Legends Of The East

Huang Di, or the Yellow Emperor, is referred to as the “Originator of the Chinese Culture”, and all people of the Chinese race regard themselves as descendants of Yan Di and Huang Di. 

With the original surname of Gongsun (later changed to Ji) and another name Youxiong Shi, Huang Di was also known as Xuanyuan Shi as he lived at the Xuanyuan Hill. A clan leader towards the end of China’s primitive society, Huang Di was the full brother of Yan Di with whom he shared the country.

He formed an alliance with Yan Di in later years against the invasion of Chiyou, the chieftain of the Jiuli Tribe. A decisive battle was fought at Zhuolu in the northwest of the present Hebei Province. Legend goes that at the beginning of the battle, Chiyou sneezed out a thick fog all over the place which lasted three days, and the soldiers of Huang Di could not tell their directions. Fortunately Huang Di led his men out of the fog by the “compass chariot” he had invented and won complete victory. 

The alliance of Huang Di and Yan Di split after Chiyou was defeated because, it was said, Yan Di intended to infringe upon the various tribes and seize the leading position of the alliance while the chieftains of the tribes preferred to obey Huang Di. As a result the two leaders fought at Banquan. After three fierce battles, Huang Di won victory and was made the “Son of Heaven” by the tribe chieftains. 

Strict and impartial, Huang Di was able to get rid of the evil for the people. It was said that Gu, son of the God of Mount Zhongshan named Zhulong, murdered another god at Mount Kunlun in collaboration with a deity called Qinpi. The Yellow Emperor was indignant at their atrocity and immediately had them killed. 

The Yellow Emperor was a highly gifted “Son of Heaven”. Legend goes that he was the inventor of many things such as making clothes, manufacturing boats and vehicles, building houses and palaces, etc. He also had his court officials Lun Ling make musical instruments, Da Nao compile the Heavenly Stems and the Earthly Branches*, and Cang Ji invent the Chinese characters. The country was in good order and prosperity and the people lived a happy life. 

There were indeed quite a number of wars at the time, which however, broke the narrow limits between the different clans and promote (their merging. The ancient Huaxia nationality was thus gradually formed, being the predecessor of the Han nationality to which the overwhelming majority of the Chinese people belong. 

It is said that Yao, Shun and the monarchs of the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties were all descendants of the Yellow Emperor. He was thus regarded as the first ancestor of the Chinese nation and to him was attributed the creation of all Chinese cultural institutions.

Many centuries ago by a sparkling lake, in a valley surrounded by majestic mountains, the temple of Lao-Tsun was guarded by 100 yellow-eyed white cats with long silken hair. The temple housed a beautiful golden goddess with sapphire blue eyes who watched over the transmutation of souls. The head monk, Mun-ha, whose beard had been braided with gold by the enlighten one, often knelt in meditation before the golden goddess,Tsun-Kyan-Kse. At his side was his faithful and beloved companion, a beautiful temple cat named Sinh. Sinh would always shared in his master’s meditation. As the monk meditated, Sinh would gaze steadily at the golden goddess beautiful sapphire blue eyes.

One night as the moon rose, Mun-ha was in communion with the sacred goddess, Tsun-Kyan-Kse. He was deep in a transcendental state. So deep was his devotion, that he suffered no pain when the temple was attacked by marauders and Mun-ha was killed. At the moment of his masters death, Sinh placed his paws upon the monk’s flowing robes and faced the golden goddess. Instantly, an amazing transformation took place. The hairs of Sinh’s white fur were as though misted with a golden glow which radiated from the beautiful golden goddess. Her deep sapphire blue eyes became Sinh very own. His face, ears, legs and tail became the velvety brown color of rich earth, but his four paws resting gently on his master, remained perfect white, a symbol of purity. The next morning the temple radiated with the transformation of the remaining ninety-nine white cats which with Sinh reflected the golden hue of a hundred brilliant sunrises. Sinh did not move from his place He stayed on the spot of his masters death, and gazed fervently into the sapphire eyes of the goddess. Exactly seven days later Sinh died carrying with him into Nirvana the soul of his beloved master,the monk Mun-ha.

Source: VCnet

According to local folklore, the formation of the Tangkuban Parahu volcano began with a young man SANGKURIANG who fell in love with his own mother, DAYANG SUMBI.

One day, when he was hunting, Sangkuriang accidentally killed his beautiful black dog (Si TUMANG). This dog is actually Sangkuriang’s father who had been condemned to live the life of a dog by his GURU. However, Sangkuriang never knew it.

