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Nü Wa
- Qinshu Daquan, Folio 14, #2 2 |
女媧 1
琴書大全，第十四卷 #2 Nü Wa and Fu Xi 3 |
Nü Wa (or Nü Gua), said to have had a human head but the body of a serpent, was originally considered "the greatest primeval cosmogonic deity", but was later relegated to the position of a minor deity, consort of her older brother Fu Xi; she is sometimes credited with controlling flooding.4 The biography here says she created the shenghuang, perhaps the pipes of the sheng mouth organ.5 Her connection to the qin seems to come from the stories that say she accompanied Fuxi when he played the qin: see below and the
comment under the description of what is said to have been Fuxi's qin.
Nü Wa is not mentioned in Qin Shi or Qin Shi Bu. The biography here is brief, saying that we know she liked the qin because when Fu Xi played, she accompanied him.
The original text in Qinshu Daquan says,
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a
separate page)
1.
女媧 Nü Wa references
(See Wiki and
Minghuang)
Her name is also written Nüwa, Nu Wa and Nuwa. 6170.205 - .208; .206 女媧氏 quotes 司馬貞，補史記，三皇本紀 Sima Zhen's 7th c. CE supplement to Shi Ji. 10.975 三皇 San Huang, quoting
Fengsu Tong, says she was one of the Three Majesties along with
Fu Xi and
Shen Nong.
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2.
Original text (see translation)
Two lines (see QSJC V/295). The original text there is:
「女媧生有神聖之德。代宓羲，立號曰﹕女希氏。作笙簧。」又曰﹕「宓犧置琴，女媧和之。」是知女媧亦喜琴焉。
The source of the first half seems to be 補史紀，三皇記, although there the first phrase is, 「女媧氏亦風姓，蛇身人首，有神聖之德。無革造，惟作笙簧」 (i.e., it adds that her surname was Feng, she had the body of a snake and the head of a human, and [if I understand correctly] she made the shenghuang because she had no leather [to bind the pipes together?]). The second quote seems to be from Record of the Yellow Emperor, where it is actually written, 「伏羲置琴，女媧和之」.
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3.
Image
This image shows Nü Wa on the left holding a compass and her brother Fuxi on the right holding an ink ladle and carpenter's square. The original is a painting on silk found at the Astana Graves (Wiki) in Xinjiang. Further images of Nü Wa can easily be found on the internet, such as the old ones at economy.guoxue.com.
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4.
Nü Wa and the floods
Anne Birrell, Chinese Mythology, An Introduction, p.163 - 165, discusses her in relation to Fu Xi. On p. 69-71 ("Nü Gua mends the sky") she mentions her in connection with flood myths.
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5.
笙簧 Shenghuang
2631.15 says this is the reeds or pipes of the sheng mouth organ. The account above seems to suggest that she had no leather to bind the pipes together.
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Return to QSDQ ToC, or to the Guqin ToC.