Story of 九皇大帝

Devotees refer to the Nine Emperor Gods as Kew Huang Yah in dialect. They are also called Kew Huang Da Di, which means the Nine Great Emperors.

The Nine Emperor Gods are brothers whom reside in heaven among the star. They are the seven stars of the Big Dipper. The other two gods dwell in two other stars nearby which are visible only to the eyes of immortals. Devotees also believed that the star deities have control over the destiny of human beings.

The mother of the Nine Emperor Gods was called Doumu

The mother of the Nine Emperor Gods was called Doumu, or Taobo in Hokkien dialect. Doumu was said to have been born in India. She later come to China and was married to a Chinese King by whom she had nine sons who were later deified and were known as Kiu Ong Yah. Doumu or Taobo herself was deified as the Goddess of the North Star. Having a deep compassion for the suffering of mankind, Doumu is the Taoist counterpart of Kuati Yin, the Chinese female form of the Buddhist Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara.

Legends about the Nine Emperor Gods

The origin of the Nine Emperor Gods is shrouded by several different legends and myths. Some say that they were the Nine Human Sovereigns who ruled China for 45,600 years, some say that they were the nine heroes who helped the Chinese people at the end of the Ching dynasty.

Legend 1 : Emperor Peng who was the last emperor of the Sung dynasty (960 to 1127 AD) committed suicide when he was only nine years old while he was on a cruise to Taiwan. In order to pay homage to their Emperor the Hokkien Chinese dressed in white and refrained from killing for nine days.

Legend 2 : In the old days, China was divided into nine realms. The kings who ruled each of these realms did not want to be under the influence of one another. This led to a big war among these nine kings called “The wars of the Nine Kings”. An enormous number of people were killed and these nine realms suffered a great deal. Luckily, there was a wise man that tried to stop the war. He arranged for the nine kings to meet and talk for nine days. During these nine days, the kings took turn in presiding over the talk and agreed to refrain from killing and eat only vegetarian food. The whole population of the nine realms also stop killing and ate no meat for nine days. From then on there has been a custom for the Chinese to fast for a period of nine days during the ninth lunar month.

Legend 3 : The Nine Emperor Gods were send down from Heaven during the Qing Dynasty (1644 to 1912) to help the Mings overthrow the Manchus. Before they could achieve their task, however they were caught and subsequently, on the orders of the Manchu Emperor, beheaded in public. Their heads were sealed in a vase and thrown into the sea. The vase was later washed ashore and a fisherman who happened to pass by opened it. On opening the seal, nine heads emerged and ascended to heaven and became deities. It is believed that the nine generals grant favours and take away bad luck.