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IN Tibetan-inhabited areas, the name Gesar is a household word. The epic of King Gesar has him descending to earth at the behest of the God of Mercy to rule Tibet and to defeat demons.
Originating from oral folklore, the tales of Gesar have been passed down through generations for over 1,000 years. It is the longest and last living epic in the world, containing over 20 million words in more than one million verses – 25 times the length of Homer’s Iliad.
This long and detailed legend with its magnificent structure fills vast volumes, and is the greatest and richest work of Tibetan literature, guiding many Tibetan believers with its wealth of knowledge. Its widespread influence makes it a goldmine for researchers of ancient Tibetan history and society. The epic also interweaves myths with tales of magic and at the same time encodes a wealth of cultural material. It is considered to be not only the greatest accomplishment of the ancient folk culture of the Tibetans, but also a great contribution to human civilization.
It was listed by the Chinese government as a national intangible cultural heritage in 2006, and in September 2009, UNESCO inscribed it on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Legend of a Hero
The epic was born between the end of the clan society and the beginning of systemic slavery, during the battles that raged between clans and tribes, and which served as the source of the hero’s tale.
Set far in the distant past, it was a time when the people of the Tibetan Plateau were subjected to natural disasters and calamities. The Goddess of Mercy responded by sending the son of the heavenly god to the world to triumph over evil. The son, later known by the name Gesar, descended to the earth with miraculous powers.
But seeing the child as the fulfillment of divine prophecies, Gesar’s greedy, power-hungry uncle sought to seize control of the country and viewed his nephew as a threat to his ambitions. He banished the child and his mother from their homeland Ling. However, a life in exile enabled the boy to grow precociously strong and valiant. At the age of 12, Gesar defeated his uncle and others among the tribe’s best warriors in a horse race held to determine who would become the king. The other prize was the hand in marriage of a neighboring chieftain’s daughter, Drumo. Gesar’s victory made him chief of Ling.
As soon as he ascended the throne, King Gesar led expeditions against the demons. But while he was on the campaign, his wife Drumo was kidnapped by enemies from a neighboring kingdom. Informed that Queen Drumo was the most beautiful lady in the area, the king of Hor sent troops to attack Ling and capture her. To rescue his queen, Gesar used his magic powers to kill the evil usurper. The war between Ling and Hor constitutes the central part of the story, and contains the most enlightening materials in relation to Tibetan history and culture.
The chief of Jiang Kingdom, Sadain, always cast his covetous eyes on the saltern in the territory of Ling. Gesar first positioned his troops to guard the saltern, and then incarnated into a tiny gold fish. Sadain then swallowed him in a drink of water. Once in the stomach, Gesar became a large wheel that turned endlessly until the agonized Sadain surrendered.
When Ling was a small tribe, the Moin Kingdom always harassed and looted them. Growing stronger, Gesar decided to bring down the king of Moin. A fierce fight ended with Gesar finally vanquishing the demon.
Throughout the course of his life as a mortal, Gesar succeeded in wiping out every last demon, coming to the aid of the weak and ununified tribes in the region. His sacred mission on earth completed, Gesar returned to heaven together with his mother and wife, bringing to a dramatic close the grand epic of his life.
National Treasure
This important epic is not only popular on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, but also in the nomad areas of China’s northern Inner Mongolian Grassland.
In recent centuries, many Tibetan scholars came to believe that the protagonist Gesar is either a real person or a synthesis, a character based on a number of real historical figures.
The foundation of the epic is ethnic folk culture. It is believed that before the epic was written, the Tibetan people already had an oral tradition of stories that described the formation of the heaven and the earth, their ancestors, and ethnic heroes. These tales provided a basis for the character of Gesar. After the creation was embellished by balladeers, King Gesar became the great epic that remains to this day.
There are many bards of King Gesar scattered in Tibet, as well as the Tibetan-inhabited areas in other provinces such as Sichuan, Qinghai, Yunnan and Gansu. They perform the duty of remembering and narrating the historical epic, as the oral handing-down once did. As it is deeply rooted in the Tibetan imagination and pervades many aspects of their lives, bards are usually invited to sing the epic at important and formal rituals such as weddings, birthday celebrations and major festival activities. The shorter pieces last for hours and longer verses last for several days. According to their tradition, a complete set of verses must be recited without interruption, in order that the listeners may experience the full power of the transmitted verses. Naturally, a balladeer needs an excellent memory to recite the chapters.
In their traditional manner, the storytellers (normally men but occasionally women) would travel from one celebration to another, retelling the old myths and sometimes interweaving current events into their songs. Epic singers, through repetition of the grand verses, have for generations been imbrued with a deeper understanding of Tibetan history, society, religion and customs than most. Its content yielded countless folktales, ballads and proverbs that, as they are passed down, serve not only as cultural rites but also as an education in Tibetan culture.
Unlike other folk artists, the bards do not pass down their legacy to apprentices or offspring. It is believed that the skill of recitation comes not by study but as inspiration directly from the gods. The balladeers believe the renewal of talent in generation after generation of artists has to do with the reincarnation of a character related to King Gesar. This is in line with the basic tenets of Buddhist reincarnation and the Lamaist Living Buddhas of traditional Tibetan culture.
Performance of the epic is naturally accompanied by some rituals therefore, such as burning incense, powdering roasted barley and worshipping god images or singing in front of a mirror. According to the bards, adherance to ceremony enables them to establish contact with the gods and become empowered to carry out their recitations.
The balladeers always wear hats with all kinds of birds’ feathers and carry bronze mirrors as well as musical instruments made of oxhorn. A variety of sound effects and gestures enhance their singing.
