Seokga
Also known as: Seokga-nim
Mythological Narrative
The rival of Mireuk in the Korean shamanic Song of Creation, who wins rule of the world by stealing the flower that blossomed on Mireuk's knee while they slept, bringing about the imperfect present age.
Scholarly Commentary & Evolution
## The contest
In the *Changse-ga* recorded in 1923 from the shaman Kim Ssang-dori, Seokga appears after Mireuk has ordered the world and demands to rule it. Mireuk proposes contests. In the first, each lowers a bottle into the East Sea, Mireuk on a golden cord and Seokga on a silver one; Seokga's cord breaks. In the second, each tries to freeze a river in summer; again Mireuk succeeds. In the last, they agree to lie down and sleep, and the one on whose knee a flower blooms will rule. A flower blooms on Mireuk's knee; Seokga, only pretending to sleep, breaks it off and puts it on his own.
## The curse
Waking, Mireuk knows what has happened and yields the world, but curses Seokga's age: because it was won by theft, the world will be full of cheats, thieves, and misery, and its flowers will quickly wither. Seokga then begins his rule; in the song he goes hunting with his followers, some of whom refuse to eat the meat and turn into rocks and pine trees.
## A shamanic, not Buddhist, story
Although Seokga bears the Buddha's name, the song is not Buddhist doctrine; it uses the names of the present Buddha and the future Buddha for the rulers of the present, flawed age and the lost first age. A similar flower-growing contest between twin brothers, Daebyeol-wang and Sobyeol-wang, appears in the Jeju creation myth *Cheonjiwang bonpuri*, suggesting a shared Korean shamanic motif.
Academic Discussion & Critique
Exchange peer-reviewed hypotheses, comparative Indo-European etymologies, and archaeological field interpretations regarding Seokga.
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