Houyi

Yi 羿, Houyi 后羿, Yiyi 夷羿 or Pingyi 平羿 is a mythical character of the Chinese, remarkable antiquity archer, considered as the husband of Chang' E. He is known by briefs passages of texts dating from the Royaumes combatants with the Han, like the Shanhaijing , the Huainanzi and the Mengzi . The legend of Houyi (its most frequent name in China) developed starting from these sources, with multiple alternatives in the details with the liking of the imagination or the intentions of the narrator.

Yi in the old sources

According to a passage of the Shanhaijing included in the Huainanzi , Yao called upon him to cut down the nine supernumerary suns appeared during its reign. The success of Yi made it possible Yao to become emperor.

Another passage of the Huainanzi makes him meet Xiwangmu during a forwarding of hunting. It gives to him of grasses of immortality. His wife Chang' E consumes them and flies away in the moon of which it becomes the goddess.

In sources of more historical spirit like the Mengzi , it is presented like Dongyi (1), general term indicating the ethnos groups not Huaxia Is, archer of elite. Its clan (or territory) is Youqiong (2). Vassal at Taikang (3), grandson makes indignant at Yu Large the, it exiles it and replaces it by his/her brother Zhongkang (4) while ensuring regency. He as made the dissatisfied ones because it devotes more time to hunting as for the public affairs. It is killed by Zhuo de Boming, lord of Han (5), during a forwarding of hunting. The modern Chinese historians estimate that Yi is the personification of an ethnos group known for its talent with the arc.

(1) 東夷 (2) 有窮 (3) 太康 (4) 仲康 (5) 寒浞, 伯明氏

Caption of Yi

There are some in the details of innumerable versions, which in general gather the anecdote of the suns, L `obtaining grasses of immortality and the take-off of Chang' E in the moon.

Yi is made a reputation by saving the ground of the dryness and the fires by cutting down the nine surplus suns. It is not always Yao which charges it, but sometimes the population, or Yi itself which goes voluntary. Thereafter, married to Chang' E, it enters in possession of grass or an elixir of immortality. The meeting of Yi and his wife, which is not told in the oldest sources, is entirely abandoned with the imagination of the narrator.

It is generally, as in the Huainanzi , the Xiwangmu goddess who gives to Yi magic grasses, but in the versions of communist China going back to before the Eighties, where Yi and Chang' E form a model couple of proto-proletarians living of hunting and manual work, it acts in general of a hermit herbalist.

The unforeseen consumption of grasses of immortality by Chang' E separates at the end the husbands, because their effect makes it rise in the airs until in the moon where it resides eternally. Sometimes the responsibility falls on to him about it, it shows of impatience and greed by immediately absorbing the totality of an elixir of which a half belongs to her husband, who keeps it for their old days. Sometimes the responsibility rests on Yi. It is told whereas it was promoted emperor after his success against the suns, but became tyrannical. It is him which wants to absorb grasses to increase its capacity and Chang' E swallows them for preventing some.

A less frequent folk tradition based on a passage of the Mengzi in fact a violent or démoniaque character killed by Pengmeng (1), another archer of elite sometimes presented like its disciple. This tradition, which sees in him a former chief of the demons replaced later on by Zhongkui (2), is explained by certain Chinese folklorists by the assimilation of the religious practices of the minorities not Han, whose Yi would be a representative, with Sorcellerie.

(1) 逢蒙 (2) 鐘馗

Yi and Héraclès

The resemblance of the archer Yi and the Greek hero Héraclès was noticed for a long time. They are both of the solitary heroes and killers of monsters. Like Héraclès, Yi carried out a certain number of “work”. Like Yi, Héraclès was an archer. Not wanting to go down under ground after its death, Yi went in the Queen-Mother of Occident and obtained from it pills of immortality, but his wife Chang' E flew to him. In the same way, Héraclès managed to conceal the apples of immortality, which were the property of the goddess Héra, but it returned them on the injunction of Athéna. These two heroes, which could have avoided death, had a fine tragedy. According to certain Chinese texts, Yi was assassinated by his Fufei wife, who would be thus equivalent to Chang' E, and by Han Zhuo (quoted above), the lover of this one. In the same way, Héraclès was killed by his wife Déjanire and the Nessos Centaur, which had tried to violate it.

Immortality was an essential concept of the religion of the Greeks and Tokhariens. At Homère, the terms “immortal” and “god” are synonymous. In the same way, designation tokharienne of the gods, ñäkte , probably meant “immortal”.

It is as important to notice as “work” of Yi is related with the fight of Huangdi against Chiyou. Thus, Yi killed the Large Snake swallower of stars, while Huangdi overcame Chiyou, which tried to prevent the sun from going up to the sky. It is thus because Yi became king during a forwarding in the basin of Tarim and that Huangdi was the divine version of the king . This same parallelism exists in Greek mythology: just as the god Apollon killed the Python snake close to a source, the king Cadmos killed a snake which kept a source on the site of Thèbes. Apollo was often described as " souverain" , which was never the case of his/her Zeus father.

See too

Zh-yue: 后羿

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