quest for the archetypal image of xi wang mu

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QUEST FOR THE ARCHETYPAL IMAGE OF XI WANG MU
-A Mythological Study of the Mother Goddess in Ancient China-
Masako MORI*
Introduction
The earliest mention of Xi wang mu is found among the oracle-bone
texts in Period I of the Yin Dynasty of China, in which she appears in an
abridged form as the "Mother in the East" (dong mu) or rather as the
"Mother in the West" (xi mu). There are, hereafter, various evidences
concerning Xi wang Mu and their interpretations by Chinese as well as Japanese
specialists. Some surmise that Xi wang mu was a supernatural being such
as a goddess or a monster, while the others argue that it was nothing but
a place name.
It is certain that there were two interpretations of Xi wang mu first
as a goddess and second as a land or a country. This dichotomy was already
recognized by Lu si mian who wrote(1) that there were two theories concerning
Xi wang mu in ancient times: according to one, she was a goddess; and
according to another, her name was a country. Further, the former theory
can be classified as follows:
1. She appears in oracle-bone texts as a goddess who may be related to
sun worship.
2. She is a monster-like goddess who dwells in mountainous districts.
3. She is a supernatural spirit who acquires immortality.
4. She is a fairy-like being who owns the elixir of immortality.
5. She is a goddess of good omen who communicates with secular emperors
like Yao, Shun, Yu, Huang di, Han wu and Zhao wang of Yan.
6. She is the queen of the goddesses who ultimately becomes the empress
of Dong wang gong in the Taoistic system.
7. This name signifies the westernmost area of China as one of the four
cosmic wastelands (Si huang).
* Graduate Student, Keio University.
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8. The name indicates a land west of China.
9. This is the name of a tribe which lived in the western district of China.
10. This is the name of a chieftain of such a place or district.
The present situation, it must be confessed, is confusing. I believe that
this confused state can be resolved definitely if we arrange the informations
in accordance with successive periods. These can not be treated as contempo-
rary. Each feature of Xi wang mu must have represented one stage in
its mythological development. My point of view is that they did not exist
simultaneously in ancient China but that the image of Xi wang mu changed
progressively down through the ages.
This position is not without its forerunners: Xuon zhu (Mao dun) noted
and discussed such successive stages in the mythological development of
Xi wang mu(2) and Wu han (Chen puo) postulated eight stages, classifying
changing anecdotes of Xi wang mu.(3) Many other scholars in China have
also treated this problem.(4)
In our country, too, Profs. Takuji Ogawa, Rokuro Shiba and, recently,
Ichiro Kominami have followed this line of research in one way or another.
Prof. Shiba posits an argument on the subject of the evolution of
the Xi wang mu myth. His theory is based upon the Chinese usage of
confounding phonetical values with ideographical meanings: once, Xi wang
mu was nothing but the name of a country; afterwards, however, it signified
a woman, because the letter Mu (母) signifies“mother.”Ultimately, she
was a woman of utmost beauty for the Chinese people.(5)
About the historical development of the name, Chinese scholars mention
various causes. Mao dun and Li de fang write that the process resulted
more or less from Taoism and from fragmentary knowledge of the westernmost
tribes in each period. Other causes may be simply misunderstandings, rumors,
or hearsays, intellectual inferences, and embellishments. Further, changes
of social forms and the people's minds or the influx of western ideas in
modern times may have influenced interpretations.
As Mr. Yukio Sawamura has already written,(6) all these theories noticed
the change but they only treated it as accidental. Instead, I consider the
whole history of Xi wang mu worship in ancient China as a type of evolution
of the original idea of the mother goddess. The direction of the development
of the worship was necessary, although this development was only realized
stage by stage. Material sources concerning Xi wang mu are rather disparate
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and do not seem to be explained by any coherent theory. Scholars have
treated the evidences as if they were all of a contemporary nature; thus,
they have approved some of them as acceptable and trustworthy and rejected
others. In contrast with this manner of thinking, I would accept as many
sources as possible, so that I could then piece them all together and try
to trace the historical development of Xi wang mu worship.
In the process of my work of recovering the history of Xi wang mu,
I paid special attention to the supposed "missing link" that would make
it possible to piece together various elements of Xi wang mu that are
reflected in various sources of her worship. I believe, then, we can at last
synthesize all the elements and reduce them into one image of the goddess.
I think that the original idea of Xi wang mu has been concealed in
the concept of the great mother. Xi wang mu's history must be seen as
the process of development of this concept. I would use it, therefore, as
archetypal and proceed to establish the so-called three natures of Xi wang
mu. With the aid of the archetypal concept and of the three natures, we
can then piece together almost all material sources which might even be
considered very contradictory at first glance.
