Yes, it’s Vietnamese Myth 2, the stunning sequel the critics are raving about. Since my first Vietnamese Myth page was already pretty long PLUS I will be expanding many of the entries on it I decided to launch this second page where I will deal with the neglected epic myth A War Between Gods as well as the various other myths set during the reigns of specific rulers of the Hung Vuong Dynasty. I will also cover the tragic aftermath of the war between gods.
For my first Vietnamese Myth page, which features entries on the major gods and goddesses of the Vietnamese pantheon click here: http://glitternight.com/vietnamese-myth/
NEW! KOREAN MYTHOLOGY – http://glitternight.com/2011/03/24/the-top-11-deities-in-korean-mythology/
THE HUNG VUONG DYNASTY
Hard information on the Hung Vuong Dynasty is virtually non-existent, like trying to find “facts” about monarchs mentioned in the Koran, the Bible, the Kojiki, etc. The information conveyed here will just be the legends and myths about these eighteen kings, each of whom supposedly ruled for approximately one hundred fifty years beginning in 2879 B.C. (Don’t you love the specificity of that nonsense date? Not 2880 or 2870, but 2879.) The Hung Vuong Dynasty represented the height of Vietnamese Dong Son culture. Hung Vuong rulers wore a crown shaped like a Lac bird and made of feathers and jade.
HUNG VUONG I - Reign beginning in 2879 B.C. (beginning at 9:27am local time. I’m kidding!) The primary myth about his time as ruler involves him saving Van Lang (the ancient name of Vietnam) from a terrible drought. Version One - Hung Vuong I received a message from a Lac bird sent by his mother, the goddess Au Co (Lac birds were always special to her and were frequently used as her messengers). This message was to meet her beneath the mountain that is the remains of the sky ladder destroyed by Ngoc Hoang long ago. She advised him to destroy the demon which was responsible for the drought by lowering himself into one of the dried-up wells and slaying it by reciting a spell she taught him. Version Two – When the drought is raging, Hung Vuong I’s other parent – Lac Long Quan (who by now has returned to live in the sea with his father Long Vuong following the dispersal of the Hundred Sons and their families) sends his father’s emissary Song Truong the Tide Prince to part the waves of the sea and walk to get Hung Vuong I and escort him to the undersea kingdom. Once there Lac Long Quan gives him the instructions on how to use a spell to slay the demon causing the drought. In both versions the demon is slain when confronted by Hung Vuong I, the drought ends, the wells fill with fresh water, the rains return and Hung Vuong I is hailed as a hero by his people.
HUNG VUONG II – A major myth regarding this second Hung Vuong ruler involves the round and square cakes prepared for Tet celebrations. When Hung Vuong I decided it was time to name his successor he announced a competition among his many sons. Whichever one of them came up with the most pleasing dish for the upcoming Tet celebration would succeed him on the throne. All the other sons were having their chefs prepare elaborate and sumptuous meals as offerings, but the youngest son was visited in a dream by Ly Tinh, the messenger god of Ngoc Hoang, and was advised by Ly Tinh that food prepared personally with love and with reverance for the gods and the homeland would meet with more favor than lavish and expensive meals prepared by others. Ly Tinh then pointed to the Earth and then the sky as one final hint before the dream ended. This youngest son made square cakes to represent the Earth which nourished the Vietnamese people and round cakes to represent the sky that watched over them. The cakes were made of sweet rice, bean paste, onions and banana leaves. During the Tet celebrations the sons all presented their meals and the sky and Earth cakes that the youngest son prepared personally, with love, pleased Hung Vuong I more than all of the exotic meals his other sons had paid others to prepare. Hung Vuong named the youngest son his successor (Is meal preparation really the best way to determine governmental succession? Would Emeril Legasse really make a good Commander In Chief?) and he went on to rule as Hung Vuong II. The round and square cakes he prepared continue to be made by the Vietnamese people to celebrate Tet. Some versions instead present these events taking place when Hung Vuong XVII was ready to name his successor.
