The Child-God Who Returned His Flesh

Nezha is a protection deity of Chinese folk religion and one of the most beloved characters of Chinese popular fiction, best known from the Ming novels Investiture of the Gods (Fengshen Yanyi) and Journey to the West. He appears as a child-god: a precociously powerful boy warrior, born after a long gestation as a ball of flesh, who wields a fire-tipped spear, rides on wind-and-fire wheels, and carries a red sash and a golden bracelet. His central legend is one of filial crisis and rebirth, having killed a dragon prince and drawn the wrath of the Dragon King down upon his family, he takes his own life to absolve his parents of the debt, returning his flesh and bones to them, and is afterwards restored to life with a new body fashioned from lotus. Absorbed into both the Daoist pantheon and Buddhist-derived guardian traditions, he is linked with the martial protector Vaishravana, Nezha is widely worshipped as a fierce demon-quelling guardian, and remains a popular figure in temple cult, opera, film and animation across the Chinese world.