Jinzha

Jinzha is the eldest son of the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li Jing and elder brother of Nezha. His name derives from the phonetic transliteration of the Buddhist esoteric deity Kundali Vidyaraja (Sanskrit: Kundali), first appearing in Song- and Yuan-dynasty Buddhist and Daoist texts. According to the Investiture of the Gods, Jinzha was the foremost disciple of Wenshu Guangfa Tianzun at Yunxiao Cave on Wulong Mountain, wielding the Dragon-Subduing Pillar—a magical weapon capable of soaring into the air to seize and immobilise enemy generals. He descended the mountain to aid Jiang Ziya in overthrowing the Shang dynasty, using the pillar to capture the Shang general Ma Zhong; he also assisted his younger brothers Muzha and Nezha on multiple occasions, earning repeated battlefield distinctions. After the Investiture of the Gods concluded, Jinzha returned to his master’s mountain retreat to cultivate and attain enlightenment, later joining his father in guarding the Celestial Court. In folk temples, Jinzha is commonly enshrined together with his father Li Tianwang and brothers Muzha and Nezha—the four forming a unified pantheon of protective deities who uphold cosmic order and safeguard devotees.