HUNG VUONG III – The most prominent myth associated with this third Hung Vuong ruler involves the marital custom of chewing the fruit of the areca tree and a sliver of quicklime wrapped in betel leaves. There is a virtual duplicate of this myth and custom in Philippine mythology. Some people question my dwelling on parallels in Vietnamese and Philippine myths but my answer is always the same: look at a map. Plus I can’t imagine I’m alone in noting the occassional similar features in the two mythic systems. To the story: A woman named Thao was beloved by two brothers, Tan and Lang. She agreed to marry the older brother, Tan, before she knew that Lang loved her as well. As all three parties gradually became aware of their situation it caused a great deal of emotional strain on all of them since the three were poor and lived in the same home. Thao, Tan and Lang were all virtuous and none of them ever dreamed of doing anything unethical. Thao loved both brothers equally but remained faithful to her husband. Lang loved his brother just as much as he loved Thao and so never made advances to her. For his part Tan was so selfless he often wished his brother had married Thao instead so that the two of them could be happy. At last, unable to bear the situation any longer Lang went off by himself, traveling into the jungle until he was exhausted, whereupon he sat down, wept and died of a broken heart. (?) Tan Vien, god of the hunt and the jungle with all its gifts both plant and animal, took pity on Lang and transformed him into the white rock subsequently called quicklime. After several days Tan went looking for his brother and happened to stop at the rock that used to be his brother. Fearing that Lang had taken his own life Tan also wept and died of a broken heart. Tan Vien pitied him as well and transformed him into what became known as the areca tree. Thao eventually came looking for both brothers and, happening to stop at the rock and tree which had been Tan and Lang (small world), wept with hopeless despair at the whole painful love triangle and became a grief counselor. No, I’m kidding – she too died of a broken heart. Tan Vien pitied Thao as well and transformed her into the betel plant which often wraps itself around areca trees. The villagers who lived near the spot and knew the sad story of Thao, Lang and Tan constructed a shrine at the spot of the stone, tree and betel vines. Years later Hung Vuong III and his royal party happened to stop at the shrine while traveling. Hung Vuong III took some of the fruit of the areca tree and a small bit of quicklime, wrapped them in a betel leaf (just go with me on this) and was delighted at the way the taste of all three combined was better than any of them chewed singly or in a pair. Learning the full story of Tan, Lang and Thao Hung Vuong III was touched and decreed that henceforth exchanging and chewing the trio of items at weddings would be the new custom. Some versions instead place these events in the reign of either Hung Vuong II or Hung Vuong IV.
HUNG VUONG IV – The saga of the god Chu Dong Tu and Hung Vuong IV’s daughter Tien Dung took place during the reign of this ruler. (See my first Vietnamese myth page for details ) Some versions instead place this story in the reign of Hung Vuong VI.
