Praying for Rain or Clear Skies and Water Resources Control by Local Governments in the Tang Dynasty: Focusing on the Stone Inscriptions at the Temples of Spring Deities

Abstract

The local governments of the Tang Dynasty usually erected temple steles after their prayers for rain or clear skies had been answered. The inscriptions have some commonalities in text creation, that is, advocating deities and praising benevolent governance. However, this is only one aspect of the meanings that the temple steles are intended to express. In fact, literary creation cannot truthfully reflect the complex historical phenomena. There should be a certain historical particularity hidden in those structural words of the narrative. Taking the stone inscriptions at the temples of spring deities as an example, these stone inscriptions reflected such a historical fact: in order to protect the important spring water resources under its jurisdiction, the local governments took advantage of the local people’s strong devotion to the spring deities and completed the protection and control of spring water resources indirectly through praying for rain or clear skies, establishing temples, and erecting steles. The ritual of praying for rain or clear skies is the appearance, but the protection of water resources is the truth. Stone inscriptions played a crucial role in ensuring the long-term viability of these implicit protective measures. The inscriptions not only describe the efficacy of prayers and benevolent governance of the officials according to the narrative structure of temple steles so as to achieve the purpose of advocating deities and praising officials but also selectively represent the concept of official control and grand ceremonies at that time through words. The erection of temple steles reflects the interplay between local government authority and popular devotion during the Tang Dynasty. As an important means for local governments to achieve regional governance, it exhibits the distinct characteristics of the time.

Keywords

Tang Dynasty / local governments / praying for rain or clear skies / spring water / temple steles

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Higher Education Press