Mara or MARA may refer to:

Animals

Mara (mammal) Maras, subfamily Dolichotinae, are a group of rodents in the family Caviidae. These large relatives of guinea pigs are common in the Patagonian steppes of Argentina, but also live in Paraguay and elsewhere in South America. There are two extan ...

, a species of the cavy family * Mara the Lioness, in the movie ''Born Free''

Arts and entertainment

Fictional characters

* Mara (''Doctor Who''), an evil being in two ''Doctor Who'' serials *Mara, a fictional planet of Procyon in the ''

Childe Cycle The ''Childe Cycle'' is an unfinished series of science fiction novels by Canadian writer Gordon R. Dickson. The name Childe Cycle is an allusion to "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came", a poem by Robert Browning, which provided inspiration for ...

'' of Gordon R. Dickson * Mara (She-Ra), fictional characters from the ''She-Ra and the Princesses of Power'' and ''The New Adventures of He-Man'' animated series *Mara, leader of the Acoma Clan and heroine of the "

Empire Trilogy The ''Empire'' Trilogy is a collaborative trilogy of political fantasy novels by American writers Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts, set in the fictional world of Kelewan. Novels The trilogy traces the story of Mara of the Acoma's rise to power f ...

" by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts *

Mara Jade Mara Jade Skywalker is a fictional character in the '' Star Wars'' franchise. She appears in the now non-canon ''Legends'' series as the wife of Luke Skywalker and mother of Ben Skywalker. She has been voiced by Heidi Shannon, Edie Mirman and K ...

, in the Star Wars Expanded Universe *Mara Sewell, a fictional character in ''The Shield'', portrayed by Michele Hicks *Mara Sov, a fictional character in the video game ''Destiny'' *Mara Wade, title character of '' Mara of the Wilderness'', a 1965 adventure film *Mara Dyer, title character in the Mara Dyer trilogy by Michelle Hodkin

Other uses in arts and entertainment

* ''Mara'' (album), a 1995 album by Scottish band Runrig *'' Mara (film)'', a 2018 American supernatural horror film starring Olga Kurylenko *''Mara'', an 1894 novel by

Ioan Slavici Ioan Slavici (; 18 January 1848 – 17 August 1925) was a Romanians, Romanian writer and journalist from Hungary, later from Romania. He made his debut in ''Convorbiri literare'' ("Literary Conversations") (1871), with the comedy ''Fata de biră ...

* Dance Club Mara, a formation dance team, Minsk, Belarus

Cultural and language groupings

* Mara (Tagin), a tribe in Arunachal Pradesh *

Mara language Mara is a Kuki-Chin language spoken by Mara people, mostly the Tlosaih tribe living in 30 villages of Chhimtuipui district, southern Mizoram, India and the adjacent villages in Burma. The Mara (Tlosaih) languages belong to the Kuki-Chin bra ...

, a language spoken by the Mara people of India and Burma **

Mara people The Mara are the native inhabitants of Mizoram in India, native to northeastern India, primarily in the Mara Autonomous District Council of the state of Mizoram, where they form the majority of the population. The Maras are related to Kuki and ...

* Maric languages, a group of Aboriginal Australian languages also known as Mara or Maran * Marra language, an Aboriginal Australian language (also known as Mara) **

Marra people The Marra, formerly sometimes referred to as Mara, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory. Language Multilingualism was the norm in pre-contact Aboriginal Australia, though one's primary group identity was formed by the ...

, an Aboriginal Australian people

Folklore, mythology, and religion

Mara (demon) Mara ( sa, मार, '; si, මාරයා; or ; ja, 魔羅, Mara; also マーラ, ''Māra'' or 天魔, ''Tenma''; Tibetan Wylie: ''bdud''; km, មារ; my, မာရ်နတ်; th, มาร, Vietnamese: ma rà), in Buddhism, is ...

