CA. 140 BCE
Shan Hai Jing, or
“The Classic of
Mountains and
Seas,” compiles
Chinese myths.Historical Records of
the Three Sovereign
Divinities tells the
story of Pangu’s
creation of the world.The Devi Mahatmya
follows the valiant
goddess Durga as
she wages war on
the forces of evil.O no Yasumaro’s
Kojiki, composed at
Empress Genmei’s
behest, explores
Japan’s origins.Samguk Yusa
charts the rise of the
Three Kingdoms of
Korea through myth
and history.Avesta, the
sacred book of
Zoroastrianism,
praises the god
Ahura Mazda.Wu Cheng’en’s
Journey to the West
tells the story of
Sun Wukong, the
Monkey King.The Royal Library
of Ashurbanipal,
containing the Epic
of Gilgamesh, is
discovered in Nineveh.Classic of Mountains and Seas and
later Xu Zheng’s Historical Records
of the Three Sovereign Divinities
and the Five Gods. The Japanese
chronicle, Kojiki, was written in a
form of Chinese, as was the Korean
Samguk Yusa.
In some parts of Asia, myths
were only written down in the
20th century, at the instigation of
explorers from the West. The Ifugao
of the Philippines, for example,
continued to transmit their myths
orally for more than 1,000 years,
creating many different versions,
which only began to be documented
by anthropologists in the 1940s.Order and chaos
A major theme in Asian mythology
is the quest for balance, both
in heaven and on Earth. Marduk,
the Babylonian god, helped toestablish order by defeating
the demonic forces of chaos and
naming all things in the universe.
This quest for balance appears in
stories such as that of Pangu, who
emerges from an egg—a theme
that reemerges in the Korean myth
of Jumong—to bring order to a
formless universe and ensure
balance between the forces of Yin
and Yang. The concept of dharma—
living in balance with the cosmos
and the world—is a major theme
in the story of the Hindu god
Rama. The Japanese myth of the
rivalry between the gods
Amaterasu and Susanoo also
displays this clash between
disorder and harmony.
Zoroastrian mythology is based
on the idea of cosmic dualism. The
god Ahura Mazda created a pure
world, which the spirit Ahrimanattacked with aging, sickness, and
death. Ahriman and Ahura Mazda
are twin deities who are exact
opposites: creator and destroyer.Gods and founders
The idea of deities taking multiple
identities or forms is common in
many strands of mythology across
the world, but especially in Asia.
Vishnu, a principal Hindu god and
the preserver in the Trimurti, has
multiple avatars that he embodies
to restore order to the world.
Legendary founding figures are
another common theme in Asian
mythology. Some are gods who
created entire countries. Others are
mythical human figures, such as
Dan’gun Wanggeom, who founded
the first Korean Kingdom, or Yi, the
fabled archer who saved the world
from 10 blazing suns. ■ASIA
1 ST CENTURY BCE
3 RD CENTURY CE 5 –7TH CENTURY CE 1277 CE 1849 CE
CA. 309 CE 712 CE CA. 1592 CE
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