早期神农传说及其文化意涵考论

Early Shen Nong Legends and Their Culture Meaning

神农或者神农氏,一般认为是汉族神话传说中农耕技术的发明者,关于他的所有传说,都围绕其对农耕技术的发明而衍生。神农的核心身份为农业神,"神农"一词的本义与另一农业神形象"后稷"之名等效,都是指对农业的发明和引出,并含有诸侯、首领之义。对神农祖先神身份的认同主要源于神农神话与炎帝神话的合流,这一合流始于西汉,成熟于晋代。战国时期,崇古思潮盛极一时,神农在这一历史浪潮中被推出,这一形象据农生民,以农教民,对农耕文明生态中道德伦理的成立具有极其关键和特殊的意义。

Shen Nong is generally thought as the inventor of the farming techniques in Chinese myths and legends. All of his legends were around the invention of farming techniques. The core identity of Shen Nong was the God of agriculture,and the original meaning of the word Shen Nong was similar to the name Hou Ji,referring to the invention of agriculture and containing the meaning of lord or leader. The ancestor god identity of Shen Nong mainly originates from the relation between him and Yan Di,which beginned at the Western Han Dynasty and matured in the Jin Dynasty. During the Warring States period,Shen Nong was mainly imaged as the leader of the growth of agriculture and agricultural education,which has given him an extremely important and special significance.