Ba (Chinese mythology)
Ba ( Chinese 魃 , Pinyin bá ), also Nüba ( 女 魃 , nǚbá ) or Hanba ( 旱 魃 , hànbá ), is the daughter of the mythical emperor Huang Di and the Chinese goddess of drought.
Ba, which is mentioned in the classical works Shijing , Shanhaijing, and Shenyijing , is described as about three feet tall, two-eyed, and bald. She looked human, but went as fast as the wind and wore no clothes. According to other descriptions, her clothes were green. Wherever she went a drought occurred that could only be stopped by catching ba and throwing it into excrement . She lived on the Gonggong Terrace on Xikun Mountain in northern China.
During the Battle of the Elements , where King Chiyou and the god of wind Feng Bo and the god of rain Yu Shi attacked Huang Di, the latter called for Ba for help. Her presence stopped the rain, and Chiyou could be captured and executed. After the battle, Ba lost her strength to ascend to heaven and from then on had to live on earth. Since its presence caused drought everywhere, the god of agriculture Shujun soon complained to Huang Di. Ba was ordered to stay only north of the Yellow River . But she didn't like staying in one place; on the contrary, she kept moving around.
People had to drive Ba away if they hoped for rain. In some regions of China it is said that digging canals and praying to her to stay in the north helps. In northern Henan Province , Ba was believed to be hiding in a freshly buried corpse. When it did not rain for a long time, fresh graves were opened and the bodies were whipped to drive Ba away. In Sichuan , Ba was ritually driven out by a man disguising himself as a Ba and being driven through the village for several hours by four fighters with shouting and drumming.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Yang Lihui and An Deming: Handbook of Chinese mythology . ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara 2005, ISBN 1-57607-806-X , pp. 79-80 .
- ↑ Jeremy Roberts: Chinese Mythology A to Z . 2nd Edition. Chelsea House, New York 2010, ISBN 978-1-60413-436-0 , pp. 8 .