More About Centaurs

As a child I was entranced by Ray Harryhausen's epic "Jason and the Argonauts".  The stop-frame animation looks pretty dated now but it sparked a life-long interest in Greek legends.

Classical literature will provide plenty of information on the supposed inhabitants of the Hellenistic islands but there are alternatives.  Here are the results of my research:

 (1)  Russia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polkan

The Polkan/Palkan turn up in Russian folk art and lubok prints of the 17th–19th centuries.  First as the enemy of the hero Bova Korolevich, but after a battle becomes his loyal friend and ally.  The white, human, skin and lack of protective clothing seems a bit unlikely.  There is a second picture that shows more typical Russian armour (possibly scale).

 (2)  India - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centaur#India

There are various references in Indian legends of half-man, half-horse creatures.

Kinnaras - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinnara_Kingdom

A bit of confusion here as there are stories about centaurs from various parts of the Indian sub continent. The Kinnaras were apparantly inhabitants of the Himalaya mountains (so would have presumbly worn bad weather gear over their human part.  Unfortunately I cannot find any illustrations.


(3)  Cyprus - https://www.theoi.com/Georgikos/KentauroiKyprioi.html

According to Nonnus they were a tribe of bull-horned centaurs native to the island.    Again no illustrations.  Considering the size of a human head it could not carry the weight of the horns.  The creature would, therefore, need to have a bull's head.


(4)  World of Warcraft has a centaur with a dwarf's upper body attached to a horse's lower parts.  Why?