《天问》鼇戴山抃与释舟陵行说

A Flapping Turtle Bearing a Mountain and an Unfastened Boat upon a Mountain in Tianwen

《天问》入世后八百多年里,实际上无人能解其所问何以巨鰲要在海中负山。后世文人作托古之《汤问》,方答此问。惟《天问》里未见五鰲分顶五山之说。托古者或有暗迎屈辞,以证《汤问》之冀。其实,"鼇戴山抃"源于古印度神话。此戴山之鼇,实是古印度神祇毗湿奴化身之俱摩神龟;所戴之山即曼荼罗山。因众天神被众恶魔阿修罗赶出了天界,天界与众神皆失能而枯槁。毗湿奴让诸神和众魔合力搅拌宇宙之海而炼制饮之不死的"永生甘露"以让各方和解和使世界恢复生机。毗湿奴化身为巨龟沉海顶住曼荼罗山以使众神魔可摇转此山以搅大海。屈原生前很久之印度史诗已述此巨鼇戴山之事。"释舟陵行"亦源自印度神话,谓善士得毗湿奴预告海水漫至而得以登舟逃生,最终行搁于山巅。古老的《往世书》等梵歌有述。在漫长之古代有能背诵之异邦人入华夏谋生并复诵以播,并无荒谬。对《天问》中鼇戴山抃以及释舟陵行传说之来源的研究,也有助于确认此前难以判定的若干印度重要古文献产生的时代。

During more than eight hundred years after“Tianwen”coming out,there has been no explanation about why the turtle was asked to bear a hill in the sea.Later,a forged classical work“Tangwen”answered this question,although narration about five turtles respectively supported five mountains in Tangwen was quite different from that in Tianwen.It is possible that the author of the pseudo book tried to make his story meet Tianwen in order to prove that his book was relevant to it and was as old as Tianwen.In fact,a flapping turtle bearing a mountain was an ancient India myth.The turtle was the incarnation of India god Vishnu with his anonym Kurma.The mountain was Mount Mandara,because Devas were defeated by the demon Asuras and forced to leave out of the heaven realm,and the realm and the gods were disabling and haggard.Vishnu arraigned Devas and Asuras to stir the Sea of the universe to refine the dew drink death-overcoming“nectar of eternal life”so as to allow the parties to reconciliate and make Realms back to life.Vishnu enslaved as giant tortoises on the sea floor to withstand Mandara Mountain so as to get gods and demons to rotate this mountain as a pestle to stir the sea.Long before poet Qu Yuan lived,the Indian epic had described a giant turtle bearing a mountain.“Releasing a boat upon a mountain”is also derived from Hindu mythology,that good people reminded by Vishnu that the sea water would diffuse over the land soon so those people were able to embark a boat to escape,and finally their boat rested upon a mountain.Old“Purana”and Sanskrit Gita described this story.It is not ridiculous that some heathen people came into China for a living and repeated these stories to spread during the long process of the ancient times.This study and interpretation of the origins of the legends also help to identify a number of important ancient Indian literatures produced previously and difficult to be determined before.