DRAGON AND GODDESS: THE CULT OF GODDESS SARASWATI IN JAPAN

Abstract

This study is devoted to the cult of goddess Benzaiten (Saraswati) in Japan. As an Indian goddess Saraswati, who in the Vedic period was revered as the deity of the river of the same name, under the influence of Hinduism and Buddhism turned into the patroness of music and the embodiment of eloquence. In the Far East, China and Japan, she was known as Biancaitian (Jp. Benzaiten). However, in addition to her connection with music, Benzaiten retained the association with water inherent in the original Saraswati, which was expressed in her veneration as a goddess incarnated in a water deity-dragon or commanding them. At the same time, due to the ambivalence of her nature, ambiguously interpreted in various Buddhist sources, Benzaiten turned into a universal deity, identified with many other gods from the Shinto-Buddhist pantheon. For this reason, later she took a firm place in Japanese folklore, being included among the Seven Gods of Happiness (Jp. Shichifukujin). Based on a comparative analysis, it is concluded that if the deity of the Saraswati River in the Rig Veda is a stormy, water element that cannot be controlled, but can only be propitiated with hymns and offerings, then the Japanese Benzaiten, which sometimes manifests itself in the form of an unbridled dragon or snake, can be subjugated through the Buddhist rituals. This fact shows the importance of Buddhism in fixing religious cultural codes that originated in ancient India, and their subsequent spread across the territory of Central Asia and the Far East.