Asian Mythology

Asian mythology refers to the vast number of mythologies that are native to countries of the continent of Asia. Indian mythology has been segregated from Asian mythology as the vastness and complexity of it deserves a separate spot in the grand scheme of things. Middle Eastern Mythology has also been separated from the list as they have a distinct style of their own and the mythologies are starkly different from the general style followed by the others.

Asian Mythology can be split into 2 styles. One is the part which borrows heavily from Indian Mythology like Indonesian, Malaysian, Thai etc while the other falls into the Chinese influenced ones like Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese mythologies.

Most of these countries do not follow the religions associated with their respective mythologies anymore with countries like Indonesia and Malaysia accepting Islam as their state religion, China becoming communist and Philippines turning to Christianity after the Spanish conquest. Japan is one of the few countries in the region that have managed to keep their mythology and faith alive all these years.

The representation of most of Asian Mythology is almost intact with the mythologies being written down and also being passed on orally from generation to generation. The importance of the mythologies are magnified when it seeps into the culture of the region and becomes an unalienable part. Historians believe that Asian Mythology has survived better due to the fact that the people found ways to make it a part of their life, culture and tradition rather than restricting it to places of worship like the Greeks and Romans whose mythology eventually collapsed.