Bixia Yuanjun, whose title translates as the Primordial Sovereign of the Rosy Clouds of Dawn and who is rendered in English sources as the Princess of the Azure Clouds, is the Taoist goddess of Mount Tai, the first and most revered of China's five sacred peaks. She rose to particular prominence in the Ming and Qing dynasties as a goddess of childbirth and destiny, attending the birth of each new day from her home in the clouds and, in the same role, attending the birth of children and fixing their fortune. Her cult drew especially on women, who climbed Mount Tai to pray at her summit temple for children and for a fixed and favorable fate, and temples to her spread from Shandong across northern China during that period.
History & Origin
Daoist temple legend names her the daughter of the god of Mount Tai, Dongyue Dadi, though her cult as a distinct goddess in her own right is not securely attested before the Song dynasty and only reaches its widest prominence in the Ming and Qing, when devotion to her as protector of childbirth and destiny spread temples in her name across northern China.
Facts
Cult
Principal Cult CentreThe Bixia Ci, the Temple of the Azure Clouds, at the summit of Mount Tai in Shandong, with subsidiary halls dedicated to her at other major Daoist sites including Beijing's Dongyue Miao and Baiyun Guan. 1 Attributes and IconographyBixia Yuanjun's temple images give her a headdress bearing multiple phoenixes, a cloud-shouldered robe patterned with embossed cloud motifs recalling the azure dawn clouds in her title, and a jade tablet marked with the Big Dipper held before her, an ensemble of imperial-level regalia that marks her standing as the Lady of Mount Tai rather than any lesser local spirit. 1 Origins
Origin of the NameBixia Yuanjun literally names the Primordial Sovereign of the Rosy Clouds of Dawn; the rendering Princess of the Azure Clouds, common in English language art history and museum labelling, is a looser translation of the same title rather than a separate name. 1 Attestation
Veneration TodayActively venerated in a living tradition 1 HistoricityNot a historical person: a divine or other-than-human being 2 Function
Domain / Function Domain / Function Attributions
Mythic AssociationBixia Yuanjun is said to attend the birth of each new day from her home in the clouds atop Mount Tai and, in the same role, to attend the birth of children and fix their fortune, which is why women climbed the mountain to pray at her summit temple for both. 1 Belief
TheologyPolytheistic: many gods 1 Correspondences & Relations
Connections
Belongs to Tradition
Source The Encyclopedia of TaoismFabrizio Pregadio (ed.)
Sources
1. The Encyclopedia of Taoism
Fabrizio Pregadio (ed.), Routledge, 2008Entry on Bixia Yuanjun and the cult of Mount TaiView the Source 2. The Facts on File Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend
Anthony S. Mercatante, revised and expanded by James R. Dow, Facts on File
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