HUNG VUONG V – Hung Vuong V’s most favored son and likely succesor was An Tiem. This son was gifted in many languages and proved to be extraordinarily successful in commerce as well. Hung Vuong V’s other sons were extremely jealous of how favored An Tiem was at court and took to bitterly implying that it was only their father’s favoritism that made An Tiem so successful, not the other way around. An Tiem angily replied to his brothers’ taunts by saying he would be just as successful even with no help at all from their father. Hung Vuong V was angered when his sons reported this to him and he summoned An Tiem. He ordered An Tiem to recant the statement that he had no need of him to be successful. An Tiem proudly refused, insisting his accomplishments were due only to his own talents and virtues. Furious, Hung Vuong V exiled An Tiem, his wife and their six year old son Hao to Sa Chau Island with no food or water or other supplies, telling his son that this would be a true test of how much or how little he needed help from his father to make his way in life. With no alternative, An Tiem, his wife and son made a shelter for themselves out of resources on the island and obtained water from its ponds and streams. After a few months the trio were on the point of exhausting all available fruit and vegetable life on the island and would be forced to subsist strictly on their fishing catches and water. At this point the goddess Au Co, ancestress of the Hung Vuong Dynasty along with her husband Lac Long Quan, intervened on An Tiem’s behalf, realizing he was the most worthy of Hung Vuong V’s sons. She sent a few Lac birds, her usual messengers, to An Tiem with mouthfuls of seeds for him to plant. He did so and a few months later they had produced fully ripe examples of the fruit we now call watermelons, providing the three exiles with food and also quenching their thirst with their moisture. Next the chief sea god Long Vuong caused a merchant ship to drift off-course to Sa Chau Island, where An Tiem and his family entertained the crew for awhile and introduced them to the watermelon. The merchant captain immediately realized the value of these new type of melons in a tropical climate since they satisfied two needs at once and exchanged some food, cloth and other supplies for some of the precious fruit. An Tiem invited the captain to come trade with him and his family regularly for the valuable new fruit which we’re told existed nowhere else in the world at the time. Eventually many other merchant ships began to engage in commerce with the castaways (“Gilligaaaaaaaan!” Had to be said). Making shrewd trades An Tiem eventually was able to hire regular workers for his expanding estate which now grew other crops in addition to watermelon. Four years passed, during which the formerly obscure Sa Chau Island became a thriving commercial port, the fame of which reached the ears of Hung Vuong V. The monarch and his retinue traveled to the island, where, astounded by what his son had produced out of virtually nothing, Hung Vuong V acknowledged to his son that he had been right about his abilities and welcomed An Tiem, his wife and son back to the palace and named An Tiem heir to the throne. An Tiem ruled as Hung Vuong VI, and, under his pre-coronation name was eventually worshipped as the god of watermelons. (The moral of the story: NEVER underestimate a watermelon-based economy.)
HUNG VUONG VI – By most accounts the major myth of the god of war, Thanh Giong, took place during this monarch’s reign. Other accounts instead place Thanh Giong’s saga during the reign of Hung Vuong IV and put the story of the god Chu Dong Tu during Hung Vuong VI’s reign. (See my first Vietnamese Myth page for details on those myths) After death this monarch was worshipped as the watermelon god (Great Pumpkin, eat your heart out!) under his pre-coronation name An Tiem (But what about Toto? I’m kidding!) His son Hao, who shared his four-year exile on Sa Chau Island and for whom watermelons were named in the Vietnamese language, went on to rule as Hung Vuong VII.
ENTRIES ON THE OTHER HUNG VUONG RULERS COMING SOON
HUNG VUONG XVIII – The most significant myth associated with this last ruler of the Hung Vuong Dynasty is the neglected Vietnamese epic myth A War Between Gods (see following entry)
A WAR BETWEEN GODS
Canto 1 – Hung Vuong XVIII was engaged in the annual Royal Hunt during which he payed homage to the deity Tan Vien, god of the hunt and the jungle with all its gifts as well as the mountain that bears his name. The Royal Hunt lasted several days and Hung Vuong XVIII, like all his predecessors, took many nobles, attendants and bearers with him as well as all his sons and daughters. One daughter in particular, Mi Nuong, caught the eye of the god Tan Vien, who noticed what a beautiful young woman she had grown into. The two conversed pleasantly many times during the days of the hunt. At the end of the hunt Tan Vien and his retinue, including the tiger- god Chua Con Ho accompanied Hung Vuong XVIII on his way back to his palace and they all came across a fisherman exalting over an enormous and multi-colored fish he caught in the river. Moved by the beauty of the fish Tan Vien bought it from the fisherman, placed its dead body back in the river, then aimed one end of his staff at it. The staff was given to him long ago by Ngoc Hoang’s messenger god Ly Tinh; one end killed any living creature it was aimed at, the other restored life to any dead creature it was aimed at. The extraordinary fish was brought back to life, then metamorphosed into his true form as Thuy Tinh, the son or grandson (versions vary) of the chief sea deity Long Vuong.
