Title of Research: The Indo-Japanese Socio-Cultural Identities as observed in Pre-Heian Literature

Introduction India and Japan, as Asian countries project various commonalities and similarities in their social and cultural heritage. The geographical proximity among India, China, Mongolia, Korea and Japan, along with their ancient links through Silk Road and Sea Route used by the adventurous hunters, nomads and traders facilitated the growth of a culture bearing many identical features in their social ethos and behavior. The commonalities of their traditional cultures are quite numerous, but not much research has been done to explore their identical features. Since the social bonds and intimate relationship among the countries encourage the growth of economic and political relations, it seems appropriate that India and Japan should feel close to each other in their heart to heart relationships. The objective of the present proposal is to explore such aspects of the traditional and conventional trends of the Indian and Japanese societies, which may promote brotheren relationship and thereby strengthen their friendly ties. Research Plan With the objective of familiarizing the Indian and Japanese people about the commonalities of their cultural traits the present proposal aims at analyzing and discovering these common trends on the basis of comparative study of Indian tradition seen through Hindu philosophy and literary works like Ramayana, Mahabharata etc., and Japanese tradition as reflected in Pre-Heian literary works like Kojiki, Nihongi and Manyoshu. This project will study the above trends by highlighting the following features: 1) Religion i) Anthropomorphism

ii) Polytheism iii) Ancestor Worship iv) Phallic Worship 2) Social Customs and Beliefs i) Ritual Purity and Cleanliness

ii) Funeral Rites

iii) Ordeals iv) Divine Voice v) Superstitions A detailed analysis of above themes suggests that the Indian and Japanese people have been following mostly identical approaches towards the natural and super natural phenomenon. The concept of anthropomorphism seems to be permeating through every aspect of their life. Every phenomenon in this world, animate or inanimate, appears to them having the element of the God - The Almighty. Hinduism and Shintoism both are polytheistic religions and offer their adherents the possibility of having faith in many divinities (Yaoyorozu no Kami). All forms of existence are appreciated in religious perspective and treated as spiritual entities. In their respective pantheons, they have gods of nation, regions, villages, crossroads, mountains, rivers, waterfalls, clans and families etc. The worship of nature existed in ancient China, Manchuria and Mongolia and also in Japan. Like Mt. Kailash, River Ganga, River Yamuna and River Saraswati of India, Mt. Fuji, Mt. Ontake, Osorezan, Mt. Haguro, Koyasan, Hiesan and Nanatai of Japan are ascribed some particular kind of spiritualism. In Japan like India, there are gods of water, fire, wind, rain, wealth and lesser gods of small pox and cholera etc. There are couple divinities in Japan similar to Shiva and Parvati, Brahma and Brahmani and Vishnu and Lakshmi of Hindu tradition. The first seven generations of divinities in Japan are all couples with Izanagi and Izanami appearing in the seventh generation. The celebration of festivals likewise manifests many similarities. The Japanese festival rituals often include a street procession of parishioners belonging to a particular temple or shrine. More or less on the pattern of the Rath Yatra of Jagannath Temple of Puri, the Japanese people enshrine the spirit of their deity in a Mikoshi i.e. a portable shrine and move it in and around the village. Originally, carrying a Mikoshi through the streets, indicated spreading the purifying power of the deity and neutralising evil influence in the area. It is believed that the spiritual entities play positive as well as negative roles in human life. If not propitiated appropriately they may get antagonized and cause hardships. Therefore timely and appropriate propitiation is necessary to obtain their blessings. It has been customary in Japan, as in India, to promise offerings to the deities if certain wish is to be fulfilled. For example, fearing defeat in the battlefield, Soga no Mumako no Sukune made four wooden images of the Four Heavenly Kings and made a vow that if his forces gained victory, he would honour them by constructing for them a temple. After his victory Soga no Mumako no Sukune fulfilled his vow by building a temple of the Four Heavenly Kings in the province of Settsu and another one called the temple of Hokoji in Asuka. The Four Heavenly Kings mentioned here correspond with the Chatur Maharajas of Indian mythology. Ancestor worship is a major characteristic of Hinduism and Shintoism. It is believed that ancestral spirits play significant role in the well-being of their descendants. At the

