Chic pig-nosed dragon
Recently, the Ruins of Sanxingdui in Sichuan have once again brought surprises to the public, with a unique pig-nosed dragon, a four-winged divine beast unearthed for the first time, and a delicate winged hollow bronze bird, each of which stirs the visual nerves and heartstrings of the public. The first unearthed four-winged divine beast, with a head like a tiger, with four wings on its back, carries a sacred tree, experts speculate that this may be a mixture of various animals, and the four wings on the body are the inheritance of the Sanxingdui culture's respect for birds. Casually inspecting the cultural relics unearthed in Sanxingdui, there are indeed bird elements with different shapes everywhere, reflecting the favor and respect of the Cuban Shu culture for birds. So, what kind of historical memory and cultural tradition does the Cuban Shu culture have such reverence for birds?
The divine power to escape the flood beasts is desirable
The reverence of the birds by the Cuban Shu culture is closely related to the geographical environment of the Bashu region. The ancients used "its mountains to be ridged" to describe the geographical environment of the Bashu region, in short, that is, the mountains are high and the valleys are deep, and the rivers are dense. The period of the Sanxingdui site coincided with the relatively warm and humid global climate, and the geographical environment of the high mountains and valleys in the Bashu region was extremely easy to breed large animals such as tigers, leopards, bears, and horses, and the environment of the hundreds of animals naturally threatened the survival of the ancestors of Bashu.
At the same time, the terrain of the inner plains of the Sichuan Basin slopes from northwest to southeast, and when the summer and autumn rising season comes, the downstream residents are only sheltered from the floods. While fighting against the flood beasts, the ancestors of Bashu found that whenever the flood beasts came, the birds could vibrate their wings and fly high to avoid disasters, which made the ancestors of Bashu in danger yearn for it.
During the Cuban Shu culture, when the secrets of the natural world had not yet been revealed, human beings were like swaddled babies, and the unknown could only be blamed on supernatural forces. The excellent performance of the birds in escaping the flood beasts made the ancestors of Bashu yearn and respected them, they regarded the birds as the embodiment of divine power and their own protective gods, and tried to share the birds' divine power by honoring the birds.
Myths and legends "Jingwei Reclamation" in the Jingwei after death incarnated as a bird, the stone reclamation, but why is it a bird? This is because the birds can effectively avoid the attack of the flood, and the myths and legends of "Jingwei Reclamation" essentially imply that the birds in the hearts of the ancestors can resist the flood, which coincides with the attitude of the ancestors of Bashu to the birds.
Borrow the docile character of the bird to unite people's hearts
The land of Bashu is high and deep, and the mountains are deep and the beasts are mixed, which is quite recorded in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, and it is said in the Nanshan Classic: "Jishan ... There are beasts, their shapes are like sheep, nine tails and four ears, and their eyes are on their backs" "The mountain of floating jade... There are beasts, their shape is like a tiger and an ox's tail, and their sound is like a barking dog... it's cannibalism". Although the records in the Classic of Mountains and Seas are grotesque, these records reflect the rampant beasts in the Bashu region at that time, and people were deeply affected by them, if the records in the Classic of Mountains and Seas are regarded as the deliberate ugliness of these beasts by the ancestors, it is more able to reflect the living conditions of the ancestors at that time.
On the contrary, the ancestors' descriptions of birds were particularly friendly, and it is said in the Classic of Mountains and Seas and the Great Wilderness of the West: "The Qiang Dynasty regarded the birds as auspicious birds (the ancients regarded the birds as auspicious birds)" "There is the mountain of the birds, and the birds of the five harvests look up to the sky, and the name is songbirds." There is the wind of Baile song and dance" "There are white birds, green wings, yellow tails, and beaks". Compared with the descriptions of many beasts of prey, the bird is obviously more docile and gentle in the impression of the ancestors, and even the embodiment of auspiciousness. This may be related to the docile personality of birds, they do not threaten the survival of humans, and can even sometimes be accompanied by humans.
The auspicious meaning contained in the bird has made many Bashu ancestors worship as gods and use it as a tribal totem, so as to unite people's hearts, and even many Bashu ancestors directly let their ancestors connect with birds.
