The Gods in medieval Japan

PAN GU and His Descendants: Chinese Cosmology in Medieval Japan

Chinese cosmology has had a deep impact on Japanese culture, not only on the philosophical plane, but also in the religious domain. Under a mythologic and ritual form, Chinese notions such as the theory of the Five Phases or Agents (wuxing) spread throughout medieval Japan,through the intermediary of the so-called Way of Yin and Yang (Onmyôdô). The present article examines the development of th...

Belief in moralizing gods

According to Alexander’s [Alexander, R. D. (1987). The biology of moral systems. New York: Aldine de Gruyter] theory of morality, human social groups became large as a result of between-group competition over preferred habitats and resources, but although larger social groups are more successful in competition, they also experience more pressures to fission. Morality unites a society by limitin...

"Washing Off the Dust": Baths and Bathing in Late Medieval Japan

Contribution of Women to the Persian Language in Medieval India

Patriarchy, it seems today, has always been an integral part of the Indian society. A slight glance at the status of women in India today makes one think that women have always been considered inferior to men. History, however, says otherwise; women in India have historically had a greater role to play and have commanded far greater respect than they do today. It will therefore be justified to ...

Gods, Rituals, and the Moral Order

The functionalist “law” that religion sustains the moral order must be amended. As is demonstrated in this study, religion has this effect only as it is based on belief in powerful, active, conscious, morally-concerned gods. Contrary to Durkheim’s claims, participation in religious rituals per se has little independent impact on morality and none when done on behalf of gods conceived as unconsc...