Benzaiten and Kichijoten, both beloved in Japan, can be traced back to goddesses of India. They govern the arts, learning and abundance.
Saraswati: goddess of the arts and learning
Saraswati is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, learning, the arts, poetry, music and language. She is said to have originally been the embodiment of a sacred river, the Saraswati. In her hands she holds a stringed instrument called the veena.
When Buddhism reached Japan by way of China, she was introduced in the Golden Light Sutra as one of the gods who protect the nation, and became Benzaiten. Her figure holding a biwa lute is the veena in changed form.
Lakshmi: goddess of abundance and good fortune
Lakshmi is the wife of the god Vishnu and the goddess of wealth, good fortune and abundance. She is depicted standing on a lotus flower.
This Lakshmi came to Japan and became Kichijoten. Faith in Kichijoten flourished from the Nara period onward.
Gods of the arts tied to rivers and sound
It is interesting that Saraswati is the embodiment of a river and holds a musical instrument. Art is placed in the same family as things that flow and things that resound.
A painting looks still, but painting is an act that takes time, and the viewer also takes time to receive it. Making art, I find it convincing to think of art as a "flow."
A goddess from distant India has become Japan's Benten-sama, changing her name and form along the way. I am also drawn to the way prayers and images are handed down across borders.
I think of Mermaid nao's commissioned art as work that holds what flows within you in a single painting.
Sources
Wikipedia (Saraswati)
Miki Okuda, Fantasy Art of Light (Kichijoten, goddess of abundance: exploring her relationship with Lakshmi and Bishamonten)
waqwaq (Saraswati, Benzaiten in Japan / Lakshmi, Kichijoten)
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