汉画黄帝图像与汉代的黄帝崇拜

An Insight into the Han Dynasty Stone Reliefs Featuring the Yellow Emperor and the Worship of the Yellow Emperor in the Han Dynasty

汉画中的黄帝图像,从画像内容来看,主要分为黄帝画像、黄帝升仙图、黄帝出行图和黄帝四神像。从刻画人物形象来说,可分为两种:一种是表现了黄帝帝王之尊的人物形象;另一种是神化的黄帝形象,主要刻画为熊首人身的人兽混合的形象。早在春秋战国时期,黄帝崇拜的热潮已经在社会上兴起,但先秦时期对黄帝的尊崇仅限于传说故事。西汉时期,黄老之学盛行,黄帝被作为远古圣明的君主进行效法和祠祀;东汉时期,随着谶纬的兴起和原始道教的形成,黄帝被神化和仙化,成为道教的主要神祇而广受膜拜。汉画中把黄帝刻画为熊首人身的形象,既与黄帝部落熊的图腾信仰有关,也与熊的特殊习性和对熊的力量和生殖崇拜与辟邪习俗有关,更是与汉代把黄帝神仙化的艺术表现密切相关,彰显了汉代对黄帝的崇拜和审美意识。

The depictions of the Yellow Emperor in Han Dynasty Stone Reliefs can be categorized,based on their content,into images featuring the Yellow Emperor himself,scenes of his ascension to immortality,depictions of his journeys,and representations of the Four Deities associated with the Yellow Emperor.In terms of image portrayal,there are two distinct categories:one depicts the regal dignity of the Yellow Emperor,while the other presents a deified representation characterized by a hybrid human-animal form,typically featuring a bear’s head atop a human body.As early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period,veneration of the Yellow Emperor had emerged within society;however,during the pre-Qin period,reverence for the Yellow Emperor remained confined largely to legendary narratives.During the Western Han period,the teachings of Huang-Lao gained prominence,wherein the Yellow Emperor was revered and emulated as an exemplary“ancient sage monarch”,receiving homage and ceremonial worship.During the Eastern Han Dynasty,as prophecy gained traction and primitive Taoism took shape,the Yellow Emperor underwent deification and ascension to immortality,assuming the central role as the primary deity of Taoism and receiving widespread veneration.The depiction of the Yellow Emperor with a bear’s head in the Han Dynasty Stone Reliefs is intricately linked not only to the totemic reverence for the bear within the Yellow Emperor tribe but also to the distinctive behavioral traits of the bear,the symbolic associations with strength and fertility attributed to the bear,and the cultural practice of warding off malevolent spirits.Furthermore,this representation is closely intertwined with the artistic portrayal of the Yellow Emperor during the Han Dynasty,elucidating the reverence for and aesthetic sensibilities associated with the Yellow Emperor within the cultural milieu of the era.