I believe that Xi wang mu was one of the mother goddesses who orginally
appeared in a matrimonial society during the stone age. Thus, in the subse-
quent three chapters of this article, first and foremost, I discuss some Near
Eastern examples of mother goddesses because these cults can be attested
to in a very conspicuous manner by epigraphists, philologists, and archaeo-
logists. Myth and plastic images of the mother goddess were created so
richly and continued to exist through so many generations in the Near
East and influenced other regions of the world. Then, I proceed to compare
their main features (functions, epithets, and attributes) with those of Xi
wang mu. This is because I think the latter is nothing but one of the Chinese
mother goddesses.
Furthermore, I would say that the above mentioned features resulted,
in the case of Xi wang mu, from the historical development of the idea of
the mother goddess in China. Such a development should not be viewed
only as the results of external influences that might have occurred rather
accidentally in the long course of ancient Chinese history.
I suppose that this view of mine could be supported by the similarity
of Xi wang mu with West Asiatic mother goddesses.
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In short, my method is a kind of comparative mythology. My aim is
to utilize this method and restitute the lost and concealed image of Xi wang
mu and, at the same time, to substantiate that she herself was a mother
goddess.
I have to mention, at last, a recent discovery of a group of neolithic
pottery nude figures at Hong shan site, Liao ning.(7) Their eyes are inlaid
with green jades. Their breasts and waists are emphasized like the same
sort of pottery idols, which have been dug at various Near Eastern sites.
It is sure that they represent mother goddesses, and this news seems to
be an archaeological support of my theory about the origin of Xi wang
mu, for which I must use only literary evidences in this article.
Chapter I
To begin with, I would compare Xi wang mu with Cybele, a mother
goddess, who was also named Magna Mater by the Romans.
Cybele first appeared in the cuneiform documents from Kultepe, Anatolia,
at the beginning of the second millenium B.C. and later from Ugarit-Ras
Shamra in the fourteenth and thirteenth centures B.C. In those days, she
seems to have been called Kubaba. It is clear that she was native to Anatolia,
but we do not know when her cult was initiated and where the center of
her cult was located.(1) It seems that during the Hittite period, she remained
as one of the minor, local deities. Her name was retained in the list of the
deities which the Hittite scribes compiled.(2)
This situation changed completely, however, when the Hittite Empire
was destroyed in ca. 1200 B.C. Phrygians, the new conquerors and rulers
of Anatolia, accepted Cybele-Kubaba as ont of their national godheads and
dedicated themselves to the cult of the autochthonous goddess. Cybele played
an important role in this legendary world and votive monuments to her
were continuously being built in all of Anatolia in the succeeding centuries.
She protected fecundity and induced abundant harvests, but, by the time
the Greeks had established themsleves in Ionia and other maritime districts
of Anatolia, she, a supreme goddess, was considered almost almighty and
now ruled over prophecy, the healing of diseases, and the taming of wild
animals in the forests and mountains. Her name was known all over the
Mediterranean world. Greeks and Romans identified her successively with
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Rhea and Artemis-Diana. As M. J. Vermaseren noted, Cybele's original
nature was never lost, even after she had been accepted by foreigners;(3)
that is, she continued to be the mistress of beasts and androgyny. While
possessing such irrelevant features for a mother goddess, she was the ruler
over nature and the mother of the gods. This signifies that she was elevated
to the top of all the goddesses.
Being a mountain goddess,(4) she was called Meter Oreia until later
periods. Her titles, like Berecynthia, Dindymene or Idaia, came from the
names of the mountains where she was worshipped. The name Cybele was
based upon a legend told by Diodorus (II, 3, 58, 1), that she was found as
an orphan on Mount Cybele, while Pausanias (i, 4, 5), relates that another
name for this goddess was Agdistis, because she was born on Mount Agdus.
Actually, many Anatolian mountains were often considered as the throne of
Cybele, and her sanctuary was often placed on the top or the slope of a
hill. Vermaseren thinks that her headdress, corona turrita, indicates her
connection with mountains. She was the protectress of a citadel or rather
a hill on which a citadel was constructed.(5)
Next, Cybele was known also as the mistress of beasts (potnia theron).
She was portrayed as striding off into the valley, on the hill or in the forest.
Her conduct was as if she were the mother or friend of animals. She
communicated with them. There were as many myths and legends as monu-
ments of her supremacy over beasts. According to Diodorus Meion, her
father and the king of Phrygia, threw her away immediately after birth.
She was nursed and suckled by lionesses and she-panthers. People erected
her temple on Mount Pessinus, where she was pictured with a pair of lions
or panthers. These animals raised her as if they were her real mothers and
gave her the supernatural power which enabled her to cure diseases.