Sangkuriang had been separated by his mother since childhood. Yet, he was destined to meet his mother again. When on his way home, he stopped at a small village and met and fell in love with a beautiful girl. He didn’t realised that the village was his homeland nor that the beautiful girl was his own sacred mother (remain young & pretty).

Their love grew naturally and one day, when they were discussing their wedding plans, Dayang Sumbi suddenly realised that the profile of Sangkuriang’s head matched that of her only son’s who had left twenty years earlier. How could shee marry her own son? But she did not wish to dissapoint him by cancelling the wedding. So, although she agreed to marry Sangkuriang, she would do so only on the condition that he provide her with a lake and a boat with which they could sail on the dawn of their wedding day.

Sangkuriang accepted this condition and built a lake by damming the Citarum river. Wiath a dawn just moment away and the boat almost complete, Dayang Sumbi realised that Sangkuriang would fulfill the condition she had set. With a wave of her supernatural shawl, she lit up the eastern horizon with flashes of light. Deceived by false dawn, the cock crowed and farmers rose for the new day.

With his work not yet complete, Sangkurinag realised that his endeavour were lost. With all his anger, he kicked the boat that he himself had built. The boat fell over and, in so doing become the mountain TANGKUBAN PARAHU (in Sundanese, TANGKUBAN means upturned or upside down, and PARAHU means boat). With the dam torn assunder, the water drained from the lake becoming a wide plain and nowaday became a city called BANDUNG (from the word BENDUNG, which means Dam).

Source : Tunggal Media

Khwaja Fariduddin Attar was once sitting in his shop, when a Faqeer came by and started staring at all the fancy glass bottles full of perfumes. When Khwaja asked him the reason to stare like this, he said ‘I am just wondering how will your soul leave your body when it is trapped in these fancy glass bottles here.’

Fariduddin Attar replied : ‘My soul will leave my body the same way that your soul will leave yours’.

To this, the faqeer said ‘My soul will leave like this’. Then he recited the Kalma  and lay down on the ground. When fariduddin tried to gently shake him, he realised that the faqeer’s soul had indeed left his body.

This incident was a turning point in his life and he then became one of the famous saint/scholars of all time.

This anecdote does tell us how precarious life is, but it also reminds us that really petty things can have a titanic influence on our lives.

Source : WikiPedia

 
According to tradition, the islands of the country were named by a legendary people known as Redhin. They were said to have inhabited the archipelago some time in the past. There is scant information regarding these people, except for references made to them in oral traditions and folklore. One thing is however certain, the archipelago was in the past inhabited by various peoples, about whom nothing is known today.

The Redhin were said to be large, fair haired and light skinned people who had long noses. They were said to be skilled masons, who built temples and shrines. They were also astronomers, able to foretell events by observing the heavens. The Redhin were master mariners, competent in both sailing and rowing. They worshipped the sun and fire. They were known to be a peaceful people, who shunned contact with others who inhabited the islands. They were known to get violent when they performed their devotional rituals, in which both men and women participated. Architecture attributed to these ancient seafarers is evident in ruins scattered all over the archipelago.

Source : Maldives Info

Legend has it that Hwan-ung, the son of Hwan-in (who was the God of All and the ruler of Heaven), yearned to live on Earth among the valleys and the mountains. His father sent him and 3,000 helpers to rule Earth and provide humans with great happiness.

Hwan-ung descended to Mount T’aebaeksan on the border between Manchuria and what is now North Korea. He named the place Shinshi, City of God. Along with his ministers of clouds, rain, and wind, he instituted laws and moral codes and taught the humans various arts, medicine, and agriculture.

A tiger and a bear living in a cave together prayed to become human. Upon hearing their prayers, Hwan-ung called them to him and gave them 20 cloves of garlic and a bunch of mugwort. He then ordered them to only eat this sacred food and remain out of the sunlight for 100 days. The tiger shortly gave up and left the cave. However, the bear remained true and after 21 days was transformed into a woman.

The bear-woman was very grateful and made offerings to Hwan-ung. However, lacking a companion she soon became sad and praved beneath a sandalwood tree to be blessed with a child. Hwan-ung, moved by her prayers, took her for his wife and soon she gave birth to a handsome son. They named him Tan-gun, meaning “Altar Prince” or sandalwood.

Tan-gun developed into a wise and powerful leader and in 2333 BC moved to P’yongyang and established the Choson (”Land of the Morning Calm”) Kingdom. Finally, at the age of 1,908, he returned to T’aebaeksan where he became a mountain god.

(Recently, in a move to try to legitamize itself, the North Korean government claimed it had found and excavated the burial site for Tan-gun.)