, in Buddhism *

Mara (folklore) A mare ( ang, mære, odt, mare, ; in Old High German, Old Norse, and Swedish) is a malicious entity in Germanic and Slavic folklore that rides on people's chests while they sleep, bringing on nightmares.Bjorvand and Lindeman (2007), pp. 719� ...

, a wraith-like creature in Germanic and Scandinavian folklore *

Mara (Hindu goddess) Mara or Mrityu Devi is a Sanskrit word meaning "death" or any personification thereof. In Hinduism, Mara is the goddess of death and offerings would be placed at her altar. Though much less popular, some sects of worship do exist in India. Her co ...

of death *Mara, anagram of Rama, for

Valmiki Valmiki (; Sanskrit: वाल्मीकि, ) is celebrated as the harbinger-poet in Sanskrit literature. The epic ''Ramayana'', dated variously from the 5th century BCE to first century BCE, is attributed to him, based on the attributio ...

to chant in Hindu mythology *

Marzanna Marzanna (in Polish), Morė (in Lithuanian), Marena (in Russian), Mara (in Ukrainian), Morana (in Czech, Slovene and Serbo-Croatian), Morena (in Slovak and Macedonian) or Mora (in Bulgarian) is a pagan Slavic goddess associated with seasonal r ...

or Mara, Slavic goddess *

Māra Māra is the highest-ranking goddess in Latvian mythology, Mother Earth, a feminine counterpart to Dievs. She takes spirits after death. She may be thought as the alternate side of Dievs (like in Yin and Yang). Other Latvian goddesses, somet ...

, Latvian goddess

Military and transport

MARA (anti-tank weapon) The MARA is a portable one-shot 78 mm unguided anti-tank weapon, designed and manufactured in Argentina by Fabricaciones Militares (DGFM). The solid rocket propulsion unit was developed by CITEFA. History In the 1990s, the Argentine ...

, Argentine antitank missile * Mirage 5P Mara, upgraded

Dassault Mirage 5 The Dassault Mirage 5 is a French supersonic attack aircraft designed by Dassault Aviation during the 1960s and manufactured in France and a number of other countries. It was derived from Dassault's popular Mirage III fighter and spawned severa ...

aircraft for Argentine Air Force * Shell Mara, a

Lake tanker Lake tankers were small (up to 5,000 ton) specially designed shallow- draft tanker ships that carried the crude oil, pumped from beneath Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela, to the three off-shore refineries located on the Dutch islands of Aruba and Cu ...

operated in Lake Maracaibo by Shell Oil * SS ''Mara'', a

operated in Lake Maracaibo by Lago Oil and Transport Company

Organisations

Mara (gang) A mara (or marabunta) is a form of gang originating in the United States, which spread to Central American countries such as El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. Definition of mara A mara is regarded as a group of delinquents of Latin America ori ...

, a form of gang in the United States, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala * Mara (supermarket), a Romanian supermarket chain *

Mara Group Mara Corporation is a multi-sector business services company. It operates in the technology, financial services, manufacturing, real estate & agriculture industries. The company was founded by Ashish J. Thakkar, in 1996, and is now active in 24 ...

, a multinational and multisectoral corporation with roots in East Africa *

Majlis Amanah Rakyat The Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA; ms, People's Trust Council) is a Malaysian government agency. It was formed to aid, train, and guide Bumiputra ( Malays and other indigenous Malaysians) in the areas of business and industry. MARA was formed ...

(People's Trust Council), MARA, a Malaysian government agency *

Migration Agents Registration Authority The Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (OMARA) is an Australian Government authority that registers migration agents and regulates the Migration Agents profession. Migration agents assist people to migrate to Australia by using ...

, the Australian regulator of migration agents *

Universiti Teknologi MARA The MARA Technological University ( Malay: ''Universiti Teknologi MARA''; Jawi: اونيۏرسيتي تيكنولوڬي مارا; abbr. UiTM) is a public university based primarily in Shah Alam, Selangor. It was established to help rural Mala ...

