u/gururaj-nayak

Image 1:
A four-armed Ganesha seated with crossed legs on a cushion. He has a bare torso and wears a tiger skin garment (dhoti) around his waist and legs. In his upper hands, he holds a battle axe and a goad, in his his lower hands a broken tooth and a bowl of sweets.

This painting was found at Dandan-Oilik, an ancient settlement in the Taklamakan Desert of present-day Xinjiang, China. The painting dates to the 7th–8th century CE. Dandan-Oilik was an oasis settlement that flourished along the Silk Road. The ruins contained Buddhist temples, sculptures and paintings, many dating between the 6th and 8th centuries CE

Source: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_1907-1111-143

Image 2:
Left panel : Narayana (Vishnu), Indra and other guardian deities on the south side of the main niche, west wall of Cave 285.

Right panel : The painting depicts Maheshwar (Shiva), Kumara (Skanda - brother of Ganesha) and Vinayaka (Ganesha) on the opposite side of the main niche.
This image shows murals associated with Mogao Cave 285 at Dunhuang, China, dated to 538–539 CE. Reference below

Image 3 : Sculpted image of Shiva with his son Skanda at Mogao Cave art site. Reference below

Image 4 : Mogao Caves, A UNESCO World heritage site form a system of 500 temples 25 km southeast of the center of Dunhuang, an oasis located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road, in Gansu province, China. Mogao Caves encompass caves, wall paintings, painted sculptures, ancient architecture, movable cultural relics and their settings

Reference: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/440/

How did Ganesha / Hindu gods in general reach China and eventually Japan?

The Silk Road connected India, Central Asia and China through trade, Buddhist missions and cultural exchange. As Buddhism travelled from India, Indian deities and artistic traditions also entered Buddhist religious settings in Central Asia and China.

I found it very fascinating that the Mogao cave art site complements our Ajanta cave art in Maharashtra which is older at around 200-400 CE.
Both belong to a connected history of Asian Buddhist art, with Ajanta representing an important Indian source tradition and Mogao showing how Buddhist art evolved as it travelled across the Silk Road.

The cultural influence from India continued eastwards. In the 8th century, the Japanese monks studied esoteric Buddhism in Tang China and returned to Japan. Ganesha became known in Japanese Buddhism as Kangiten or Shōten.

This reflects the wider transmission of Indian Buddhist traditions through China, Korea to Japan.

References:

1. https://edspace.american.edu/silkroadjournal/wp-content/uploads/sites/984/2017/09/Dialogue-among-the-Civilizations.pdf

According to Indian history, this is one of the lesser known stories of how Indian gods, culture, religion, music, dance and stories travelled to Japan over many hundred of years starting from 5-6th century.
As per the 2006 lecture by Yasukuni Enoki, former Japanese Ambassador to India, titled A Strong Cultural and Historical Bond Linking Japan and India.

The first confirmed Indian person to reach Japan was Bodhisena, the “Brahman Buddhist High Priest”, who later performed the role of Master of Ceremony at the consecration of the Great Buddha at Todaiji Temple in Nara in 752 CE.

He was born in South India in 704 CE and he travelled through China and arrived at Dazaifu in Kyushu in 736. Together with his Vietnamese disciple Buttetsu, he propagated Buddhism as well as Indian culture, including Sanskrit, music and dance.

However the cultural transmission went much further.
Indian influence can be seen in Japanese Bugaku and Gigaku dances, Sanskrit/Siddham studies, musical traditions, and even Japanese theatre.
Enoki notes that the Kabuki play Narukami and Noh play Ikkaku-sennin ultimately derive from an Indian Mahabharata story.
The story of a powerful ascetic, a Naga/Dragon God, drought, and women sent to seduce the ascetic was preserved in the 12th-century Konjaku Monogatari before becoming part of Japanese theatrical tradition.

The same process occurred with Indian deities:
Indian religious traditions and deities

1. Buddhism incorporates many existing Indian deities
2. Buddhism spreads through Central and East Asia
3. Chinese Buddhist traditions give these deities Chinese names and form
4. Buddhism reaches Korea
5. Japanese Buddhism adopts and transforms them
6. Indian gods become part of Japanese Buddhist, folk and Shinto traditions.

The interesting part is that much of this Indian heritage survived in Japan even after its Indian origins were largely forgotten.

Source: https://www.in.emb-japan.go.jp/Ambassador_Lectures/Ambassador_Lectures1.html

Former Japanese Ambassador Yasukuni Enoki claims that more than 80% of Japanese gods are originally from Hinduism:

https://youtube.com/shorts/KrYiJZ30sQE?si=FRDiVWMCkbG6laAq

“Onake kindi” is a prehistoric cave art site which is 23 kms from Hampi, Karnataka.
It took me about 40 mins to get there by car from Hampi town.
It is almost deserted and we need to wait for a guy posted there who will show 2 cave sites.
The rock art and prehistoric paintings at “Onake kindi“ are estimated to be between 3,000 and 5,000 years old.
Archaeologists and historians place the site across a transitional timeline spanning from the Neolithic (New Stone Age) to the Iron Age, with the majority of the rock paintings dating back to around 1500 BCE