Cultic Origins
While Ma Gu folktales are familiar in East Asia, the sociologist Wolfram Eberhard (1943, 1968:123-126) was the first Western scholar to analyze them. He categorized Ma Gu under a cultural chain of Yao love songs and festivals. Based on references in Chinese texts, Eberhard proposed two centers for the Ma Gu cult, in the present-day provinces of Jiangxi and Hubei. Evidence for an "original cultic center" (1968:124) near Nancheng (南城) county in southwestern Jiangxi includes several place names, including two mountains. The famous Ma Gu Shan (麻姑山 "Ma Gu Mountain") is located in Nancheng, and Taoists regard its Danxia Dong (丹霞洞 "Cinnabar Cloud Grotto", see Hahn 2007:29-30) as the 28th of 36 sacred dongtian (洞天 "Grotto-heavens, heaven-reaching grottos"). The famous Tang Dynasty Daoist calligrapher Yan Zhengqing visited Mt Magu and inscribed the Magu Shan Xiantan Ji (痲姑山仙墰記 "Record of the Mountain Platform where Magu Ascended to Immortality"). A second Ma Gu Mountain is located in Jianchang county (建昌, near Nanfeng 南豐). Ma Gu Wine (麻姑酒) is made in Jianchang and nearby Linchuan. In addition, Ma Gu is an alternate name for Hua Gu (華姑 "flower maid") Mountain in Xuancheng county of Anhui. Evidence for a secondary area for the Ma Gu cult in Hubei includes the Song dynasty temple near Hankou, along with the Ma Gu Temple on Mount Heng. Several early folktales from Sichuan province associate Ma Gu with caves and one describes a shaman who invoked her. Regarding the traditions that she was born in Jiangxi and became an immortal xian in Shandong, Eberhard says.
This ascent to heaven, typical of Taoists, connects her with the immortal saints, and indeed she is regarded as a symbol of long life and rebirth, and therefore in the Chinese drama, appears a good omen during birthday celebrations. (1968:124)
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