|
King Gesar - A Tibetan heroic epic
|
A performance of King
Gesar | King Gesar is a heroic epic
collectively created by China's Tibetans. Originating via folk oral traditions,
King Gesar was passed down through the generations in a combination of
song and narration for over 1,000 years. So far, King Gesar has been collected
in more than 120 volumes, with more than one million verses (over 20 million
words) -- 25 times the length of the Western classic, Homer's Iliad.
King Gesar, the greatest work of Tibetan literature, is easily the
longest epic in the world, which has also appeared in ballads among the Mongols
and Tus.
King Gesar of the Ling Kingdom was born in the 11th century as the son of the
supreme god Indira. As a boy, he was very mischievous, but divine by nature and
full of supernatural powers. His greatest enemy was his uncle -- a cowardly,
vain and pretentious man who hoped to rule the country. Although the hero and
his mother were banished, Gesar's exile enabled him to nurture his hidden
strengths. He emerged victorious in a horse race to become king of the nation.
King Gesar then began conquering the "kingdoms of demons" -- the Jiang and Hor
(northern Mongolian people) kingdoms. The war between the Ling and Hor kingdoms
constituted one of the central parts of the story. It began with a beautiful
girl, Qomu, who was King Gesar's queen. The Hor king, also known as the "White
Tent King," heard about her beauty and sent for her. When his request was
refused, he sent troops to attack the Ling kingdom. After several battles,
another girl was sent to the Hor king in the place of Qomu. But once the truth
was uncovered, the battles resumed. The Ling capital, along with Queen Qomu, was
finally captured by Hor troops. But King Gesar organized all his troops with the
help of an important Hor general, captured the Hor capital, killed the White
Tent King and rescued his queen.
In Tibetan-inhabited areas Gesar was known as the king of the ancient Tibetan
kingdom of the Ling. The great hero and his brave army are kept alive in the
rich, imaginative retellings of the epic. From early times, the epic was passed
on orally. Today, a small number of inscribed woodblocks of the epic can be
found in Lhasa, Xigaze and Dege County in Sichuan Province; a few handwritten
copies are also dispersed among some families. The Potala Palace contains a
statue of Gesar, which still attracts pilgrims on a daily basis. Gesar's deeds
were recorded in the Kangba region more than anywhere else, and handwritten and
printed versions of Gesar from Dege are considered the most authoritative works.
People still argue that the village of Ngaxu in Northern Dege County was the
birthplace of Gesar.
|
|