The Influence of the Ramayana on Christianity in Asia

概要

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As the reader is well aware, India is a country which since the most ancient times has been regarded as the land of the Hindus. Indeed, for most outsiders (and particularly for English-speaking outsiders), the sub-continent of South Asia which lies bounded by the Himalayan mountain range to the north, and the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea, and the Indian Ocean on the south, is referred to by the name "India".^<1)> However, for citizens of the country, namely, for those who have been born and bred within the country, the name they use to refer to their mother-land is not India, but Bharat or Hindusthan. Since approximately eighty percent of the people of modern India are Hindus, the name Hindusthan (which roughly translates as "land of the Hindus"), is perhaps an appropriate name for the country, though one must by no means overlook the fact that India is not a land of the Hindus alone, but of several other religious groups as well. Buddhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism, and Christianity, are all religions with a long cultural history in India, but one can by no means also deny the fact that all these religions are being heavily influenced by the major religion, namely, by Hinduism. ^2 Before I begin discussing the influence of the Ramayana on Christianity, it is perhaps appropriate that by way of introduction I dwell a few moments upon the culture and history of Christianity in India today.
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