Tradition / Region: Chinese Mythology
Alternate Names: —
Category: Cow, God
The Myth
In the ancient age before the rise of dynasties, when the tribes of the world still fought for dominion, there ruled a powerful leader named Chiyou, chief of the Nine Li.
From birth he was unlike other men. His body was human, but his head was that of a bull, crowned with great horns. His brow was said to be as hard as bronze or iron, and his strength was immense. Some said his limbs were like those of a beast, and that he carried many weapons, wielding them with unstoppable force. Wherever he marched, it was as though a great animal thundered across the land.
Chiyou led his people into battle as a bull lowers its head before the charge. He possessed knowledge of ancient magic and commanded the powers of wind and storm. In war he called down rain and thick, blinding fog that swallowed entire armies.
At the great Battle of Zhuolu, he used this power against the Yellow Emperor. A vast mist covered the battlefield so that soldiers wandered helplessly, unable to find their way. Under this shroud Chiyou fought fiercely, supported by his many followers, whether counted as eighty-one brothers or eighty-one tribes bound to him.
Yet in the end the Yellow Emperor overcame him through skill and divine aid. Chiyou fell, and the power of his people was broken.
Though defeated, he was not forgotten. In later times warriors honored him as a spirit of battle, remembering the bull-headed lord whose strength shook the earth and whose fury in war was like that of a charging ox.
Gallery
Sources
Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Chiyou. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiyou
Interpretive Lenses
Religious Readings
- Christian Ascetic Deep Dive
Philosophical Readings
- Nietzschean Deep Dive
Psychological Readings
- Jungian Deep Dive
Esoteric Deep Dive
- Hermetic Deep Dive
Political / Social Readings
- Marxist Deep Dive