The connection of Cybele with animals-above all, with lions is
attested by the iconographical representation of her being flanked by them
or riding on them. She never lost her feature as potnia theron.(6)
As for the trait of Cybele being androgynous, Pausanias (VII, 17, 10)
gives a detailed explanation. He tells us that Cybele was born from the
union of Zeus and a goddess of Mount Agdus. She called herself Agdistis.
She was bisexual by nature, but afterwards, gods removed her phallus.
After she had become totally female, she fell in love with Attis, who was,
in his turn, born from the union between this phallus (or rather a pomegranate
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created by it) and Nana, a daughter of a river god Sangarios. When this
treacherous boy fell in love with another girl, Cybele became so angry with
him that, at last, he was castrated.
The loss of Attis's phallus, twice told in this story, is a bisexual motif
and influenced the worship of Corybantes, the priests of Cybele. They hurt
themselves in an orgy and were castrated at the zenith of it. This noisy
and tragical show of Cybele's priests with flutes, tympani and cymbals was
described by Ovid (Fasti, iv, 180-186; 207) and Lucretius (II, 610-624).
They made pilgrimages from village to village and town to town.
Such an androgynous feature of Cybele's worship had its own meaning
and value. It was valid in unifying opposites, so that in the mystic cult
it was recognized as the act which symbolized the archetypal union of the
original opposites, as M. Eliade and G. Jung have expressed it in their own
terminology. Androgynous phenomena are one of the archetypal principles
which represent wholeness and unification.(7) We can find a clear picture
of this phenomenon in the worship of Cybele. She was originally androgynous
and brought to this world love and anger, fecundity, and death-all at
the same time.
In this respect Diodorus tells us another interesting story: Cybele was
named Mother Goddess and was respected as a healing deity who introduced
into this world prosperity. But at the same time, she also maliciously
brought devastation, disease, and famine to all the lands of Phrygia, because
she was so completely upset when Attis, her lover, was killed by her father.
She was just a terrible mother.
So much for Cybele's myth and her main features; in short, she was
a mountain goddess, the mistress of beasts, and a hermaphrodite. We can
now proceed to compare these features with those of Xi wang mu.
It is not a difficult task for us to ascertain that Xi wang mu was a
mountain goddess. For this point, we can rely upon literary as well as
archaeological sources. In Shan hai jing we find that she lived on a mountain
whose name was written in various ways: Yu shan in Xi shang jing, She
wu zhi shan in Hai nei bei jing, and Yan huo zhi shan in Da huang xi jinv.
Furthermort, in Huan lin's Xi wang mu zhuan (Life of Xi wang mu)
we read:
Jin mu yuan jun was also called jiu ling tai miao gui shan jin mu…her
other name was Xi wang mu. (Shuo fu juan 113)
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And in Xuan yuan huang di zhuan we read:
Once there lived a half-divine and half-human being called Xi wang mu
who was the Moon spirit and a daughter of the heavenly emperor. Her
face was like a tiger and her tail was like a panther. Her hair was not
tied and on the top of it was a comb of jade. She uttered a roaring voice.
Her dwelling was surrounded by a stone wall and put on a golden podium.
She lived in a cave and sat on Mount Shao guang.
There are other literary evidences which mention Xi wang mu's mountain,
Gui or Shao guang. In later legends, Mount Kun lun became one of the
most famous sacred mountains in ancient China, while it was gradually
connected with the worship of Xi wang mu.(8) This connection definitely gave
birth to the legend of the mountain goddess Xi wang mu.
Archaeological materials confirm the same point. Some stelae found in
Yi nan (Fig. I, a;b) and the wall painting in the main room of Pu qiu's
grave in Luo yang show Xi wang mu sitting on the top of three hills of
Kun lun or welcoming the deceased couple who rise up to Mount Kun lun.
It is clear from these pictures that she was a mountain goddess.(9)
Next, that Xi wang mu was a mistress of beasts is shown by such
descriptions of her as having a panther's tail, tiger's teeth or a tiger's face.
Fig 1a Fig 1b
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They indicate a close interrelationship of this half-divine and half-human
being with the animal world. Since panthers and tigers were considered
the most dreaded beasts in ancient China-just as lions were feared in
the ancient Near East,-Xi wang mu must have been herself for ancient
Chinese people the mistress of beasts whose mana she absorbed into her
body.
In Hai nei bei jin of Shan hai jing, she is pictured as leaning on an
arm of her throne holding a scepter in her hand and being fed by three
blue birds. This picture of Xi wang mu is different from that of Xi shan
jing or Da huang xi jing in the same sutra.
