class reunion. deva, exhibition tour

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Class reunion more than a century in the making

TAKAHARU YAGI

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

2009/11/3

Class reunion more than a century in the making (TAKAHARU YAGI/ THE ASAHI SHIMBUN)

The Ashura and 13 other remaining Buddhist statues depicting the Devas of the Eight Classes and the Ten Great Disciples of Buddha stand reunited at a Buddhist hall for the first time in 110 years, at the Kari-Kondo hall of their home, Nara's Kohfukuji temple. The statues, produced in 734, are all designated as national treasures. They formed the core of "The National Treasure Ashura and Masterpieces From Kohfukuji" exhibition, which toured Tokyo and Fukuoka Prefecture this year.(IHT/Asahi: November 3,2009)

deva

(Sanskrit: "divine") In the Vedic religion of India, one of many divine powers, roughly divided into sky, air, and earth divinities. During the Vedic period, the gods were divided into two classes, the devas and the asuras. In India the devas gradually came to be more powerful, and the asuras came to be thought of as demons. In the monotheistic systems that emerged by the late Vedic period, the devas were subordinate to one supreme being.