ABSTRACT
Millenarian expectation of an age of redemption, in which the evils and travails of a wicked world will be miraculously supplanted by a utopian order of supreme justice and moral perfection, is as deeply rooted in the societies of Asia as it is in those of the Western world. As in the West, it is often believed that this new age will be ushered in by a messianic deliverer, whose sacred mission is conceived to manifest the will of a transcendent, providential spiritual reality. In Asia, this form of millenarianism normally draws its shape and inspiration from Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, or one of the lesser religious or philosophical traditions of the Asian world. Historically, millennialism in Asia was embodied most commonly in radical religious movements that were directed principally toward fundamental social reform or political rebellion-movements which frequently culminated in peasant uprisings against intolerable economic inequities or dynastic corruption and incompetence.