Canto 2 – Thuy Tinh, the god who shepherded in the clouds that brought the rains from May to September, told Tan Vien that he had transformed himself into the multi-colored fish so he could swim upriver and explore further than he ever had before. Unfortunately he had remained in his fish form for too long, losing his godly power and being unable to turn back into his true self until revived and healed by Tan Vien’s staff. To show his gratitude he invited Tan Vien to accompany him back to the undersea realm of his father Long Vuong. Tan Vien and Thuy Tinh first said goodbye to Hung Vuong XVIII and his retinue, and his daughter Mi Nuong also caught the eye of Thuy Tinh, who was just as impressed with her beauty as Tan Vien had been. When the two gods reached the sea shore Thuy Tinh summoned up Song Truong, the tide or wave prince, to part the waves so that Tan Vien could simply walk with them to Long Vuong’s palace. Once there, Long Vuong was told of how Tan Vien had saved his son (by this point I’m sure Long Vuong was used to other figures having to save his boneheaded family members from foolish predicaments) and the sea god invited Tan Vien to stay and be honored for his deed. He gave the jungle and mountain god a rhinoceros horn to clutch so he could breathe and speak underwater (and so Song Truong could let the ocean’s waves flow back together) and held a celebration in Tan Vien’s honor for several days. Thuy Tinh showed Tan Vien all the sites of the undersea kingdom and a parade was held for the land-dwelling god to review all the creatures of the deep. All the species of subaquatic animals paraded by in groups over the course of days, even undersea monsters that surface-dwellers had never before seen. Long Vuong brought an end to the celebration by granting Tan Vien one final audience with him, at which he gave Tan Vien a parting gift – a mystical book that would conjure up any objects the reader desired. Goodbyes were said and Tan Vien returned to his home on the mountain that bears his name.
Canto 3 – The day eventually arrived when Hung Vuong XVIII offered up Mi Nuong’s hand in marriage. Aristocrats came from as far away as ancient India to compete for the hand of the legendarily beautiful princess. The patriarch of the Thuc family, who plotted to overthrow Hung Vuong XVIII, was among the suitors and so were the gods Tan Vien and Thuy Tinh. The suitors had to compete against each other in various undertakings, similar to the Indian tradition of svayamvara featured in many Hindu myths. Sailing and hunting competitions were held, as were duels and archery competitions. Exotic gift competitions were held and the suitors were also subjected to tests of skill in languages, music and poetry. The scheming patriarch of the Thuc family was among the last of the mortal suitors to be eliminated as at long last only the gods Tan Vien and Thuy Tinh remained as potential husbands for Mi Nuong. The patriarch of the Thuc family was outraged at being dismissed from competition for the hand of the princess and brooded bitterly over that turn of events. Thuc’s already intense hatred of Hung Vuong XVIII grew even stronger and that hatred would fuel him to engineer the end of the Hung Vuong Dynasty through his yet unborn son.
Canto 4 – Hung Vuong XVIII regarded the two remaining competitors for Mi Nuong’s hand with glee. He stated that the only competition that his daughter’s suitors hadn’t been subjected to was a test of raw power. Thuy Tinh demonstrated his power first, summoning the seasonal rains he was the lord of and bringing down such an intense downpour that rivers were quickly in danger of overflowing their banks. His point proven, Thuy Tinh instantly called off the rains and permitted the sun to shine again. Tan Vien now took his turn, causing trees, vines and other greenery to instantly spring up all around, even growing through the floors of the palace. In some versions he instead made a mountain spring up under the palace, causing it to grow until the palace was high in the sky. Either way, he then canceled out the effects of his power like Thuy Tinh did and everything went back to normal. Since both gods were equal in power Hung Vuong XVIII realized a different approach was needed to break the deadlock. He announced that the winner of his daughter’s hand would be the first of the two to bring him eighteen white elephants, eighteen tigers, eighteen green pearls and eighteen grey crabs (half the items from the land, half from the sea) plus various other gifts that differ from version to version. Tan Vien and Thuy Tinh immediately set out to obtain the items.