time of funeral and subsequently on their death anniversaries, the appropriate rituals need to be performed for the appeasement of the ancestral spirits. Like the Shradh ceremony in Hinduism, Urabon festival popularly known as Obon festival in Japan, is dedicated for making offerings to the departed souls. This ancestor worship gained further strength after the introduction of Buddhism in Japan. According to a legendary tale, Mudagalyayana, a disciple of Buddha, dreamt his dead mother to be suffering in hell due to starvation. Disturbed by the dream he sent food and clothes for his mother, but as soon as these offerings reached his mother, everything burnt down to ashes. He was upset due to this mishappening, and consulted Lord Buddha who advised him to hold a service in her name and offer food to the monks in order to pacify the spirit of his mother. He did so year after year and since then this practice has been observed. The phallic worship in certain parts of Japan, reminds of Shivlinga worship in India. It is treated as the worship of fertility and performed at the time of Honen Matsuri (Honen Festival) of Tagata and Komaki, both in Aichi Prefecture. It is closely connected with the sacred Mt. Nantai (The Male Form). A cave at Kamakura contains a large number of phalli carved stones. Likewise, the Ogata Festival centres around the symbol of female organ. Shintoism, like Hinduism, lays emphasis on ritual purity and cleanliness. The death, bleeding, childbirth etc are treated as the causes of pollution of environment. In olden times, people shifted to a new house in case of death of a family member, a practice that continued for long, particularly in case of Imperial Palaces and the capital cities of Japan. The purification was restored usually by ablution. Narrating the Japanese funeral customs, the History of the Kingdom of Wei (Wei-Chi) written around 298 AD records that in case of death, mourning continued for ten days during which they did not eat meat and all the family members went into water to bathe. Likewise, the Kojiki states that the funeral ceremony for Ama no Waka Hiko continued for eight consecutive days. Even now purification by ablution is an important characteristic of Japanese folk religions. These days the Brahmins in India and Shinto or Buddhist priests in Japan perform the rituals of purification. The reverence for purity later combined with Buddhist concepts gained all the more strength and became an important aspect of Japanese culture. The custom of calling female mourners has existed in India as well as in Japan, who are referred to as Rudali or Naki-me respectively. Another aspect of Hindu mythology which finds similarity in the legend of Izanami & Izanagi is the concept of not taking food in the Land of Yama (Yomi). Various kinds of superstitions have existed in every part of the world. There are some superstitions and religious beliefs which commonly existed in both, the primitive Indian as well as Japanese societies. For example, as in India, the Japanese people avoided the cutting and disposal of nails, taking bath, and getting haircut on certain days. They interpreted their dreams, which sometimes proved true. For instance, in Kojiki, there appeared a Yatagarasu (three legged crow) to guide the path of Emperor Jimmu as informed by the Sun Goddess in his dream. On a different occasion, the same deity suggested ways and means, applying which Emperor Jimmu gained victory over his

