Kings of oxen and horses: draft animals, Buddhism, and Chinese rural religion

"For millennia, draft animals have occupied a crucial role in both quotidian life and the religious imagination. In China, the prayers and rituals for animal welfare were most frequently addressed to two deities: the Horse King (Mawang), divine protector of equines (horses, donkeys, and mules), and the Ox King (Niuwang), tutelary deity of bovines (oxen and buffaloes). Kings of Oxen and Horses is a history of the worship of these two gods, their myths, and their cults. By surveying the diverse social and professional groups that venerated the divine protectors of the livestock-peasants, merchants, cavalrymen, muleteers, donkey drivers, coachmen, and veterinarians - Meir Shahar explores how the Chinese conception of animals has evolved alongside (and because of) cultural and religious changes. The discussion correlates ecology and religion, demonstrating that the cults' geographical spread was related to the animals' habitats: the Horse King was worshiped where equines were the principal draft animals, whereas the Ox King flourished where bovines were relied upon. The focus is upon the late-imperial period (roughly the 16th century onwards) but extends backward to the origins of the two deities in ancient China and India. The Horse King is a descendant of an Indian deity (the Horse-Headed Avalokiteśvara), whereas the Ox King's scriptures associate him with no less a figure than the Buddha Śākyamuni, whose Sanskrit epithet narārṣabha ("Bull of a Man") was rendered into Chinese as Niuwang (Ox King)" -- Provided by publisher.