Influence of Hindu and Buddhist on Naruto

As we all know the storyline of Naruto could hold us so firmly because of strong characterization of each character very intelligently by Sir Masashi Kishimoto over a long period of time. I don’t know if you have noticed this but Hindu mythology, ancient Hindu manuscripts had a small yet very important role in this story. The appearance of many characters and some techniques in the series were influenced by Hindu mythology. Though I have very few instances but I believe I can somewhat convince you with the scarce knowledge I possess. So here is what I have to share.

1. Chakra

The basis of all techniques, chakra is adopted from Hindu yogic traditions. The word chakra is derived from the sanskrit word for “wheel” or “turning”. The human subtle system is a vastly intricate one, made up of thousands channelswhich carry energy throughout the body. The concentrations of the energy in the subtle system are called chakras (“wheels” in Sanskrit), or energy centers.

As you can see above, there are seven chakra gates in the Hindu yogic tradition. But Sir Masashi Kishimoto introduced an eight gate. Gate of death. If you remember, Sir Masashi Kishimoto invested great amount of time in the initial chapters to explain us the intricacies of chakra and how chakra is moulded to create numerous techniques. No technique is independent of chakra. So now I can claim that a huge chunk of the storyline goes to Hindu yogic tradition.
Also it has been reported that comic legend Stan Lee is teaming up with Indian artists to create an Indian superhero who unlocks the mysteries of chakra, another person influenced by Hindu yogic traditions.



2. Ocular technique – Amaterasu

This ocular technique of the Uchiha clan is very similar to Lord Shiva’s eye technique. My Indian friends here maybe familiar with this. The black flames of Amaterasu, said to come from hell ignite at the focus of the users vision is very much similar to the flames released by Lord Shiva’s third eye. Below you can see Itachi using Amaterasu against his brother, Sasuke and Sasuke countering it with his fire technique.



Lord Shiva, a major Hindu deity possesses three eyes. The third eye is located on his forehead. The third eye of Lord Shiva can turn anything into ashes with the flames it produces. It can emit energy enough to destroy the universe. The other two eyes of Lord Shiva emit energy but only limited enough to feed the universe. If the third eye opens, energy in mass would be emitted and would cause huge destruction. Below you can see Lord Shiva’s third eye, located on his forehead.



Lord Shiva’s third eye, located on his forehead is closed in order to prevent release of infinite energy that can destroy everything. There are very few instances when lord Shiva is forced to use his third eye. The image below illustrates one such rare instance. Below you can see Lord Shiva using his third eye to destroy Kamadev.




3. Micellaneous

Chiriku, one of the twelve Guardian Ninja used Welcoming Approach: Thousand-Armed Murder when he fought with Hidan and Kakuzu. The figure appearing behind Chiriku has many arms and rests on a lotus. The figure that appears in the background has a very strong resemblance of a Hindu Goddess Durga having many arms and also of Goddess Lakshmi who rests on a lotus




Above is Chiriku’s Welcoming Approach: Thousand-Armed Murder and below you can see Goddess Durga and below that you have Goddess Lakshmi resting on a lotus.





4. Deidara’s Technique (C4 Garuda)

We all can recall the time when Deidara fought Sasuke and he pulled out his trump card, the C4 Garuda. The name of this technique has been inspired from a mythological bird in Hindu and Buddhist mythology, which is named Garuda. The constellation in the Northern sky, Aquila (Latin for ‘eagle’) is identified as the deity Garuda, in Hinduism.






5. The most powerful Doujutsu, Rinnegan


As described by Konan, the bearer of the Rinnegan can use all the techniques of the six bodies of Pain and it is said to exist out of the realm of life and death. The Rinnegan’s last path governs life and death and the user himself in the Seventh Path. ‘Rinne’ is a term used to describe ‘samsara’ in Japanese. Samsara is the cycle of human life, which reaches out to death and reincarnation, which perfectly relates to the powers of the Outer Path (Seventh Path).





6. The Six Paths of Pain


All of the Six Paths bear the names of Samsaric Realms of Reincarnation, which are as follows. The six domains of the desire realm relate to the Rinnegan’s Six Paths perfectly, as described by Nagato:

1. The God (Deva) path
2. The Demon (Asura) path
3. The Human path
4. The Hungry ghost (Preta) domain
5. The Hell (Naraka) domain
6. The Animal Path




7. The Gedo Mazo Statue


After gathering any of the Tailed Beasts, the entity was sealed in the Gedo Mazo, which is the personal summon of the Rinnegan bearer and also the Akatsuki rendezvous point. The statue has a lotus throne, which is very common for Hindu gods to have. The name of the statue is influenced from Buddhist terminology, where Gedo stands for ‘Outer Path’.



8. Monkey King Enma

Enma, in Buddhism, is a God who judges the dead and presides of the cycle of reincarnation. The name of this god is exactly the same as Hiruzen’s personal summon, Monkey King Enma. Furthermore, in the Indian epic Ramayana’s central character, the mythological monkey Hanuman is an unbelievably strong entity as he lifted a mountain once with
his one hand. The strength somewhat relates to Enma as his transformation, Adamantine Staff could push Kurama out
of the Hidden Leaf Village.


Below you can see Lord Hanuman lifting mount Dronagiri.




9. Orochimaru’s Theme


The theme of Orochimaru, which was specially used in his fight with Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, is mostly an instrumental but there are a few lines spoke which are in the Hindi language. The lines say “Dil ki khwahishon se batein kar” which means “Talk with the desires within you.”

10. Katsu

This is adding from me, so check this out



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