Ashura　阿修羅

KEY WORD :　art history / iconography

Sk: Asura. Also abbreviated to shura 修羅. Among the Indo-Iranians, the term Asura Ashura in Avestan, originally referred to a divine being on a par with the gods, in which sense it is preserved in Ahura Mazda, the name of the supreme deity in Zoroastrianism. After the Aryans separated from the Iranians, the Asura gradually declined in status, and the term acquired the opposite meaning of an antigod, demon, or enemy of the gods *ten 天. The struggles between Indra *Taishakuten 帝釈天, and the Ashura are an important theme in Indian mythology, and it is probable that they reflect the Aryans' struggles against the earlier inhabitants of India. This dual nature of the Ashura also is reflected in Buddhism, where on the one hand they are counted among the eight classes of beings who protect Buddhism *hachibushuu 八部衆, while on the other hand their realm (said to be located on the ocean floor) is considered to be a world of strife and represents one of the six realms of transmigratory existence *rokudou-e 六道会. The Gekongoubu-in 外金剛部院 of the *Taizoukai Mandara 胎蔵界曼荼羅 includes several Ashura, all two-armed and seated, but in Japan they usually are found in sets of the hachibushuu, the eight kinds of guardian spirits of the law, when they are represented with three faces and six arms. The oldest statuary representation of Ashura is an 8c seated clay image at Houryuuji 法隆寺 in Nara. The most famous Ashura sculpture is a hollow dry-lacquer standing image of the 8c at Koufukuji 興福寺 in Nara.

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