For academics, intellectuals and activists of this
section, of which the eminent columnist-scholar is a
leading member, the Gita was always better approached by
trying to decipher and dissect – in a dialectical spirit
– whether Lord Krishna actually existed, or whether the
battle of Mahabharat was rather more of a “tribal
conflict” or a “class struggle” between the oppressed and
the oppressors, or whether it was a tale where clash and
bloodshed had divine sanction.

In a profound gesture reflecting India’s timeless and
rich philosophical repository, Prime Minister Narendra
Modi, presented copies of the Bhagavad Gita to the
dignitaries he met in Japan. His gesture comes through as
symbolic because it was the going forth of religious and
spiritual knowledge from ancient India that awakened and
cemented her civilisational ties with Japan, Korea and
much of the old world. Indian acaryas, carrying the light
of Indian knowledge travelled far and wide across the
ancient world suffusing civilisations with the light of
Indian knowledge. The presentations of the Gita by the
Prime Minister, thus, were a rekindling of those
spiritual ties.

By referring to India-Japan “spiritual ties”, the Prime
Minister brought back to centrestage the fundamentals of
India-Japan relations and for that matter India’s
relations to most of the other countries in that region.
These were gestures and words that called for approbation
and certainly not opprobrium.

 

“Modi, presented copies of the Bhagavad Gita to the dignitaries he met in
Japan. His gesture comes through as symbolic because it was the going forth
of religious and spiritual knowledge from ancient India that awakened and
cemented her civilisational ties with Japan, Korea and much of the old
world. Indian acaryas, carrying the light of Indian knowledge travelled far
and wide across the ancient world suffusing civilisations with the light of
Indian knowledge. The presentations of the Gita by the Prime Minister,
thus, were a rekindling of those spiritual ties.”

What historical evidence external to s. asian assertion can be provided for
the claim of “knowledge being carried”?

The religion of japan in ancient times would have been some form of
shintoism.

The story in the scripture given the japanese would have no connection to
shintoism at all.

Curious minds want to know?