Benzaiten
|
|
Benzaiten (弁才天, 弁財天) is the Japanese name of goddess Sarasvati (Saraswati). There is also a mighty river in ancient India of this name (see Vedic Saraswati River). Some suggest a connection between the goddess and the river. Benzaiten arrived in Japan during the 6th through 8th centuries, mainly via the Chinese translations of the Sutra of Golden Light, which has a section devoted to her. She is also mentioned in the Lotus Sutra.
She is the goddess of everything that flows: words (and knowledge, by extension), speech, eloquence, and music. The characters used initially to write her name, read Biancaitian in Chinese and Benzaiten in Japanese (辯才天), reflected her role as the goddess of eloquence. Because the Sutra of Golden Light promised protection of the state, in Japan she became a protector-deity, at first of the state and then of people. Lastly she became one of the Seven Gods of Fortune, and the Sino-Japanese characters used to write her name changed to 弁財天 (no change in pronunciation), which reflects her role in bestowing monetary fortune. Sometimes she is called Benten, although this name refers to goddess Lakshmi.
In the Rig-Veda (6.61.7) Sarasvati is credited with killing the three-headed Vritra, also known as Ahi ("snake"). This is probably the source of Sarasvati/Benzaiten's close association with snakes and dragons in Japan. She is enshrined on the Island of Enoshima in Sagami Bay, about 50 kilometers south of Tokyo, and numerous other locations throughout Japan; and she and a five-headed dragon are the central figures of the Enoshima Engi, a history of the shrines on Enoshima written by the Japanese Buddhist monk Kokei (皇慶) in 1047 A.D.
Sarasvati was syncretized by some Shintoism goddesses.
External links
- "Sarasvati": in Digital Dictionary of Buddhism (http://www.acmuller.net/ddb/index.html)
- A Study of the Enoshima Engi (http://www2.gol.com/users/bartraj/goddessindex-1.html)