Though India and Japan are culturally distinct from each other, Japan shares deep cultural and spiritual connections with India, mainly due to the spread of Hinduism and Buddhism from South India to South East Asia and eventually to East Asia. Many Hindu deities are revered daily in Japan’s Buddhist temples. In fact, some deities, which have practically been forgotten in India, continue to be worshipped in Japan, even today! Rituals like “homa” or “havan” too are performed in Japanese temples, along with the chanting of Sanskrit mantras. At our Online Talk #BharatInNippon, filmmaker and cultural historian Prof Benoy K Behl provides unprecedented coverage of the subject through his camera lens. He shows the interiors and shrines of many important temples of Japan, not visible to the public, through his film ‘Indian Deities Worshipped in Japan’ and attempts to create a new bridge of understanding between India and Japan.

About the speaker:

Prof Benoy K Behl is a film-maker, art historian and photographer who has deeply researched the cultural connections between India and Japan for more than 20 years. In a career spanning 48 years, he has extensively photographed Asian monuments and art heritage, filmed over a hundred documentaries on art history and has exhibited his work in 74 countries around the world. His books include ‘The Ajanta Caves,’ published by Thames & Hudson, London, ‘The Art of India: Sculpture and Mural Painting – Volumes I & II,’ ‘Buddhism: The Path of Compassion’ on the Buddhist heritage of the world and ‘Hindu Deities Worshipped in Japan.’ He has also made a film ‘Indian Deities Worshipped in Japan,’ produced by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India.