Bashe
Encyclopedia
Bashe was a python-like Chinese mythological
giant snake that ate elephants.
ba 巴 "a proper name; tip, tail; crust; greatly desire; cling to; be near" and she 蛇 "snake; serpent".
The Chinese character
巴 for ba was graphically simplified from ancient Oracle bone script
and Seal script
pictogram
s of a long-tailed snake. In early Written Chinese usage, ba 巴 frequently referred to the Zhou Dynasty
(1122 BCE-256 BCE) state of Ba
, which was located in present-day eastern Sichuan
. In Modern Standard Chinese usage, ba 巴 often transcribes foreign loanword
s such as ba 巴 "bar (unit)
", Bali 巴黎 "Paris", or Guba 古巴 "Cuba". Ba 巴 is a variant Chinese character
for ba 把 "grasp; handle", ba 笆 "bamboo; fence", or ba 芭 in bajiao 芭蕉 "banana" (using ba 巴 as the phonetic element with graphic radicals
for 扌 "hand", 竹 "bamboo", and 艹 "plant").
Bashe not only names this mythical giant reptile or Chinese dragon
but is also a variant Chinese name for the South Asian ran 蚺 or mang 蟒 "python
" (and South American "boa constrictor
" or African "mamba
"). "Mythical draconyms often derive from names of larger reptilians", says Carr (1990:167) and, "Since pythons usually crush their prey and swallow them whole, one can imagine Chinese tales about southern ran 蚺 'pythons' being exaggerated into legendarily-constipated bashe 'giant snakes' that ate an elephant every three years." In literary usage, bashe is found in the four-character idiom
bashetunxiang 巴蛇吞象 (lit. "ba-snake gulping down an elephant") meaning "inordinately greedy; extremely insatiable".
containing Warring States period
(475 BCE-221 BCE) materials compiled during the Han Dynasty
(206 BCE-220 CE).
The Chuci is an anthology of Chinese poems (see Qu Yuan
) from the southern state of Chu
, and it mentions bashe in the Tianwen
天問 "Heavenly Questions" section. The preeminent Chuci translator David Hawkes
(1985:126) describes the Tianwen as a "somewhat odd combination of archaic riddles with questions of a speculative or philosophical nature" and believes "it started as an ancient, priestly riddle-text (a sort of catechism to be used for mnemonic purposes) which was rewritten and greatly enlarged by a secular poet". This mythological questionnaire asks.
The Shanhaijing is an ancient Chinese mytho-geography. Chapter 10, the "Haineinan jing" 海內南經 "Classic of Regions within the Seas: South" describes a legendary land where bashe lived.
The Shanhaijing commentary by Guo Pu
(276-324 CE) compares the ba snake with the southern ran 蚺 "python", which after eating a large animal can wind around a tree trunk and expel the bones from between its scales, and notes they could grow up to a length of 100 xun 尋 (about 270 meters). Guo's commentary likewise notes this exaggerated length for the changshe 長蛇 "long snake" that the Shanhaijing locates on Daxian 大咸 Mountain "Mount Bigwhole" (3, tr. Birrell 2000:40, cf. Schiffeler 1978:109); "There is a snake here named the long-snake; its hair is like pig bristles. It makes a noise like a nightwatchman banging his rattle."
The 1578 CE Bencao Gangmu entry for ranshe 蚺蛇 "python" mentions the bashe.
Compare how the Shanhaijing description of the ba-snake's sympathetic magic
is interpreted as eating the snake (Birrell "take a dose of this snake" and Schiffeler "swallow its flesh") or eating the undigested elephant bones (Read "take these bones as medicine"). This materia medica
lists uses for python bile, flesh, fat, teeth, and oil. The Bencao Gangmu says pythons can reach lengths of 50-60 chi 尺 (about 16–20 meters); but Python molurus grow up to 5.8 meters and Python reticulatus 9.2 meters.
