into the object, means breathing life into it.
On ships, whistles were often used to signal calls to the crew, and they generated sounds from a great distance. This is indicative of what the high-ranking naval officer would wear; although very precious, the Makara pendant would be used in the same manner, though it also has a deep-rooted connection to the divine.
Rising from the seas after the whisper of air, the Makara-shaped pendant viciously protects the wearer from danger.
Europeans started using an Indian deity as a protector to deal with the unknown faraway waters of the Indian Ocean by beating the ocean with its own creatures. With this, the pendant is a vessel for an actual Makara, so when the wearer would blow life into it, the Makara would travel the realms and help the high-ranking naval officer in its voyage against any danger.
The pendant will probably never be whistled, as it is currently part of a museum collection, and the Makara in the divine plane will not be able to cross into the human realm to do its duty. This is why the fifth element, Akasha/Dyaus (Space), has not been elaborated on.
The fifth element is still present when the audience sees the grandeur, intricate details, and ferocious face of the Makara pendant. The golden glow attracts people to it, the details of its gems sparkling with artificial lights. However, without a wearer it seems lost, like a ghost in between Akashas, without the adventure of the seas or the storms, without the companionship that it once created, without the warmth it craves inside a glass box with artificial lighting and passing guests.
It is a phantom of what it once was.