S925 Silver Five Jambhalas Barrel Bead Spacer

The five wealth gods are the five directions, east, west, south, north and center, one to each. The scheme is widely understood among ordinary people: five roads out of the house, and every one of them should be open, so each direction needs someone looking after it. They are not emanations of a single deity. Their origins are unrelated, and they were assembled into one table later. The five-directions idea comes from folk practice, the lists differ from place to place, and this set follows the version most widely told.

East is Bi Gan, a loyal minister of the Shang, said to have died when his heart was cut out. Folk tradition says that with no heart he could not be partial, and he manages the wealth of the east, which is about fairness. West is Guan Yu, a martial wealth god who valued honor; merchants make offerings to him for clean books and kept words. South is Prince Chai, who by folk account started out pushing a cart and selling umbrellas, and knew hardship. North is Zhao Gongming, black-faced and heavy-bearded, riding a tiger and carrying a whip, with four attendants: Zhaobao, Nazhen, Zhaocai and Lishi. Center is Wang Hai, an early ancestor of the Shang, said to have yoked oxen to carts and hauled goods to the various tribes to trade, which is where the word shangren, merchant, comes from. Of the five, only Zhao Gongming has a full retinue; the others stand alone, so the five together do not look like one family. Each holds a different object, and that is what separates them in the carving, not color.

A barrel bead is a cylinder with flat ends, steadier than a round bead and not given to turning on the strand. Five designs, one figure each, the face only a thumbnail wide, identified by crown, beard and the object in hand: Zhao Gongming's whip, Guan Yu's long beard, Bi Gan's breast, Wang Hai's ox horns. The bore runs straight through and the ends are flat, so the bead sits tight and does not spin; the hole edge is chamfered so the cord does not fray.

As a spacer, one to a strand is enough. To gather all five you need five strands, or one long strand in five sections divided by plain beads. Set together, the order is east, west, south, north, center; do not scramble it. How many beads between depends on the wrist, nine to a section being usual, so the strand does not look chopped up.

A silver barrel bead has four more edges than a round one, and rubbing against round beads will leave marks. With wood or bodhi seed it is no problem; with soft materials, use a spacer. When the silver tarnishes, leave the black in the hollows, since that black is the features. It can press against the wrist, so all four edges are rounded a little in the making; it still reads as square.