The Chinese folklore
scholar Wolfram Eberhard
links bashe with the legendary archer Houyi
后翌 who descended from heaven to destroy evildoers. One of Houyi's victims was a monstrous serpent in Lake Dongting, the xiushe 修蛇 "adorned/long snake" (or changshe 長蛇, cf. above). Eberhard (1968:84) concludes giant snakes such as the xiushe, bashe, and ranshe "were typical for the South", but were not part of a snake cult like those among the ancient Baiyue.
Chinese mythology
Chinese mythology is a collection of cultural history, folktales, and religions that have been passed down in oral or written tradition. These include creation myths and legends and myths concerning the founding of Chinese culture and the Chinese state...
giant snake that ate elephants.
Name
The term bashe compoundsCompound (linguistics)
In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme that consists of more than one stem. Compounding or composition is the word formation that creates compound lexemes...
ba 巴 "a proper name; tip, tail; crust; greatly desire; cling to; be near" and she 蛇 "snake; serpent".
The Chinese character
Chinese character
Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...
巴 for ba was graphically simplified from ancient Oracle bone script
Oracle bone script
Oracle bone script refers to incised ancient Chinese characters found on oracle bones, which are animal bones or turtle shells used in divination in Bronze Age China...
and Seal script
Seal script
Seal script is an ancient style of Chinese calligraphy. It evolved organically out of the Zhōu dynasty script , arising in the Warring State of Qin...
pictogram
Pictogram
A pictograph, also called pictogram or pictogramme is an ideogram that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object. Pictographs are often used in writing and graphic systems in which the characters are to considerable extent pictorial in appearance.Pictography is a...
s of a long-tailed snake. In early Written Chinese usage, ba 巴 frequently referred to the Zhou Dynasty
Zhou Dynasty
The Zhou Dynasty was a Chinese dynasty that followed the Shang Dynasty and preceded the Qin Dynasty. Although the Zhou Dynasty lasted longer than any other dynasty in Chinese history, the actual political and military control of China by the Ji family lasted only until 771 BC, a period known as...
(1122 BCE-256 BCE) state of Ba
Ba (state)
Ba was an ancient state in eastern Sichuan, China. Its original capital was Yicheng , Hubei. Ba was conquered by Qin in 316 BC. The modern ethnic minority Tujia people trace some of their origins back to the Ba people....
, which was located in present-day eastern Sichuan
Sichuan
' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...
. In Modern Standard Chinese usage, ba 巴 often transcribes foreign loanword
Loanword
A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...
s such as ba 巴 "bar (unit)
Bar (unit)
The bar is a unit of pressure equal to 100 kilopascals, and roughly equal to the atmospheric pressure on Earth at sea level. Other units derived from the bar are the megabar , kilobar , decibar , centibar , and millibar...
", Bali 巴黎 "Paris", or Guba 古巴 "Cuba". Ba 巴 is a variant Chinese character
Variant Chinese character
Variant Chinese characters are Chinese characters that are homophones and synonyms. Almost all variants are allographs in most circumstances, such as casual handwriting...
for ba 把 "grasp; handle", ba 笆 "bamboo; fence", or ba 芭 in bajiao 芭蕉 "banana" (using ba 巴 as the phonetic element with graphic radicals
Radical (Chinese character)
A Chinese radical is a component of a Chinese character. The term may variously refer to the original semantic element of a character, or to any semantic element, or, loosely, to any element whatever its origin or purpose...
for 扌 "hand", 竹 "bamboo", and 艹 "plant").
Bashe not only names this mythical giant reptile or Chinese dragon
Chinese dragon
Chinese dragons are legendary creatures in Chinese mythology and folklore, with mythic counterparts among Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Bhutanese, Western and Turkic dragons. In Chinese art, dragons are typically portrayed as long, scaled, serpentine creatures with four legs...
but is also a variant Chinese name for the South Asian ran 蚺 or mang 蟒 "python
Python (genus)
Python, from the Greek word , is a genus of non-venomous pythons found in Africa, Asia and Australia. Currently, 7 species are recognised. A member of this group, P. reticulatus, is among the longest snakes known.-Geographic range:...
