And handed over my people unto destruction.”[15]
A goddess who protests against the destruction of her human descendants by means of a flood, caused by the gods, was likely to protect them against “extraordinary rains”, caused by their human or demoniac enemies.
As we have seen in previous chapters, the Chinese Deluge legend, in one of its forms, was attached to the memory of the mythical Empress Nu Kwa, the sister [[268]]of the mythical Emperor Fuh-hi, sometimes referred to as “the Chinese Adam”. Three rebels had conspired with the demons or gods of water and fire to destroy the world, and a great flood came on. Nu Kwa caused the waters to retreat by making use of charred reeds (quite a Babylonian touch!). Then she re-erected one of the four pillars of the sky against which one of the rebels, a huge giant, had bumped his head, causing it to topple over.
According to Chinese chronology, this world-flood occurred early in the “Patriarchal Period” between 2943 B.C. and 2868 B.C.
Another reference to the mother-goddess crops up in a poem by “the statesman poet, Chu Yuan, 332–295 B.C., who drowned himself”, Professor Giles writes,[16] “in despair at his country’s outlook, and whose body is still searched for annually at the Dragon-boat Festival”. The poem in question is entitled “God Questions”, and one question is:
“As Nu-Chi had no husband, how could she bear nine sons?”
Professor Giles adds: “The Commentary tells us that Nu Chi was a ‘divine maiden’, but nothing more seems to be known about her”. It is evident that she was a virgin goddess, who, like the Egyptian Nut, was the spirit of the cosmic waters.[17] It is of interest to find the memory of the poet associated with the Dragon-boat Festival, which, according to Chinese belief, had origin because he drowned himself in the Ni-ro River. There is evidence, however, that the festival had quite another origin. Dragon-boats were used in China on the fifth day of the fifth month at water festivals. They were [[269]]“big ships adorned with carved dragon ornaments”, the yih bird being painted on the prow.[18] De Visser says that these boats were used by emperors for pleasure trips, and music was played on board them. “The bird was painted, not to denote their swift sailing, but to suppress the water-gods.”[19] According to De Groot, dragon-boat races were “intended to represent fighting dragons in order to cause a real dragon fight, which is always accompanied by heavy rains. The dragon-boats carried through the streets may also serve to cause rain, although they are at the same time considered to be substitutes.”[20]
Having drowned himself, the poet became associated with the river dragon. “Offerings of rice in bamboo”, says Giles, “were cast into the river as a sacrifice to the spirit of their great hero.”[21] In like manner, offerings were made to dragons in connection with rain-getting ceremonies long before the poet was born. It is evident that he took the place of the dragon-god as the mythical Empress Nu Kwa of the Patriarchial Period took the place of the Chinese Ishtar, and as Ishtar took the place of the earlier Sumerian goddess Ninkharasagga, who, with “Anu, Enlil, and Enki”, “created the black-headed (i.e. mankind)”.[22]
The same Chinese poet sings of the mother-goddess in his poem, “The Genius of the Mountain”, which Professor Giles has translated:
“Methinks there is a Genius of the Hills clad in wistaria, girdled with ivy, with smiling lips, of witching mien, riding on the red pard, wild cats galloping in the rear, reclining in a chariot, [[270]]with banners of cassia, cloaked with the orchid, girt with azalea, culling the perfume of sweet flowers to leave behind a memory in the heart.”