Note 1 — Chapter XV · Mythical and Legendary Kings

Pʼan Ku, the first “man” or “god”, was the ancestor of three families—the rulers of Heaven, Earth, and Mankind. In Tibet, as we have seen, the first man had three sons, who divided his body between them, and they were the ancestors of the three human races. Like the Babylonians, the Chinese had dynastic lists of antediluvian kings. Pʼan Ku’s descendants ruled the nine divisions of the prehistoric empire or world. There were ten dynastic periods, the first being that of the “Nine Heads” (kings), the second that of the “Five Dragons”, and so on. The five dragon kings were connected with the five planets: Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, and Saturn, and therefore with the five elements, for Venus was the Star of Metal, Jupiter that of Wood, Mercury that of Water, Mars the Star of Fire, and Saturn the Star of Earth. Thus every part of the terrestrial surface, when identified with one or more elements on account of its shape, is under the influence of the corresponding metals, and also under that of the constellations through which these planets move.1 As we have seen, the spirits of dragon swords appeared in the sky as stars. The star-gods, like the dragons, were fathers of some of the famous kings of China.