" (and South American "boa constrictor
Boa constrictor
The Boa constrictor is a large, heavy-bodied species of snake. It is a member of the family Boidae found in North, Central, and South America, as well as some islands in the Caribbean. A staple of private collections and public displays, its color pattern is highly variable yet distinctive...
" or African "mamba
Mamba
Mambas, of the genus Dendroaspis , are a group of highly venomous, fast-moving land-dwelling snakes of Africa. They belong to the family of Elapidae which includes cobras, coral snakes, taipans, brown snakes, tiger snakes, death adders, kraits and, debatably, sea snakes...
"). "Mythical draconyms often derive from names of larger reptilians", says Carr (1990:167) and, "Since pythons usually crush their prey and swallow them whole, one can imagine Chinese tales about southern ran 蚺 'pythons' being exaggerated into legendarily-constipated bashe 'giant snakes' that ate an elephant every three years." In literary usage, bashe is found in the four-character idiom
Four-character idiom
Chengyu are a type of traditional Chinese idiomatic expressions, most of which consist of four characters. Chengyu were widely used in Classical Chinese and are still common in vernacular Chinese writing and in the spoken language today...
bashetunxiang 巴蛇吞象 (lit. "ba-snake gulping down an elephant") meaning "inordinately greedy; extremely insatiable".
Early textual occurrences
The earliest references to the legendary bashe 巴蛇 are in the Chuci and Shanhaijing, two Chinese classic textsChinese classic texts
Chinese classic texts, or Chinese canonical texts, today often refer to the pre-Qin Chinese texts, especially the Neo-Confucian titles of Four Books and Five Classics , a selection of short books and chapters from the voluminous collection called the Thirteen Classics. All of these pre-Qin texts...
containing Warring States period
Warring States Period
The Warring States Period , also known as the Era of Warring States, or the Warring Kingdoms period, covers the Iron Age period from about 475 BC to the reunification of China under the Qin Dynasty in 221 BC...
(475 BCE-221 BCE) materials compiled during the Han Dynasty
Han Dynasty
The Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...
(206 BCE-220 CE).
The Chuci is an anthology of Chinese poems (see Qu Yuan
Qu Yuan
Qu Yuan was a Chinese poet who lived during the Warring States Period in ancient China. He is famous for his contributions to the poetry collection known as the Chu-ci...
) from the southern state of Chu
Chu (state)
The State of Chu was a Zhou Dynasty vassal state in present-day central and southern China during the Spring and Autumn period and Warring States Period . Its ruling house had the surname Nai , and clan name Yan , later evolved to surname Mi , and clan name Xiong...
, and it mentions bashe in the Tianwen
Heavenly Questions
Heavenly Questions or Questions to Heaven is an important section of the Classical Chinese poetry collection Chuci. The collection is important both for the poetic verse which it contains as well as being a source for information on the ancient culture of China, especially the area of the state of...
天問 "Heavenly Questions" section. The preeminent Chuci translator David Hawkes
David Hawkes (scholar)
David Hawkes was a British Sinologist. He studied Mandarin Chinese and Japanese at Oxford University between 1945 and 1947 and was a research student at the National Peking University from 1948 to 1951. During the later years of World War II he taught Japanese to military cryptolinguists and...
(1985:126) describes the Tianwen as a "somewhat odd combination of archaic riddles with questions of a speculative or philosophical nature" and believes "it started as an ancient, priestly riddle-text (a sort of catechism to be used for mnemonic purposes) which was rewritten and greatly enlarged by a secular poet". This mythological questionnaire asks.
Where are the hornless dragons which carry bears on their backs for sport? Where is the great serpent with nine heads and where is the Shu Hu? Where is it that people do not age? Where do giants live? Where is the nine-branched weed? Where is the flower of the Great Hemp? How does the snake that can swallow an elephant digest its bones? (tr. Hawkes 1985:128)
The Shanhaijing is an ancient Chinese mytho-geography. Chapter 10, the "Haineinan jing" 海內南經 "Classic of Regions within the Seas: South" describes a legendary land where bashe lived.
