A Study On The Image Of The Head Of The Snake In The Ancient Tomb Of Astana In Turpan

The mating image of the human’s head with the snake’s body is very common among the ancient Astana-Karakorum&Ba Danmu Tombs in Turpan during the time of 6th-8th.A.D.The character modelling,with half man&half beast,is determined as Fu-Hsi&Nu-Wa by the former worthies.However,with the exception of the image of it among minorities,the Big Dipper,there are also the Moon Chart with the alignment lines,trapezoidal picture with T-shape,and the decorative features of the painting style emphasized.All the above features make the mating image of the human’s head with the snake,s body among the ancient Astana Tombs become a precious image to study the cultural&artistic exchanging of the East and West along the Silk Road.The originality of the images has their complicated historical origins and archetypes.The utmost one of the images is not more than that of the similar portrait stones,it lies in the views of the images,narration images,literature,unearthed relics and female perspectives,which help to promote the research progress.During the Pre-Qin Dynasty,the dragon is created by the Chinese ancients,combined with the characteristics of the snakes alike,the water,the thunder&lightning.The development of the bachelordom dragon is differentiated into the Chinese dragon,the one head with the double bodies,the double head with one body,and the image of the human’s head with the snake’s body,which are the results of philosophical speculations by the ancients,based on the dragon’s mythological archetypes and of the image of the ones,with the combination of the topography of Gui Rui(an small island in the middle by the joint of the two rivers called Shou-Yang-Shan at present),the concept of Yin-Yang Metaplasia(transformation),and the interaction between the heaven and the mankind.The relationship between the Feminine’s Menstruation and of the Inoculation is the archetypes of "The seventy Change of Nu-Wa".(that is to say,the work of Nu-Wa’s creating mankind)The key of the mysterious symbols to interpret the generation of Nu-Wa’s beliefs are created by "The Birth",consisted of the characters of"the snake","the intestines","the wa",and "the hua".The worship of Nu-Wa is the root of Heaven and Earth(the female),the newly-born life and the existed life,which upbrings the genesis of the Hua-Xia nations,partly because "Wa" is associated with"the Frog" symbolized "the Female’s Vulva",thus frogs and newly-born babies are deeply associated with their voice and crawling posture,small tadpoles and sperms,and with the two-legged small tadpoles and the newly-born babies.The critical period lies in the Han Dynasties(East and West),when the mating image of the human’s head with the snake’s body comes into being,with the rise and fall of the tombs of the portrait stones.The reason why there is the transformation and development from the mating image of the dragon’s double-heads with the double-bodies to the mating image of the human’s head with the snake’s body,is that the dragon culture originated from the Pre-Qin Dynasty,the mother’s genesis(the baby’s initial change in the womb)mythology of the "Nu-Wa’s intestinal",the cultural atmosphere of the elaborating funerals under the system of the selecting officials by filial piety&probity,the establishment of "Fu-Hsi" as a Chinese humanistic symbol,the theory of the Yin-Yang’s Metaplasia,the merging and adhesion of the legend of"Fu-Hsi"&Nu-Wa with the myth of the brother-sister’s marriage,the thought of the heaven-Human’s induction,and the political order of the "prophetic remark in the world",which are all the factors that promote their transformation and development of the above.All in all,the prototype of Fu-Hsi is male or "Yang",and that of Nu-Wa is female or "Yin".With the exception of the connotation of the legendary of Fu-Hsi&Nu-Wa,the culture formation of Fu-Hsi&Nii-Wa also represents the genesis of the mankind,the forefather of the cultural establishment,and of the image of the human’s head with the snake’s body standing for "Yin"&"Yang" and for the couple,the former of which turns into the media of "the Reincarnation Fairy" after death.Therefore,the mating image of the human’s head with the snake’ s body is a metaphor of the two polars of the people’s samsara(life&death),based on the appearance of the newly-born baby of the the human’s head with the snake’s body.The human’s head with the snake’s body,during Wei&Jin Dynasties,synthesizes the similar images of the "Fei-Yi" paintings and stone reliefs,with the center of Dun-Huang,the east of Jiu-Quan,Jia-Yu-Guan,and Gao-Tai,spreading to the west of Gochang,which is called "Shang-Tian-Yi" of the Astana’s,and which bears upward by"Pan-Tian System","Deng-Tian-Yi","Tian-Yi" and "Fei-yi" of Ma-Wang-Dui Tombs.It is common effect of the image expression,formed by the individual soul soaring of Shamanism,the Taoist immortal belief and the local mainstream aesthetic interest,prior to Gochang and Xi-Zhou.Thus we may safely put that the mating image of the human’s head with the snake’s body of the Astana’s in Turpan,is the image of the couple after death.It is the common belief of the "soul soaring" that spreads in Turpan,based on the aborigines and immigrants,after the migrating to the west of Jiang-han and He-xi Corridor.It gradually declines with the infiltration of Buddhist Culture to the local Ghost Culture,Central Plains’ funeral fashion westward,Taoist ceremony in Xi-zhou of Tang Dynasty...