Ao Guang
Ao Guang (Chinese 敖 廣 / 敖 光, often also Ao Kuang) is the supreme dragon deity in Chinese mythology and the dragon king of the eastern sea . At the same time he is a water deity and responsible for the rain. Ao Guang is a character in the two Chinese novels " Journey to the West " and " Fengshen Yanyi ". His brother is Ao Jun , the dragon king of the western sea.
Legends
architecture
Legend has it that Ao Guang's undersea crystal palace served as a template for the works of Lu Pan, the patron deity of craftsmen and inventor of numerous constructions, to which famous dragon images are said to go back.
Fengshen Yanyi
When there was a great drought in the Shang Dynasty , the local residents brought gifts in the form of food to the dragon king Ao Guang so that Ao Guang would rain again. Instead, the Dragon King asked for a boy and a girl as an offering every day . One day, when the deity Ne Zha , also known as The Third Lotus Prince , was washing on the bank of the eastern waters, he tried his new weapon, the Cosmic Wheel , and in doing so he unintentionally caused a great tremor in the sea. Angry, Ao Guang sent General Li Gen to hold the "culprit" accountable. After a fight between Ne Zha and Li Gen, the latter was finally struck down. Thereupon the Dragon King sent his third son Ao Bing, who was also killed by Ne Zha in a bitter battle. Then Ao Guang threatened cities with a deluge of flooding and called the Jade Emperor and Ne Zha's family redress. In order to save the lives of many, Ne Zha eventually sacrificed himself.
The trip to the west
Ao Guang is also a character in the famous Chinese novel Journey to the West . When the Monkey King Sun Wukong was looking for a powerful weapon, he found out about a powerful weapon in the palace of the Dragon King Ao Guang. Once there, Sun Wukong asked Ao Guang for weapons that were equal to his ability. After no weapon in the treasury was good enough for him, he took a huge, special iron pillar in Ao Guang's palace that no one else could lift, called Ruyi Jingu Bang . This pillar was installed a long time before by Da Yu , with whom he tamed a great flood . In the hands of the Monkey King, the huge column turned into a handy staff, which he carried with him from then on as his weapon, the size of which he could change as desired. Triumphantly, he left the outwitted Ao Guang in his palace.
Trivia
- Ao Guang is a playable character in the MOBA computer game " Smite "
- He has a film appearance in the Chinese fantasy film The Monkey King
- In the Chinese cartoon Prince Nezha's Triumph Against Dragon King , he is the antagonist of Ne Zha
Individual evidence
- ^ Mythology Dictionary: Ao Kuang , accessed November 9, 2016
- ↑ Michaela Haustein: Mythologies of the World: China, Tibet, Mongolei , epubli, 2012, ISBN 978-3844226256 , p. 32
- ↑ George Bryan Souza: The Boxer Codex: Transcription and Translation of an Illustrated Late Sixteenth-Century Spanish Manuscript Concerning the Geography, History and Ethnography of the Pacific, South-east and East Asia , Brill, 2015, ISBN 9789004301542 , p. 638.
- ↑ History: Dragon Kings in Mythical Tale , Shen Yun Performing Arts, accessed November 9, 2016
- ↑ Story: Ne Zha - The Most Extraordinary Boy in Chinese Mythology , Shen Yun Performing Arts, accessed November 9, 2016
- ^ Theresa Bane: Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore , McFarland, 2016, p. 35.
- ↑ Story: Dragon Palace Monkey Theater , Shen Yun Performing Arts, accessed November 9, 2016
- ↑ Chinese mythology: Ao-Kuang , Godchecker, April 29, 2013, accessed November 9, 2016
- ↑ China: Journey to the West , Das Mythentor, accessed on November 9, 2016
- ^ Smite website