Hariti
Hariti ( Sanskrit हारिती hāritī , also हारीती hārītī , "The Blue"; Chinese 訶 利 帝 / 诃 利 帝 , Pinyin hēlìdì , Japanese Karitei ) is a female deity or demon from pre-Buddhist times who entered mythology as the protector of children the Mahayana - Buddhism found. It is particularly well known in East Asia among the followers of Nichiren Buddhism and the Lotus Sutra .
Naming
In Sanskrit it is referred to as Hariti, in Chinese as Hēlìdì and derived from it in Japanese Karitei. She is known by several other names. It is also known as Karitei-mo (Japanese, from Chinese 訶 梨 帝 母 / 诃 利 帝 母 , Pinyin hēlìdìmǔ - "blue mother"), Kangimo ( 歓 喜 母 , " mother of joy"), Kishi-mojin or Kishi-bojin ( 鬼子母 神 , "devilish mother goddess"). In Nepal and the Himalayan region (cf. Buddhism in Tibet ) she is also known as Ajimā, "grandmother", and is revered in this form as the protective deity against smallpox .
origin
There are different interpretations of the origin of Haritis. First, it is as originally the Hindu or Brahmanical gods entstammende Yakshi (lower nature spirit or deity Ranges) considered, on the other hand with the formerly locally in Bactria known goddess Ardoxso of Zoroastrianism equated, in the course of the spread of Buddhism in this region in the Tradition has been adopted. Your companion Panchika is accordingly either also a yaksha or a takeover of the Zoroastrian god Pharro . The myth of their conversion symbolizes in both cases the transition from pre-Buddhist religions to Buddhism.
mythology
According to Buddhist tradition, Hariti was a demoness or lesser deity who lived near the city of Rajgir in northern India. She and her husband Panchika had five hundred children. She lived cannibalically and killed other mothers' children to eat or to feed her own children. For this she took the help of ten female rakshasas (demons; Chinese 十 羅剎 女 / 十 罗刹 女 , pinyin shí luó chà nǚ , Japanese jūrasetsunyo ).
The mothers of the murdered children asked Siddhartha Gautama , the Buddha , for help and he hid one of their children to point out Hariti's evil deeds. When she complained about the disappearance of her child, he explained to her that the pain of a mother whose only child she killed must be much greater than that of the loss of one of her five hundred children. Hariti regretted her actions and from then on became the protector of children and mothers.
In addition to her role as the guardian of children, she was also considered the patron goddess of Vihara , the refuge of wandering monks from which Buddhist monasteries later developed. In the popular belief of northern India, Hariti / Ajimā was sometimes mistakenly equated with the goddess Sitala , known from Brahmanism , who is also invoked to help against smallpox and other skin diseases to which children are particularly sensitive.
Japan
In Buddhism in Japan Hariti was the beginning of the Kamakura period introduced (12th to 14th century) and obtained as Karitei-mo particularly in Nichiren Buddhism importance. She is considered the protector of children and the patron goddess of raising children and the harmony between man and woman, love and well-being, as well as the security of the family. Women who want to have children turn to her in the hope of conceiving.
iconography
Representations of the Hariti or Karitei-mo usually show them with a pomegranate as a fertility symbol in the right hand and a small child in the left arm.
The earliest surviving statues and reliefs of the Hariti from the 2nd century onwards come from Gandhara and Mathura as well as from surrounding regions such as Nepal, where several images from the early days of the Licchavi dynasty in Lalitpur and in the Swayambhunath temple complex near Kathmandu have come down to us. In the formal language that developed over several centuries, they bear witness to the transition from Indian, still Hindu-influenced, to later Buddhist art , which was also characterized by Bactrian styles . According to the influence of Greek mythology in Gandhara and the subsequent kingdom of Kuschana , which led to a partial syncretism with the Buddhist tradition ( Graeco Buddhism ), Hariti was occasionally equated with Tyche , which, among other things, in the representation with a cornucopia , an attribute the Tyche, was expressed. In the late period of the Buddhist empires of Central Asia (now Afghanistan and Pakistan), common depictions of Hariti with her companion Panchika were widespread. Towards the end of the 8th century, the worship of Haritis in northern India and Nepal lost its importance. At the same time it became known as part of the tradition with Buddhism in parts of East and Southeast Asia, where u. a. In the temple Candi Mendut near Borobudur ( Java ) a relief representation from the early 9th century can be found.
One of the best-known representations of the Karitei-mo of Japan is in the Hokekyō-ji , the main temple of Nichiren Buddhism, in Ichikawa and is said to come from Nichiren himself. In Tokyo there are portraits in the Kishimojindō ( 鬼子母 神堂 ) of the temple Hōmyō-ji ( 法 明 寺 ) in Zōshigaya and in the Himon'ya Kishibojin ( 碑文 谷 鬼子母 神 ) in Meguro . In Daigo-ji in Kyoto , a scroll painting from the Kamakura period is preserved.
Individual evidence
- ↑ British Museum : Seated gray schist figure of Hariti with children ( Memento of the original from December 17, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b c Description of the sculpture Pancika / Pharro - Hariti / Ardoxsho (Takht-i-Bahi, Pakistan, Kushan Period) ( Memento from June 15, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ a b c d e Keyword "Hariti". In: Manfred Lurker : Lexicon of gods and demons. Names, functions, symbols / attributes (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 463). 2nd, expanded edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-520-46302-4 .
- ↑ a b c d e f Kariteimo In: Mark Schumacher: A – Z Photo Dictionary of Japanese Buddhist Statuary.
- ↑ a b c d Pratapaditya Pal : The Arts of Nepal. Volume One: Sculpture. Brill Academic Pub 1997, ISBN 978-90-04-03776-2 ( p. 42 f. )
- ↑ Kariteimo in the Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System JAANUS.
Web links
- Hariti, Mother of Demons , illustrations with descriptions of representations of the Hariti from Gandhara in the British Museum
- Kariteimo In: Mark Schumacher: A – Z Photo Dictionary of Japanese Buddhist Statuary.
- Kariteimo in the Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System JAANUS.