, a public university in Malaysia

People with the name

Mara (name) ''Mara'' can be either a surname or a (usually female) first name. As a surname, it may be: *Irish: a shortened form of ''O’Mara''; * Hungarian: from a pet form of the personal names ''Mária'', ''Márkus'' (Hungarian form of ''Marcus'' or ''Mark' ...

, list of people with this name * Māra (given name), a Latvian given name *Mára, the stage name for American musician Faith Coloccia during solo performances * Mahinda Rajapaksa, 6th president of Sri Lanka * Mara (singer), Russian rock singer

Places

Mara (torrent) The Mara is an Italian stream (or '' torrente'') of Insubria, which runs through the Italian Province of Como and the Swiss Canton Ticino. It rises on the slopes of Monte Sighignola and enters Lake Lugano at Maroggia. Despite the small size of i ...

, a stream of Switzerland and Italy *

Mara, Aragon Mara is a municipality in province of Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain. According to the 2008 census (INE), the municipality has a population of 212 inhabitants. It is located in the Comunidad de Calatayud The Comunidad de Calatayud is one of the comarc ...

, a municipality in the province of Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain * Mara, Iran, a village in Iran * Mara, Isfahan, a village in Iran * Mara, Kerman, a village in Iran * Mara, Sardinia, a commune on the Italian island of Sardinia *Mara, a small town in the

Bushveld The Bushveld (from af, bosveld, af, bos 'bush' and af, veld) is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands, sub-tropical woodland ecoregion of Southern Africa. It encompasses most of Limpopo Province and a small part of ...

of South Africa *Mara, a village in

Desești Desești ( hu, Desze) is a commune in Maramureș County, Maramureș, Romania. It is composed of three villages: Desești, Hărnicești (''Hernécs'') and Mara (''Crăcești'' until 1956; ''Krácsfalva''). The commune's Saint Parascheva Church wa ...

Commune, Maramureș County, Romania *Mara, a village in

Tararua District The Tararua District is a district near the south-east corner of New Zealand's North Island that is administered by the Tararua District Council. It has a population of and an area of 4,364.65 km². The Tararua District Council was created ...

, part of Wellington Region, New Zealand * Mara District, a district in the province of Cotabambas, Apurimac, Peru * Mara (Iza), a river in northern Romania *

Mara Mountain Mara Mountain, in northern Greenland, is the closest known mountain to the North Pole. Geography Located in the Roosevelt Range in Peary Land, it is approximately 446.17 miles (718.04 km) away from the North Pole. Named after Mara Boland, a ...

, a mountain in Greenland, and the closest mountain to the North Pole * Mara Provincial Park (Ontario), a provincial park located near Orillia, Ontario, Canada * Mara Provincial Park, a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada *

Mara Region Mara Region (''Mkoa wa Mara'' in Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions. The region covers an area of . The region is comparable in size to the combined land area of the nation state of El Salvador. for El Salvador at The neigh ...

, an administrative division in Tanzania * Mara River (Nunavut), a river in Canada *

Mara River The Mara River is a river in that begins in Narok County (Kenya) and in ends in Mara Region (Tanzania), and lies across the migration path of ungulates in the Maasai Mara/Serengeti ecosystem. The River's Flow The Mara River basin covers a s ...

, a river of Kenya and Tanzania * Măra River, a river in Romania * Marado or Mara Island, South Korea *

Masai Mara Maasai Mara, also sometimes spelled Masai Mara and locally known simply as The Mara, is a large national game reserve in Narok, Kenya, contiguous with the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. It is named in honor of the Maasai people, the ancest ...

, known locally as "The Mara", a reserve in Kenya near the Mara River

Other uses

MaraDNS MaraDNS is an open-source (BSD licensed) Domain Name System (DNS) implementation, which acts as either a caching, recursive, or authoritative nameserver. Features MaraDNS has a string library, which is buffer overflow resistant and has its own r ...

, DNS software