Da Ye Er Ye – Tall & Short Gods
Inside this Kim Tek Ie temple there were 2 rather odd-form God’s statues; 1 was tall statue and the other 1 was short statue. A God’s statue was seen pale & thin, protruding eyes and sticking out tongue, wearing long paper-made hat inscribing with一見大吉 Yi Jian Da J , meaning once meeting will obtain good fortune. The other God’s statue was rather small & short, flat-nosed with thick lips, right hand held a fan, left hand hold a flat piece inscribing with善惡分明 Shan E Fen Ming, meaning that Differentiating obviously the beauty and the beast .
These two Gods were 七爺八爺 Qi Ye Ba Ye (7th Grandpa & 8th Grandpa) who were known by many people. In the circle of thepeople was also known the title 高仔爺 Gao Zi Ye (Tall Prudent God) & 矮仔爺 Ai Zi Ye (Short Prudent God). In Jakarta they were popular with the titles大爺二爺 Da Ye Er Ye (the oldest Grandpa & the second Grandpa).
Da Ye Er Ye was a subordinate of judicial official of the next world namely閻羅王 Yan Luo Wang {Hok Kian = Giam Lo Ong = King Yama}. Da Ye Er Ye has a special duty to control good and bad deeds of human being in the world.
Da Ye was a general謝必安Xie Bi An, while Er Ye was a General范無救Fan Wu Jiu. Their origins were as follows:
General Xie Bi An & General Fan Wu Jiu lived during the era of Tang dynasty [A.D. 618 – 907]. At the time of rebellion by An Lu Shan, the enemies made sudden attack to Chang An city. Emperor Tang Ming escaped to West Xi Chuan Province. Enemy’s troops besieged up to Sui Yang city. The guards of Sui Yang city namely Xu Yuan & Zhang Xun tried to defense the city fortress with their every effort. Insurgence of An Lu Shan took pace for a long time. Zhang Xun delegated both General Xie Bi An & General Fan Wu Jiu came out from the city fortress to ask for helps.
General Xie Bi An with higher posture (approximately 3.33 meters) & long legs and with faster sound of tramping feet, net with the enemy first & then arrested. By the, General Xie Bi An was hung on the city wall. General Fan Wu Jiu saw from far away General Xie Bi An was dead after being hung on the city wall, then hid bin the brink of the river. Unpredictably, because of carelessness he fell into the river and & finally sank and died.
Both generals failed to broke through tight encirclement by the enemies. At last, Sui Yang city fell to the enemy since the soldiers were exhausted & out of food. Both General Xie & Fan were dead for the sake of defense the State, and then he was awarded the title as Protecting General.
It is said, if meeting with Da Ye who was going sightseeing, as far as that person is willing to kneel, say gratitude & kindly request for prosperity, he/she must get blessing & protection. Then he was also called as 一見大吉謝必安 Yi Jian Da Ji – Xie Bi An, meaning Once meeting will obtain great luckiness & must be safe– Xie Bi An.
But, if meeting with Er Ye who is patrolling, well, what a bad luck! It means to encounter unfortunate/ unlucky, he will face his death, so that Er Ye is also called as 范無救 Fan Wu Jiu, meaning Mister Fan no hope to live longer.
The Se Jit day (birthday) of Da Ye Er Ye is commemorated every 13th day of 2nd month of Chinese calendar.
In addition to, at Kim Tek Ie Temple, Da Ye Er Ye was also available at Kong Hoa Si Temple, Taman Sari, West Jakarta.
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Buddhist Temple Jindeyuan Jakarta