Canto 5 – Thuy Tinh had various forms of marine life scour the sea bottom for the items that could be obtained there. Once he had his quota of the objects he treacherously ordered various fish of all sizes to swallow any and all other items like them in order to unfairly prevent Tan Vien from finding any of the sea-related treasures. Next Thuy Tinh journeyed into the jungle on the surface world and began rounding up the land-related objects he needed to complete the list. For his part Tan Vien had had the animals in the hills and jungles he ruled hunt down each of the land-related treasures he needed and now turned his attentions to trying to find the sub-aquatic items. Days went by with him having no success at locating even one of the objects. Meanwhile, the devoted tiger-god Chua Con Ho, was keeping Tan Vien up to date on the progress Thuy Tinh was making in compiling the inland treasures. At last Tan Vien realized he had the answer to his problems. He returned to the mountain that bears his name and opened the book that the chief sea god Long Vuong had given him as a reward for saving his son (or grandson) Thuy Tinh’s life. The book’s power was to materialize any object the reader desired and so Tan Vien was quickly able to complete his list of the items he needed. Aided by various jungle animals, Tan Vien transported the objects to Hung Vuong XVIII’s palace while Thuy Tinh was still deep in the jungles endeavoring to complete the list. Tan Vien thus won the hand of Princess Mi Nuong and the two were married. (This element of a book being used as the means of a god winning the hand of a bride puts me in mind of a Hindu myth. The gods Ganesha and Skanda, sons of Shiva and Parvati, the mountain goddess, compete for a bride. The task to be completed in the svayamvara in this case was to walk around the world. Skanda genuinely walked around the globe, which of course took a considerable amount of time. The crafty Ganesha, often called the Hindu Thoth, simply read a book about the various nations in the world and then went to claim his bride, offering descriptions of the entire world as proof that he had supposedly walked around it. In a “bookless” version of the same myth Ganesha wins the contest by simply walking once in a circle around Shiva and Parvati, since one’s parents are the world) The wedding ceremony and celebration feasts were held and the newlyweds were safely back at Tan Vien Mountain nearly a full day before Thuy Tinh and his retinue arrived at the palace. When Hung Vuong XVIII informed Thuy Tinh that he was too late, the god flew into a rage and vowed to attack Tan Vien in his mountain home and take Mi Nuong by force.
Canto VI – Thuy Tinh called down the strongest rains and the most furious winds the world had ever seen (but would see many times thereafter). Countless city and country dwellers were drowned in the deluge and rice paddies, dams, residences and estates of the lesser nobles were submerged. Tan Vien and the jungle animals he was the lord of were permtting humans to ride them to safety on higher ground. Soon the lowlands were flooded enough that Thuy Tinh could send some of his grandfather Long Vuong’s sea monsters inland to assault Tan Vien Mountain. Tigers, rhinoceri and elephants were battling sharks, squids and eels while even the smaller animals of the land and sea met in savage struggles to the death. The deadliest battles were between the land-dwelling mythical beasts like saolas and the tiger -headed elephants from the land side and dragons and acid-breathing makaras from the sea side. At length the land animals were driven back by the ferocity of the sea beasts and by the rising waters. As those waters kept threatening to overtake the highest peak of Tan Vien Mountain Tan Vien himself caused the peak to rise higher over and over again to prevent its submergence. Thuy Tinh was by now in the forefront of the assault, keeping the rains intense and encouraging his grandfather’s creatures to continue their attack. Tan Vien and Thuy Tinh were within earshot of each other now and exchanged threats and curses. Mi Nuong tried assuring him she loved Tan Vien and was happy with him but still Thuy Tinh refused to stop the violence. Tan Vien reminded him how he had saved his life but still Thuy Tinh remained resolute. Even the memory of the pleasant times he and Tan