The Big Snake eats elephants and after three years it disgorges their bones. Gentlemen take a dose of this snake so that they will never have heart disease or illnesses of the belly. The snakes of Bigsnake country are green, or yellow, or scarlet, or black. One author says the black snakes have a green head. The land of Bigsnake lies west of Rhinoceros country. (tr. Birrell 2000:136, cf. Schiffeler 1978:97)
The Shanhaijing commentary by Guo Pu
Guo Pu
Guo Pu , courtesy name Jingchun , born in Yuncheng, Shanxi, was a Chinese writer.-Biography:Guo Pu was a Taoist mystic, geomancer, collector of strange tales, editor of old texts, and erudite commentator...
(276-324 CE) compares the ba snake with the southern ran 蚺 "python", which after eating a large animal can wind around a tree trunk and expel the bones from between its scales, and notes they could grow up to a length of 100 xun 尋 (about 270 meters). Guo's commentary likewise notes this exaggerated length for the changshe 長蛇 "long snake" that the Shanhaijing locates on Daxian 大咸 Mountain "Mount Bigwhole" (3, tr. Birrell 2000:40, cf. Schiffeler 1978:109); "There is a snake here named the long-snake; its hair is like pig bristles. It makes a noise like a nightwatchman banging his rattle."
The 1578 CE Bencao Gangmu entry for ranshe 蚺蛇 "python" mentions the bashe.
The Shan-Hai-Ching says that pythons can eat elephants, the bones of which they emit every three years. Gentlemen who take these bones as medicine never suffer from heart or visceral ailments. They are referred to as Pa She, that is the great snake. (tr. Read 1934:112)
Compare how the Shanhaijing description of the ba-snake's sympathetic magic
Sympathetic magic
Sympathetic magic, also known as imitative magic, is a type of magic based on imitation or correspondence.-Similarity and contagion:The theory of sympathetic magic was first developed by Sir James George Frazer in The Golden Bough...
is interpreted as eating the snake (Birrell "take a dose of this snake" and Schiffeler "swallow its flesh") or eating the undigested elephant bones (Read "take these bones as medicine"). This materia medica
Materia medica
Materia medica is a Latin medical term for the body of collected knowledge about the therapeutic properties of any substance used for healing . The term 'materia medica' derived from the title of a work by the Ancient Greek physician Pedanius Dioscorides in the 1st century AD, De materia medica libre...
lists uses for python bile, flesh, fat, teeth, and oil. The Bencao Gangmu says pythons can reach lengths of 50-60 chi 尺 (about 16–20 meters); but Python molurus grow up to 5.8 meters and Python reticulatus 9.2 meters.
The Chinese folklore
Chinese folklore
Chinese folklore includes songs, dances, puppetry, and tales. It often tells stories of human nature, historical or legendary events, love, and the supernatural, or stories explaining natural phenomena and distinctive landmarks.-Folktales:...
scholar Wolfram Eberhard
Wolfram Eberhard
Wolfram Eberhard was a professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley focused on Western, Central and Eastern Asian societies.-Biography:...
links bashe with the legendary archer Houyi
Houyi
Houyi , also called Yiyi or simply Yi, was a mythological Chinese archer and the leader of Dongyi. He is sometimes portrayed as a god of archery descended from heaven to aid mankind, and sometimes as the chief of the Youqiong Tribe during the reign of King Tai Kang of Xia Dynasty...
后翌 who descended from heaven to destroy evildoers. One of Houyi's victims was a monstrous serpent in Lake Dongting, the xiushe 修蛇 "adorned/long snake" (or changshe 長蛇, cf. above). Eberhard (1968:84) concludes giant snakes such as the xiushe, bashe, and ranshe "were typical for the South", but were not part of a snake cult like those among the ancient Baiyue.
External links
- 巴, ancient Chinese characters for ba
- Search results for 巴 in all texts, Chinese Text ProjectChinese Text ProjectThe Chinese Text Project is a digital library project that assembles collections of early Chinese texts. The name of the project in Chinese literally means "The Digitization Project of Chinese Philosophy Books", showing its focus on books related to Chinese philosophy...