Few scholars have paid much attention to the expression, "leaning on
an arm of her throne." I would compare it with the picture of Xi wang
mu discovered in Si chuan sheng (Fig. 2), where her throne is flanked by
a dragon and a tiger. This picture must represent Xi wang mu as a mistress
of beasts, just as Cybele was often shown on her throne with flanking
panthers or lions; and sometmes, she utilized these animals as the arms
of her throne or as a footstool.(10)
In later legends, three blue birds were interlinked with the three-legged
bird which dwelt in the Sun.(11) At first, the three birds always served as
helpers who fed Xi wang mu; this, too, symbolized the mistress of beasts
Fig 2
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QUEST FOR THE ARCHETYPAL IMAGE
theme.
About the cave or the cave dwelling of Xi wang mu,(12) there is further
evidence in Di li zhi of Han shu which states: "Xi wang mu's stone chamber
was situated northwest outside of Jin cheng lin qiang."
Lie xian zhuan also states: "Chi song zi... was always retained in Xi
wang mu's stone chamber."
Mu tian zi zhuan further notes that Xi wang mu sang a poem that
goes: "There are a multitude of tigers and panthers in the place where I
live. There, crows and magpies also live together." This song supports the
argument that Xi wang mu lived in the wilderness and was the mistress
of beasts.
Our last question is, "Was Xi wang mu an androgynous being?" There
is no Chinese myth which recounts a half-female and half-male deity. The
union of two opposite principles, however, can be found in Xi wang mu's
myth; for example, her dragon and tiger flanked throne may signify the
east and the west. Her attendants, a three-legged bird, a white hare, or
a frog may represent the Sun and the Moon. Prof. Kominami says that
such a kind of symbolism shows Xi wang mu's unifying power of opposing
things, as though both sexes could be unified in a bisexual figure.(13)
There are other minor similarities concerning the cults of Cybele and
Xi wang mu. For example, Cybele was famous as a goddess of healing.
In this respect, Pausanias tells us that she took care of preserving Attis's
body flesh after her lover died tragically. This story suggests to us something
of her powers of bestowing immortality. Xi wang mu was in her turn noted
for her possession of the elixir of immortality, as is found in Huai nan zi.
There is no doubt that she was considered a healing goddess in ancient
China.(14)
As for the orgiastic ritual of Cybele, it reminds us of the passages of
Wu xing zhi in Han shu as follows:
In the reign of Emperor Ai, on the New Year day in the fourth year of
Jian ping, people were frightened and ran about. They grasped a straw
or twig in their hands. Exchanging such objects with each other and crying
out that they were inviting in good luck, many thousands of people went
up and down the streets. Some loosened their hair and others walked
barefoot. Some intentionally broke out of the city gates at midnight and
others entered the city by scaling the city walls. Others drove chariots
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with utmost speed and left them unattended at coach stations. There were
people who reached the capital city after having passed through almost
twenty-six districts along the way. In the summer of that year, people
who came into the capital from the districts thronged all the streets and
lanes, performing rituals and songs and dances were dedicated in honor
of Xi wang mu.
It seems that social disturbances in early Han were accompanied by
the worship of Xi wang mu. People were possessed to run about the streets,
making much noise even at night and in such circumstances that the cult
of Xi wang mu was performed.
About the glorious epithet, "Mother of the gods" which was given to
Cybele, Xi wang mu, too, had some parallels: Ji xian lu states, "As Dong
wang gong rules over male-spirits, so does Xi wang mu rule over female
spirits." And according to Han wu di nei zhuan, she is at the front of all
spirits which include many spirits and beauties of the palace and numerous
heavenly spirits." These passages show that Xi wang mu was really the
mother of gods.
From the above, we can deduce that the similarities between Cybele
and Xi wang mu are concrete and detailed. (It may be noteworthy, however,
to state that we can find no parallel of the story of Attis, Cybele's young
lover, in the mythology of Xi wang mu.)(15)
Chapter II
In this chapter, the central figure to be compared with Xi wang mu is
Anat, who is quite different from Cybele in origin and in diffusion. Anat was
worshipped in Ugarit (Ras Shamra), a city-state on the east Mediterranean
coast during the fourteenth and thirteenth centuries B. C. The main sources
of Anat are the cycle of Baal and Anat, a series of cuneiform texts in verse.(1)
This mother goddess was studied by several scholars such as A. Vincent,
U. Cassuto, C. H. Gordon, A. S. Kapelrud and others. All of them recognized
in her a death bearing goddess and a furious and dauntless soldier.
The first appearance of Anat in the cycle is a description of her beha-
vior as follows:
"Then Anat fought in the Valley; she smote down those living in cities;
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