Vien had had with Hung Vuong XVIII’s retinue and in Long Vuong’s undersea realm did nothing to soften his obsessive desire to possess Mi Nuong. Tan Vien began raining huge boulders down on Thuy Tinh and many of the sea monsters, crushing their skulls but leaving Thuy Tinh unfazed. (This whole situation is similar to many creation myths in Philippine mythology. If you’re unfamiliar with myths from the Philippines each set of people had their own pantheons and mythic systems complete with separate creation myths. Some of those creation myths involved a giant primordial bird flying around the newly formed Earth, which was nothing but water. Anxious for a place to find a place to rest and unable to return to its heavenly home – reasons vary as to why – the bird provoked a war between the heavenly gods and the sea gods. The sea gods used rain to try to raise the sea level to inundate the heavens while the heavenly gods took to throwing huge boulders down on the sea gods. Those boulders formed the Philippine Islands and at last gave the crafty, giant bird land to rest upon to soothe its tired wings. Other versions are not creation myths per se and lack the bird instigator. Those versions feature a mountain or sky deity running off with a sea god’s mate and the sea god launches an attack on the sky or mountain god’s home with rains and rising waters. The deity under siege retaliates by throwing enormous boulders that become islands. These later versions seem to be myths explaining why the monsoon rains come each year, which is exactly the purpose of the tale of A War Between Gods in Vietnamese lore. In the interests of full disclosure I’ll point out that I’m the only one I’m aware of who points out the similarities but the parallels are too numerous to ignore. And as I always say when people are skeptical of the parallels I see between Vietnamese and Philippine myths: Look at a map!)
Canto VII - For months the conflict lasted in this manner, until finally the period of the year when Thuy Tinh was in charge of shepherding the rain clouds came to an end and one of the sea god Long Vuong’s daughters or granddaughters (accounts vary) began shepherding her clouds in for her designated part of the year. She had no quarrel with Tan Vien or Mi Nuong and so the rains returned to a milder state, allowing the flood waters to subside. Interestingly, that is similar to Native American myths in which hard rains are called “male rains” and soft rains are called “female rains”. The carnage was incredible, with the remains of buildings and the corpses of land and sea animals who had died in the fighting scattered plentifully about the landscape. In some versions this war between gods brought on the end of mythical creatures like the lans (a mythical tiger/giraffe/saola/lizard hybrid creature) ,the makaras and the tiger-headed elephants and sometimes others. The creatures and mythical relics lost in the war varies and is sometimes used as a virtual catch- all for explaining the disappearance of items and beasts. It reminds me of how The Churning of the Ocean in Hindu mythology was at first used simply to explain how the gods produced Soma for their own consumption but then gradually more and more items were added to the list of things spawned by that event including Airavata, the elephant the storm god Indra rides and the love and beauty goddess Lakshmi herself (shades of Aphrodite being born of the sea foam caused by the severed genitals of Chronos. And for my British readers wouldn’t ”The Severed Genitals” make a great name for a pub? Okay, forget it.) Tan Vien and Chua Con ho helped Hung Vuong XVIII and his people recover from the flood and Tan Vien also taught them ways of trying to safeguard against future deluges. Inevitably, each year, the period when Thuy Tinh would shepherd in the rain clouds he was in charge of returned and his attempt to take Mi Nuong from Tan Vien Mountain by force resumed. Thuy Tinh became known as the god of the monsoon rains and was dreaded because of the harm he might cause on each of his returns. All friendship between him and Tan Vien was forgotten and the two remain bitter enemies to this day.
© Edward Wozniak and Balladeer’s Blog, 2010 and 2011. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Edward Wozniak and Balladeer’s Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