The widely spread legend that Emperor Wangdi transformed into a cuckoo bird is the best example. Wangdi Duyu is the legendary agricultural god of Bashu, after death incarnated as a cuckoo, every year during spring ploughing will cry, the ancestors of Bashu regarded it as "Wangdi Soul", and prayed to the Wangdi who transformed into a cuckoo bird, hoping to have a good harvest.
In addition to Emperor Wang, the silkworm bushes, cypress squids, and fish squirrels of the Three Kings of Shu recorded in the Book of the King of Shu are inextricably linked to birds. It can also be seen that the ancestors of Bashu's respect for birds are further combined with ancestor worship, and in the process of legend passing on from generation to generation, the identification of ancestors essentially also contains the recognition of bird worship, which has unconsciously penetrated into the cultural genes of the bashu ancestors and has been fully reflected in the Sanxingdui site.
It constituted the medium of communication between the ancestors of Bashu and the gods
The ancients used divine power to consolidate their rule in the world, which is a common means of self-evident use. In the minds of the ancestors of Bashu, the birds had extremely miraculous powers, which made the ancestors involuntarily regard the birds as a symbol of theocratic rule in the process of dominating the people. But in addition to what I have already talked about, there are two reasons why the bird can be regarded as a symbol of theocratic rule.
First of all, birds were able to fly high into the sky or to the top of a mountain, and these places were fantasized in the minds of the ancients as sources of mysterious powers and the dwellings of the gods. The move of the birds undoubtedly made the ancestors of Bashu regard them as objects that communicated with the gods, and several gold-shelled bamboo rods were unearthed in the Sanxingdui No. 1 pit, on which a set of patterns consisting of "human heads, birds, fish and feather arrows" were engraved, and the human head was placed at the bottom, and the feather arrows ran between the birds and fish. Coincidentally, a golden crown belt was also excavated at the Jinsha site in Chengdu, and the same pattern was engraved on it.
Some scholars have pointed out that the pattern of "human head, bird, fish and feather arrow" essentially expresses the worship of the sun god by the ancestors of Bashu, and also constitutes the medium of communication between the ancestors of Bashu and the gods, and these golden-shelled bamboo sticks and golden crown belts are all things that the ancestors of Bashu used to communicate with the gods.
Not only are the bird motifs on the golden shell bamboo sticks and the golden crown belt regarded as the worship of the sun god by the ancestors of Bashu, but also the bronze sacred trees excavated in Sanxingdui, the famous cultural relics excavated in Sanxingdui, are also regarded as the reverence of the ancestors of Bashu for the sun god, and the bird factor plays a pivotal role in it.
The current popular view is that the bronze sacred tree unearthed at Sanxingdui is a restoration of the Fuso tree in mainland myths and legends, and the Classic of Mountains and Seas and the Overseas East Classics record: "There is Fuso on the Yutani Valley, bathed for ten days, and dwelling in the water." Nine days to live in the lower branch, one day to live in the upper branch", the Fuso tree is the ancient sun's habitat, at the same time, the ancients also have the "Golden Wu Negative Day" saying: "There are Fumu on the Yutani, one day to the day, one day out, all contained in Wu". Therefore, the golden wu is also regarded as a symbol of the sun, and in the Chengdu Jinsha site, there is a gold ornament with four birds around the sun, in the middle of which is the sun of twelve flames, and around the sun are four golden wu. The bird hanging ornaments that can be seen everywhere on the bronze sacred trees excavated from Sanxingdui are undoubtedly symbolic of the sun perched in the Fuso tree.
All in all, the multi-layered mysterious meaning of the bird in the minds of the ancestors of Bashu is intertwined, which together constitute the power base on which the ancestors of Bashu can control the people. Among the many sacred trees, altars, and shrines unearthed from Sanxingdui, the bird hanging ornament is the most common, and the noble status of the bird element has been further strengthened in the process of being used to control the people, which is a process of mutual cause and effect.
There are many reasons for the favor of the ancestors of Bashu for flying birds, and the geographical environment, social culture, and historical memory have all played an important role in it. In addition, some scholars believe that there are also the results of cultural exchanges between the Bashu region and the Central Plains civilization. But in any case, the many artifacts containing the element of birds unearthed at Sanxingdui provide us with a key, a key to unlock the cultural genes of the Guba Shu region. Through this key, it is not difficult for us to glimpse the spiritual world and social life of the ancestors who have gone far away.
Text/Ye Guoan (Haoran Wenshi)