Note 21 — Chapter XIV · Creation Myths and the God and Goddess Cults
Reading edition
Having drowned himself, the poet became associated with the river dragon. “Offerings of rice in bamboo”, says Giles, “were cast into the river as a sacrifice to the spirit of their great hero.”21 In like manner, offerings were made to dragons in connection with rain-getting ceremonies long before the poet was born. It is evident that he took the place of the dragon-god as the mythical Empress Nu Kwa of the Patriarchial Period took the place of the Chinese Ishtar, and as Ishtar took the place of the earlier Sumerian goddess Ninkharasagga, who, with “Anu, Enlil, and Enki”, “created the black-headed (i.e. mankind)”.22