enemies. Similarly Omono Nushi no Okami appeared in the dream of Emperor Sujin and asked the Emperor to worship him to end the epidemics in his country. Such instances of gods appearing in kings dream to solve the state problems are plenty in Indian mythology also. For example, when people of Kullu, in Himachal Pradesh in India were suffering due to floods in their region, God Hanuman appeared in the dream of a person and asked him to retrieve a long forgotten idol of Hanuman lying at the river bed to solve the problem. Likewise, Lord Krishna appeared in the dream of the King of Orissa and asked him, as the mythology says, to perform appropriate last rites for his dead body. Nihongi mentions about the sound of a windblast, which cried aloud and forewarned Emperor Richiu about the death of Princess Hata. Shortly thereafter, a messenger arrived and gave the sad news to the Emperor. This incident reminds of the heavenly voice (Akashwani) warning King Kansa of Mathura about the birth of Krishna who would be the cause of his death in future. Another noteworthy feature similar to Ramayana found in Kojiki is the existence of Monkey God - Saruta Biko. This god offers help and guidance to Ninigi no Mikoto in subduing the rebels of Yamato state. There were cases of ordeals by fire, known as Ukehi, boiled water and hot mud enforced to discover the truth. An eminent scholar Matsumura Kazuo states, that the ordeal by fire accepted by Sita of Ramayana finds similarity in an ordeal willingly performed by Saku ya Bime to prove her fidelity towards her husband, Ninigi no Mikoto. It is important to note that Ninigi no Mikotos relations with his wife Saku ya Bime and Monkey God Saruta Biko can be compared with Hindu god Ramas relations with his wife Sita and Monkey God Hanuman. Like Sita, Sapo bime, wife of Emperor Suinin, also performed a fire ordeal to prove her innocence. Japans earliest visible god Izanagi and goddess Izanami came together as husband and wife after taking round of a sacred stone pillar treating it as a divinity witnessing and blessing their marriage. It finds similarity with the Hindu marriage custom where the bride and the bridegroom take seven rounds of the sacred fire before the marriage is solemnized. Also the tradition of Gathbandhan (tying of the Sacred Knot) in Hindu marriages seems to be similar to a Japanese custom as mention in Kojiki during the reign of Emperor Suinin. This custom of husband and wife tying each others garment also finds a mention in the Manoyshu. The white colour and number eight were considered to be signs of good luck in Japan. Regarding the significance of number 8, Nihongi mentions many items associated with this number, for example 80 million gods, 8 cross-roads of heaven, 8 jars of sake, 8 span long rice years, 8 hand long mirror, 8 fold clouds, 8 feet long head etc. Appearances of a white deer, white fox, white sparrow etc. were treated as good omens. It is mentioned in Kojiki that, as an omen, it was considered to be unlucky to meet crippled or blind persons on the way. Such superstitions relating to colour, number and disabled human beings existed in Indian society also, where number seven was considered to be lucky and physically handicapped people like Manthara of Ramayana and Shakuni of Mahabharata were painted in black.

There are strong possibilities of further exploring these similarities, which are not just co-incidental. It is to fill up this gap that this topic has been selected for a deeper study and forms the theme of my research project.

Bibliography

1) Kojiki
Trans. Donald L. Philippi Pub. University of Tokyo Press, 1968, Tokyo 2) Nihongi Trans. W.G. Aston Pub. Charles E. Tuttle Co. Inc., Tokyo, 1972 3) Jataka Tales in Japan Author : Anita Khanna Pub. B.R. Publishing Corporation, New Delhi,1999

4) Hindu Divinities in Japanese Buddhist Pantheon - A Comparative Study

Author : D.N Bakshi Pub. Benten Publishers, Calcutta, 1979 5) Building a Global Partnership - Fifty Years of Indo - Japanese Relations Author : K.V. Kesavan, Pub. Lancer Books, New Delhi, 2002

6) East Asian Literatures - An Interface with India edited

Editor : P.A. George Pub. Northern Book Centre, New Delhi, 2006

7) The History of Japan, Vol.1

Author : G.B. Sansom Pub. Charles E. Tuttle Company, Tokyo, 1974

8) A History of Japanese Literature - The First Thousand Years

Author : Shuichi Kato Pub. Kodansha International Ltd, Tokyo, New York and San Francisco, 1979

9) Religion in Japanese Culture

Editor : Noriyoshi Tamaru and David Reid Pub. Kodansha International, Tokyo, 1996 10 ) A History of Japanese People Author : Capt. F. Brinkley Pub. The Encyclopedia Britannica Company, New York, 1912 11) Shinto : At the Foundation-Head of Japan Author : Jean Herbert Pub. George Allen & Unwin Ltd, London, 1967

******