Source : Life In Korea

There was just an hour to go for 16-year-old beauty Aisha-bibi to meet with her lover. But a tragedy cut the girl’s life short … There are 28 variations of the legend of Aisha-Bibi. According to the most popular and saddest version, Aisha-Bibi was the daughter of well-known in 11th century scholar and poet Khakim-Ata Suleiman Bakyrgani. After her father’s death, Aisha was brought up by Sheikh Aikhodzha (Zangi-Ata). When the governor of Taraz Karakhan Mukhammed (for whom Karakhan Mausoleum in Taraz was built) asked for the young beauty’s hand, her stepfather rejected the suitor, because Karakhan was not a descendant of the prophet (sayyid), as Aisha was. She then outwitted her hard-hearted stepfather by pretending to lead an army for jihad against the idolaters (Kara-Khitans). Secretly however, she rode towards Taraz. Unfortunately, Karakhan never met his young bride; she died of snakebite at Asa River. Mourning the death of the girl, Karakhan erected the mausoleum of fairytale beauty at this place. A friend and fellow traveler of Aisha named Babadzhi-Khatun became the custodian of the grave. When she died, she was buried within 20 steps from Aisha, and a mausoleum was erected over her as well. Today nobody can say what color her eyes were, but we know she loved and was loved. All legends follow the same general plot: A girl disobeys her parents out of love for her a noble in Taraz and dies by entering a body of water near the city. The Legend empasizes the belief in Central Asia of obedience to elders as the highest value.

Source: Wikipedia

In Japan there was an old couple that wished for a child. They wished for a child of any kind, even if he was only an inch tall. And their wish was granted. They got a child and sure enough he grew no taller than one inch. They named him Issun-Boshi which meant One Inch Boy. One day Issun-Boshi decided he wanted to see the world. His parents wanted Issun-Boshi to have a fun life so they gave him a bowl, chopsticks and a needle he could use as a sword and waved goodbye. When Issun-Boshi came to the city, he was taken into care of a nobleman and was a servant for the princess. Issun-Boshi and the princes became good friends. One day on their way back from a nearby temple, they were stopped by a large green demon called an oni. The princess thought she was doomed for surely she could not be saved by a one inch boy. But the one inch boy acted quickly. He climbed the oni quickly and poked it in the tongue with his sword. Issun-Boshi jumped from the demon’s mouth just before it turned and ran. The princess was saved! Then she made a wish. “I wish for Issun-Boshi to grow tall.” The princess squeezed her eyes shut and then opened them again. But the boy was still one inch tall. Then slowly, inch by inch, Issun- Bosh grew taller until he was the size of a full grown man. Issun-Boshi and the princess were married and they lived together happily for the rest of their lives,each over five feet tall.

Source: Japanese Legends

The best known legend of Langkawi is of Mahsuri, a pretty maiden who lived some 200 years ago. She died under tragic circumstances for a crime she did not commit. She died a victim of a conspiracy plotted against her out of jealousy for her magnetic personality. She was accused of committing adultery and was sentenced to death by the Chief of Langkawi, Dato Karma Jaya, her own father-in-law. As the legend goes, Mahsuri was the object of envy, of the village headman's wife Wan Mahora. She accused Mahsuri of adultery with a handsome minstrel visiting the island while Mahsuri's husband, Wan Darus, was away.

As proof of her innocence, some people say, white blood was seen gushing out of her wound during execution. Others maintain there was the sudden appearance of white mist that enveloped the spot where she was executed, which it was believed was a sign of mourning of her innocence.

Mahsuri is best remembered for her curse on Langkawi which was uttered before she died. She had said, "For this act of injustice Langkawi shall not prosper for seven generations to come."

Decades after Mahsuri's death, Langkawi experienced a period of tribulation with her population dwindling in size. The island became a desolate place, beset by series of misfortunes. It was not able to regain its splendour for a long period of time.

The curse, believed to have brought destruction and doom to the island and was to last for seven generations, lifted only after the birth of Wan Aishah.

Source: BayView Hotel Langkawi

Around the 8th century AD, after the fall of the Sassanian empire, large numbers of Persians fled by ship to the western coast of the Indian subcontinent (now Gujarat) to maintain their Zoroastrian religious tradition. According to an old Parsi legend, the Raja of Sanjan had given them a cup full to the rim of milk, symbolically stating that the kingdom was already full of people and could not take any refugees. The asylum seekers sweetened the milk with sugar and gave it back to the king, symbolically stating that they would be of immeasurable service to the kingdom and become exemplary subjects of the Raja. The Raja allowed them to stay, on condition that they remained endogamous and adopted the local culture, in addition to preserving their religion, as well as forbidding them from proselytizing. This was probably in conformance with caste laws of the time. To this day, the Parsis remain generally endogamous and do not accept converts.

Source : Wikipedia