TokRev and Hindu mythology or why Mikey looks like a copy of the god Vishnu.
It's no secret that Tokyo Revengers draws a lot from Hindu mythology (or mythology in general) for its story. But it is that I find it so interesting that I have wanted to make a small entry dedicated to it.
[WARNING THAT I AM NOT AN EXPERT ON HINDU CULTURE]
The gang led by Senju Kawaragi bears the same name as "Brahman", an impersional divinity that is governed as the absolute in Hinduism, as the supreme universal principle (unus mundus, in Latin, a term that was popularized -not created- by psychologist and essayist Carl Gustav Jung during the 20th century) that does not change, but is the cause of all change and, in turn, unifies everything in the universe and beyond into something singular.
Only with this explanation, we already see that it has a lot in common with what we know in Tokrev, not only of Brahmán (because in it there are three fundamental members of the first generation of the Black Dragons: Takeomi, Benkei and Wakasa, two fundamental members of the first generation of the Tokyo Manji Gang: Draken and Takemichi Hanagaki, and a person from Mikey's past: Senju Kawaragi, unified into a single gang that, at first, seems invincible), but also Senju's character. In chapter 241 (soooo famous, hahaha), Senju explains several important facts that make her (or rather, make her become by her own feet) "the cause of all change", although she, herself, does not seem have changed a lot (he is still a rather childish person who throws everything behind his back).
The battle of the three deities
In turn, the name of this arch can refer to Trimûrti or Trideva, the trinity of the three most important gods within various religions in Hinduism.
Brahma (quite different from the main concept of Brahman, but could also refer to the name of the gang and its functionality), who gave rise to the universe and is considered a creator god.
Vishnu, protective god who seems to have a lot of connection with the figure of Mikey (but we'll talk about that below).
The Mikey and Vishnu Connection
This is probably the most interesting part of the whole explanation.
In my opinion, Mikey has many similarities with the god Vishnu! For example:
It is mentioned that Vishnu seems to sleep too much at various points, such as that all activity in the universe is reduced to a single nap for him or that during one of these naps (called "yogic sleep") he produces material particles that form thousands of universes. Mikey, too, sleeps too much.
Another characteristic of Vishnu is that he possesses an object called "Sudarshana Chakra" (a kind of sharp, rotating and lethal ring) with which he is able to easily defeat colossal beings. In turn, we have seen Mikey defeat people much bigger than him on several occasions.
However, the most fascinating thing is the point where Vishnu is mentioned as the main deity of the trinity of gods (explained above), because although each one seems to have a function, for many others, Vishnu is the main deity of the trímuti: he is a creator, protector and destroyer god, characteristics that fit very well with all of Mikey's evolution throughout history: he created the Tokyo Manji Gang and later other gangs such as Bonten or Kanto Manji Gang; in turn, he is very protective of his own, as he shows in the golden age of ToMan, but, equally, he is capable of destroying everything he creates and protects, as he shows in several futures that Takemichi visits and his role today ). It is also said that Vishnu divided himself into three parts to create the universe: Brahman was born from the left part of him and to protect it he originated another self that bears the same name as him; lastly, to destroy he divided these two parts in half and created a single one known as Shiva. Doesn't that sound a lot like the theory that @hemorrhagia originated about Mikey having three personalities? Manjirou Sano, Mikey and "Mikey"?
On the other hand, Vishnu is known, mainly in Vishnuism (his religion), for his AVATARS (ie, incarnations) and/or other forms that, if you review them for a moment, I feel have various connections with his character:
Maha-Vishnu is the greatest aspect of the god and the one in charge of creating all the universes from his yogic dreams (in which he sees all the activity of the living beings in the universe). However, what is most interesting about this form of Vishnu is that a spiritual aspect known as Maya (or Yogamaya), representing illusion or the unreal, is mentioned to cover Vishnu's eyes to put him to sleep.
Mikey is often delusional or confused with reality.
Vámana, one of his incarnations, literally means "dwarf" and was in fact a dwarf priest who defeated a demon king known as Balí. This legend is very interesting because it tells how Vámana deceived the demon by telling him to give him all the land that he could cover in three steps. Balí, confident because of the size of the incarnation, gave it to him, and then Vámana became gigantic and, in three steps, encompassed the sky, the earth, and sent Balí to the underworld, resting the third step on his head. It's literally a lot of Mikey's fights lol!
