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The best known story about the origin of the hare/rabbit on the Moon is Sasa-Jataka, an Indian Buddhist tale of the birth of the hare/rabbit on the Moon (the jade rabbit).

In the Sasa-Jataka, the god Indra (Teishakuten 帝釈天 in Buddhism) takes the form of a Brahmin and asks for food from an otter, a jackal, a monkey, and a hare. The hare, who has nothing to offer, jumps into the fire to burn its body for food. The god Indra praised this act and drew the figure of the hare on the surface of the Moon [1].

It is unclear when this story was created, but the prototypes of several tales in the Jataka are believed to have been established around the 3rd century B.C. [2,3], indicating that Sasa-Jataka is also very old. Later, this tale was incorporated into the Chinese book “ The great Tang dynasty record of the western regions (大唐西域記)” by Xuanzang (玄奘), which was then transmitted to Japan and included in “Konjaku Monogatari (今昔物語)” [4].

However, the earliest record of the hare on the Moon is not in the Jataka. The Brahmanic ritual documents, which are thought to have been composed around the 6th century B.C. [5] (predates the establishment of Buddhism), also mention the presence of a hare on the Moon. For example, in the Jaiminya Brahmana, it is written,

" He is a hare (sasa-) who is dwelling in the Moon."[6]

The Shatapatha Brahmana also describes the hare on the Moon [7]. Thus, we can see that the hare on the Moon has been narrated through the Brahmanic tradition before Buddhism occurred. In fact, in the Sasa Jataka, the god Indra approached the animals as Brahmin. It is likely that the culture of Brahmin influenced the story of the Jataka, a Buddhist legend.

What is the reason for making the rabbit the animal on the Moon? The Jaiminiya Brahmana mentions as follows.

"For he (the Moon) controls (sasti) all here.” [6]

From this sentence, the similarity between the word "control" (sasti) and "hare" (sasa) seems to be the factor linking them. In Sanskrit, the Moon is sometimes called “sasin” (the one who has a rabbit) [8]. In ancient India, the Moon was a guide for performing rituals, and the Brahmana literature also details the rituals of the full and new Moons [7]. The Moon seems to have been a serious concern for ancient peoples. In many regions, the Moon is a symbol of "death" and "rebirth" or "fertility," as reported by Mircea Eliade, a historian from Romania [9]. The nature of the Moon, which disappears and then reappears, seems to induce imaginations of life and death. The idea that the Moon rules over everything must have been an important thought for ancient India. Hare bears children frequently. Thus, hare/rabbit also becomes a symbol of fertility which has a similar meaning between hare/rabbit and the Moon [3,10].

In ancient India, an exciting beverage called soma was used during rituals. In Indian mythology, this soma is said to give vitality to the god Indra. Soma is also regarded as the god of the Moon [11]. The ingredients of soma are unknown, but the "Rig-veda," an Indian sacred text, states that soma is made by pressing a plant [11,12]. In the Jataka, the god Indra draws a hare's pattern on the Moon with mountain juice. This juice of mountain may be related to soma.

In ancient India, hares were considered one of the foods that pleased the ancestors [13], and the story of the rabbit jumping into the fire may also have been influenced by customs such as ritual offerings. In the Jaiminiya Brahmana, the following sentence can be seen.

“He is Yama who is dwelling in the Moon. For he restrains (yamayati) all here. Yama named the one who will devour, forsooth, is Death. Having appeased him with these oblation he wins urj among the worlds and the god Yama among the gods. To union with the god Yama and co-existence in his world he ascends who offers the agnihotra knowing thus.” [6]

The Moon has the god Yama, who presides over death, and Yama (death) can be overcome by performing a fire sacrifice called "agnihotra.” It is likely that the authors of the Jataka incorporated these cultures of the agnihotra performed by the Brahmins into the Buddhism story.

Outside the literature, on coins made around 180 B.C., we can see the hare on the Moon (Fig. 1) [14,15].

Reference

[1] 中村元監修・補注　松村恒・松田慎也訳　ジャータカ全集4 春秋社.

[2] 岩本裕　インドの説話　紀伊國屋新書.

[3] 荒川紘　月の影-なぜウサギに見えたのか　形の文化史[9]芸道の形 所収　工作舎.

[4] 池上洵一　今昔物語集の世界　中世のあけぼの　以文社.

[5] 後藤敏文 インド・アーリヤ諸部族のインド進出を基に人類史を考える 国際哲学研究 3 (2014).

[6] Bodewitz, H. W. Jaiminiya Brahmana I, 1-65: With a Study - Agnihotra and Pranagnihotra (Asian Studies). Brill Academic Publishers.

[7] The Satapatha-Brahmana Part V Translated by Julius Eggeling.

[8] 辻直四郎編　世界古典文学全集〈第3巻〉ヴェーダ・アヴェスター　筑摩書房.

[9] ミルチャ エリアーデ　エリアーデ著作集 第二巻 豊穣と再生 宗教学概論2 せりか書房.

[10] 石田英一郎　人間と文化の探求　文藝春秋.

[11] 辻直四郎訳　リグ・ヴェーダ讃歌 　岩波文庫.

[12] 阪本(後藤)純子　生命エネルギー循環の思想：「輪廻と業」理論の起源と形成. (RINDAS伝統思想シリーズ, 24) 龍谷大学現代インド研究センター (2015).

[13] 引田弘道　Markandeya Puranaにおける祖霊祭(中) 愛知学院大学文学部紀要 (1988).

[14] Fabri, C. L. The Punch-marked Coins: A Survival of the Indus Civilization. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 67, 307-318 (1935).

[15] Cribb, J. The origins of the Indian coinage tradition. South Asian Studies 19, 1-13 (2003).