Indian Pantheon of Gods wroshipped in Japan

India has a pantheon of Gods. You ask any learned Indian, how many Gods do you have? S/he is bound to say 30 million Gods. If you ask the Hindus to name them, they may not be able to list more than five or nine Gods. That is not the case with the learned Japanese. They not only spell out more names than most Indians, they also revere many of the Gods that the Indians have forgotten. Along with Saraswati, Laxmi and Ganesh, the Japanese also offer prayers to Indra, Brahma and Garuda. The latter Gods have been worshipped since the times of Ramayana. These are the findings of Japanese Foundation which has made a documentary of the Indian gods and more than that possess the original script of the Sanskrit language, which is the basis for all the Indian languages. An exhibition was opened in Kolkata about the artefacts preserved in Japan on Monday, according to historian Binoy K. Bhal. The exhibition will have rare pictures of the Gods and and ways of worship being carried on for centuries in Japan. These pictures are perhpas the rarest in India. A Sanskrit manuscript belonging to the 6th Century is also going to be shown during the exhibition. This was preserved, close to heart, by the Japanese royals. There are Sanskrit schools in Japan, Binoy added. One interesting feature about Japan is the popular milk brand, Sujata, available in the supermarkets there. This is especially used for worship of the Hindu Gods. Perhaps scholars interested in Hindu Gods and Sanskrit may hereafter have to go to Japan, for the Land of the Rising Sun still preserves the ancient traditions of Hinduism in their pristine form. Indians, on their part, pride themselves for forgetting their own ancient traditions and welcome anything that is outlandish, and bewitch themselves in what is not theirs.