Ape Pagoda

@catmansmuckers

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Happy Herc

vintagegeekculture

In a lot of northern Indian Buddhist art, Hercules is depicted as the Buddha’s bodyguard.

This tradition of depicting Hercules as Buddha’s bodyguard started in the Greco-Bactrian kingdom of Gandhara, a part of Northern India conquered by Alexander the Great. This is important because Gandhara just happens to be the place Buddhism spread to the far east (it’s “the west” in the famous Chinese novel Journey to the West).

Hercules acquired a scary, bestial mien and thunderbolt swords in Asia via association with Buddhist guardian monsters, the Vajrapani, who had the traditional job of protecting the Buddha. Hercules and the Vajrapani were confused with each other and traits of one rubbed off on the other. This slowly transformed him into a thunderer all the way to Japan and Vietnam.

So in essence, these Buddhist temple guard statues found as far away as Vietnam and Japan started as statues of Hercules. That’s why the original illustration is so fascinating to me; depicting Hercules as monster-like and fierce-faced with a double-weapon.