Last
time we read about the female Ganesha. On the final day of Ganapati’s earthly visit, let us
look at a ‘foreign’ Ganapati! Today, we will discuss the Japanese
Ganapati, who is better known as Kangiten.
Besides Kangiten, which means the God of Bliss, he is also called Shoten, i.e.
a sacred god, or Binayaka (from Vinayaka), amongst other names.
It
is interesting to note that according to the Japanese, Binayaka is the creator of obstacles, and that is why he
needs to be propitiated, unlike the Indian Ganesha, who is the remover of obstacles,
Vighnaharta. However, one (probably
pre-puranic) version considers the Indian Ganesha to be a threshold deity, who had
to be propitiated at thresholds, like borders of villages, etc. to ensure that
the commuters were not harassed for anything. This was considered to be one of
the main reasons why Ganesha was propitiated before beginning anything, from
travel to events to rituals. This theory has now been overlooked in view of the
more sanitised version of the modern day Ganesha, being worshiped first due to
a boon by Lord Shiva!
According
to an ancient Japanese text, Subako-Doji-Shoman-Kyo, the Binayakas were known to create serious
obstacles for the ascetics who tried to devote their lives to religion and
religious practices. According
to the text, Binayaka was known to create loss of sleep in ascetics, appearing
in different evil forms and naked figures, skulls and bones in the dreams of the
ascetics. All these were considered to be different forms of Binayakas which
tried to disturb them and create obstacles for those who were trying to follow the
religious path.
Besides
the above, other obstacles created by the Binayaka were, causing various types
of diseases, like increase in body temperature and some minor ailments,
arousing unlawful desires like sexual desires, love for widows, hunger for meat
and wine, making them arrogant, etc. Propitiation of Binayaka was mainly to
overcome such obstacles
The
worship of the Indian Ganesha is supposed to
have traveled from India to China
where it became part of the Buddhist pantheon and then traveled further to
Japan, where it gained prominence, as Binayaka. The most important form of this
deity is the dual-Binayaka or the Embracing Kangiten, where both male and
female forms are seen embracing each other.
There
are different legends to explain the embracing Binayaka’s. Let us look at some
of them.
According
to one legend, a 17th century monk by the name of Kozam Tanki,
couldn’t attain the ultimate truth, in spite of severe austerities. He then
started praying to Shoten and uttered his mantra 18000 times a day. He had a
dream, where he found himself pouring oil over a statue. He then saw himself
taking bath, purifying himself and entering into a chamber which was decorated
with jewels, with an altar on which was placed an idol of the embracing
deities. A female deity appeared there and explained to him the two embracing
deities were none other than the sun-goddess and the god Isangi. Later the monk
devoted his life in the worship of the embracing Binayaka’s.
Courtesy - Wikipedia |
According
to another version, the King of Marakeira had an odd habit of eating only beef
and radish and that too in very large quantities. Soon the population of cattle
diminished in the kingdom, and so he took to eating human flesh and reached a
stage where he could not spare even dead bodies. Seeing this people were
terrified, and together with the soldiers attacked the king who fled into the
skies. In the absence of the king, there were calamities and epidemics which
were the doings of the Binayaka. The people prayed to Kannon (Avalokiteswara, a
Bodhisatva), the eleven-faced deity, to save them from the predicament. Kannon
disguised as a female Binayaka, seduced the King and brought him to mend his
ways and the embracing Binayakas are the representation of the King and Kannon.
Another
version says that Daijizai-ten (Mahesvara)
and his wife Uma had three thousand children, half of which were benevolent and
were under the command of his son, Senanayaka (Kartikeya) and the other half
were wicked under the command of Binayaka. The people were tired of the
troubles by the Binayakas and prayed to Kannon, who then took the form of a
woman and aroused the passion in Binayaka and convinced him to follow the
righteous path.
A slight variation to
the above says that Senanayaka was born as a female child and was an
incarnation of Kannon. She managed to pacify the agitated mind of Binayaka by
her pleasing habits. The two of them ultimately unite as a brother-sister
couple to give rise to the twin Binayaka form.
One of the most famous
temples of Kangiten is the temple of Hozan-ji in Japan. He is regarded as the
protector of temples and amongst the offerings made to the deity are radishes
and rice-wine (sake).
It is important to
mention that there is a strong sexual-connotation to the embracing deity, even
though we have seen in the last instant as the couple being brother-sister.
This sexual connotation was during the tantric influence in Buddhism. However,
with rise of the Confusion philosophy, the idols or the statues of the
embracing Binayakas were kept behind closed doors or were kept under linga-kosa or phallic covers. The
worship didn’t quite cease and it is said that women bow to such idols to seek
blessings of children from them, while geishas seek the blessings of active
flow of clients at their place!
Legends apart, an
interesting metamorphosis of one of the most popular and favoured god of the Hindu
pantheon.
NB. Some references have been taken from ‘Ganesha –
The Remover of Obstacles’ by Shantilal Nagar.
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