However, Parashurama's avatar is even more interesting, because I don't know if it could reveal any truth about Mikey... Parashurama was originally Rama, son of the sage YamádAgni and his wife Renúkâ, a weather goddess who could only control him if her heart remained pure. The problem is that, one fine day, Renúkâ fell in love with the beauty of the king of the gandarvas (celestial musicians) and her heart was infected with desire. Upon discovering her sin, her husband ordered her children to cut off her head, but they refused. Then, YamádAgni convinced his little son Rama to behead both his brothers and his mother. And so he did.
After the act, Rama was renamed Parashurama (meaning: "the Rama of the axe") and sank into grief. Seeing him like this, his father finally gave up his anger against everyone and offered Parashurama a boon or wish. He asked that his mother and all his brothers be resurrected and that they not remember that he had been his murderer. With his mystical powers, YamádAgni asked the god Vishnu to help him, but he ordered Parashurama to unite his mother's head with his body. The boy, embarrassed, ended up joining her mother's head to the body of a man, condemning her forever to a life of vices that separated her from her side.
But the worst came later, when her father was killed by a proud king (it is not clear if he actually stole it a cow or not). That aroused the feeling of revenge in Parashurama that he dedicated great austerities to Shiva (the destroyer god) to help him kill them all. In fact, Parashurama is said to have dedicated his entire life to killing Hindu military men one by one. And, according to the scriptures, he ended 24 generations of chatrías (castes of politicians and warriors to which he also belonged, kings and queens).
All this legend seems tremendous to me because it has many connections with a story that we have already heard. Yes, that's it: the story of Emma's mother. I mentioned in another post that she didn't seem to have had the best of lives (she mentions her husband was killed by thugs, just as Parashurama's father was killed by a king for stealing a cow from him) and that I think at some point , turned to prostitution (just as Parashurama's mother indulged in vice after he attached his head to a man's body).
On the other hand, we know NOTHING about Shinichiro and Mikey's parents. But here we have an example of misogynistic murder: Parashurama's father ordered his children to murder his mother for feeling desire for another man. By refusing, he convinced his youngest son (who then changed his name to Parashurama) to kill both his brothers and his mother. It may sound bizarre, but let's make connections... It's not impossible that Mikey saw the murder of his mother (either by his father or by Shinichiro convinced by his father) and that this has blurred his personality... In addition, we have seen that Mikey applies very seriously the: "I would never hit a girl".
And, of course, there is the title of the work: TOKYO REVENGERS. The Tokyo Avengers. What if this is all a revenge story and we haven't even noticed? Parashurama dedicated his life to revenge, killing those who killed his father. What if all this is the story of a boy who seeks revenge against gang members?
Real or not, it would be interesting and would give meaning to the title. In addition, we also have the theme of reincarnation, as mentioned in Hindu legends as in the TokRev manga, although in a different way. Many characters have died in various futures, including Takemichi. But going back to the past solves some of these deaths... and causes others.
Reincarnation as a synonym for time travel seems even more curious to me, taking into account the connections with Hindu culture, of course.
Another interesting avatar is the famous Krishna. Krishna has an older brother, Balaram, and a younger sister, Subhadra. Just like Mikey has Shinichiro and Emma. In fact, Emma has quite a bit in common with Subhadra:
Subhadra grew up in the comfort of a princess and escaped the hardships that had plagued her family since before her birth. Emma's mother left her at her grandfather's house, perhaps for her own good, in view of what she herself mentions of her life. In addition, she falls in love with Áryuna, her cousin, who is particularly close to Krishna (because they are the same age), who instigates the relationship.
Do you remember when I made the post about whether Emma and Draken were siblings? What if they were cousins? Even if it wasn't, there are certainly many similarities in this statement to the story of Draken, Emma and Mikey.
Oh, yes, so we have Balarama who, when he dies, comes out of himself a white snake called Ananta Shesha. This entity is represented coiled to the universal ocean and is something like a bed for the god Vishnu. He is also the king of the nagas (snake demigods with negative connotations, mostly. They are portrayed as victims who deserved death and who always tried to bite all creatures) who is quite related to dragons (in fact , in the anime Tokyo Ghoul: Re, a character named Naaga appears, who is also sometimes nicknamed "Dragon").
Shinichiro, older brother of Mikey > Balarama, older brother of Krishna > Ananta Shesha, king of the nagas and bed of Vishnu
> Naga, serpent demigods > Dragon > Black Dragons, gang created by Shinichiro
Coincidence? (Lately, Shinichiro doesn't come out very well in any theory, hahaha).
Anyway, I could talk a little more but now I don't have time... What do you think? I hope it's at least interesting.
