Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch
ORASHKB and author
Vol. 1 (1961)
ISSN 1991-7295
77
probably the pagoda was a mistake for the parasol originally held by Vaisravana, as stated in the Ekottarik-agamas (增一含經):
The heavenly king Vaisravana held in his hand a parasol of the seven treasures (七寶) over the Tathagata in the air to protect the Tathagata from dust and soil,15
But since the circulation of the Tantric sutras was more or less encouraged by the authorities in the Tang dynasty, the public accepted that legend without scepticism." According to a Tantric text, Nata (No-cha 哪吒) is the third son of Vaisravana, who attends his father and holds the pagoda with both hands. But on the twenty-first day of every month, when the son is charged to go on some mission, so that they have to separate, Nata gives the pagoda to his father. This is not at all a thrilling story and there is no combat. The author of the Fêng-shên Yen-i created his own story of No-cha, the third son of Li Ching, based upon his profound knowledge of religious beliefs and popular literature, and made No-cha one of the famous heroes in Chinese literature. In order to analyse the parts which are the creative work of the author and to explain from what sources some of his materials may have been taken, I divide the story of No-cha into several sections below.
2. MU-CHA AND CHIN-CHA
Before the publication of the novel Feng-shên Yen-i and the prompt-book Ssu-yu-chi, No-cha's (哪吒) name was usually Na-cha (那吒) in many of the plays of the Yüan dynasty which preserved the original transliteration found in the Tantric sutras.17 In the Hsi-yu-chi (Ch.7), one of the "Four Travels", the second
Hi To P'in (TPE), 30, Ekottarikagamas, chian 22, The Tripitaka in Chinese.
10 In the year A.D. 838 (3rd year of K'ai Chiêng), on the 15th day of the 12th month, Lu Hung-chêng (盧弘正) wrote an inscription for the image of Vaisravana in the Hsing-t'ang Monastery (興唐寺) describing him as "having a sabre in his right hand, and in the left hand a pagoda." cf. Ku-chin T'u-shu Chi-ch'êng, Shên-I Tien, chian 91.
27 In Yang Ching-hsien's Yang San-tsang Hsi-tien Ch'ü-ching, Scene 8, “Nacha San Tai-tzu" (哪吒三太子); anonymous play Menglich Na-cha San Pien-hua (孟麗哪吒三變換) in the Ku-pên Yüan Ming Tsa-chü
*Z9M) edited by Wang Chi-lieh (王季烈), Shanghai, Commercial Press Ltd., 1941; anonymous play Ting-ting Tang-tang P’ên-êrh-kuei (丁丁當當甕兒鬼), Act 1, "Hê-lien Na-cha" (黑面哪吒), Act 2, "Na-cha Fa" (哪吒法), the last two are influenced by Tantric works. Besides, Na-cha (哪吒) appears in many plays of the Yuan dynasty, not to mention the tune called Nacha Ling (哪吒令).