Like the Homeric epics, this great work King Gesar existed in oral form before it was ever written down. In a sense, the popularity and immortality of the epic should be credited to the the inheritors of the oral tradition. It took folk artists generations of painstaking effort and loving devotion to create the legend. With instilled wisdom and an abundant knowledge of their history and culture, each has made meritorious contributions to developing this Tibetan cultural heritage.
Balladeers were always highly revered in Tibet, and today they are regarded as national treasures. During the large-scale cultural preservation project launched by the central government, more than 100 bards were discovered to be active in rural and pastoral areas. The oldest of these performers is 86 years old, while the youngest are in their 20s and 30s. To arouse more interest in learning the epic, the government has set up a training base for King Gesar artists and plans to integrate this masterpiece into local primary school curriculum.
As the longest epic in the world, King Gesar is unique as a wellspring of indigenous cultural diversity and evidence of sustainable, dynamic human creativity.
Today, some of the inscribed woodblocks of the epic can still be found in Lhasa and Xigaze. The oldest extant text of the epic is a Mongolian woodblock print commissioned by Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty in 1716. A statue of Gesar in the Potala Palace draws countless pilgrims on a daily basis. The hero of Tibet continues to inspire thangka paintings and feature in Tibetan Opera and other art forms. King Gesar attracts both young and old “subjects of the heart,” providing the Tibetan people with a cultural icon and historical continuity in the narrative.
Originating from oral folklore, the tales of Gesar have been passed down through generations for over 1,000 years. It is the longest and last living epic in the world, containing over 20 million words in more than one million verses – 25 times the length of Homer’s Iliad.
This long and detailed legend with its magnificent structure fills vast volumes, and is the greatest and richest work of Tibetan literature, guiding many Tibetan believers with its wealth of knowledge. Its widespread influence makes it a goldmine for researchers of ancient Tibetan history and society. The epic also interweaves myths with tales of magic and at the same time encodes a wealth of cultural material. It is considered to be not only the greatest accomplishment of the ancient folk culture of the Tibetans, but also a great contribution to human civilization.
It was listed by the Chinese government as a national intangible cultural heritage in 2006, and in September 2009, UNESCO inscribed it on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Legend of a Hero
The epic was born between the end of the clan society and the beginning of systemic slavery, during the battles that raged between clans and tribes, and which served as the source of the hero’s tale.
Set far in the distant past, it was a time when the people of the Tibetan Plateau were subjected to natural disasters and calamities. The Goddess of Mercy responded by sending the son of the heavenly god to the world to triumph over evil. The son, later known by the name Gesar, descended to the earth with miraculous powers.
But seeing the child as the fulfillment of divine prophecies, Gesar’s greedy, power-hungry uncle sought to seize control of the country and viewed his nephew as a threat to his ambitions. He banished the child and his mother from their homeland Ling. However, a life in exile enabled the boy to grow precociously strong and valiant. At the age of 12, Gesar defeated his uncle and others among the tribe’s best warriors in a horse race held to determine who would become the king. The other prize was the hand in marriage of a neighboring chieftain’s daughter, Drumo. Gesar’s victory made him chief of Ling.
As soon as he ascended the throne, King Gesar led expeditions against the demons. But while he was on the campaign, his wife Drumo was kidnapped by enemies from a neighboring kingdom. Informed that Queen Drumo was the most beautiful lady in the area, the king of Hor sent troops to attack Ling and capture her. To rescue his queen, Gesar used his magic powers to kill the evil usurper. The war between Ling and Hor constitutes the central part of the story, and contains the most enlightening materials in relation to Tibetan history and culture.
The chief of Jiang Kingdom, Sadain, always cast his covetous eyes on the saltern in the territory of Ling. Gesar first positioned his troops to guard the saltern, and then incarnated into a tiny gold fish. Sadain then swallowed him in a drink of water. Once in the stomach, Gesar became a large wheel that turned endlessly until the agonized Sadain surrendered.
When Ling was a small tribe, the Moin Kingdom always harassed and looted them. Growing stronger, Gesar decided to bring down the king of Moin. A fierce fight ended with Gesar finally vanquishing the demon.
Throughout the course of his life as a mortal, Gesar succeeded in wiping out every last demon, coming to the aid of the weak and ununified tribes in the region. His sacred mission on earth completed, Gesar returned to heaven together with his mother and wife, bringing to a dramatic close the grand epic of his life.
National Treasure
This important epic is not only popular on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, but also in the nomad areas of China’s northern Inner Mongolian Grassland.
In recent centuries, many Tibetan scholars came to believe that the protagonist Gesar is either a real person or a synthesis, a character based on a number of real historical figures.
The foundation of the epic is ethnic folk culture. It is believed that before the epic was written, the Tibetan people already had an oral tradition of stories that described the formation of the heaven and the earth, their ancestors, and ethnic heroes. These tales provided a basis for the character of Gesar. After the creation was embellished by balladeers, King Gesar became the great epic that remains to this day.
There are many bards of King Gesar scattered in Tibet, as well as the Tibetan-inhabited areas in other provinces such as Sichuan, Qinghai, Yunnan and Gansu. They perform the duty of remembering and narrating the historical epic, as the oral handing-down once did. As it is deeply rooted in the Tibetan imagination and pervades many aspects of their lives, bards are usually invited to sing the epic at important and formal rituals such as weddings, birthday celebrations and major festival activities. The shorter pieces last for hours and longer verses last for several days. According to their tradition, a complete set of verses must be recited without interruption, in order that the listeners may experience the full power of the transmitted verses. Naturally, a balladeer needs an excellent memory to recite the chapters.
In their traditional manner, the storytellers (normally men but occasionally women) would travel from one celebration to another, retelling the old myths and sometimes interweaving current events into their songs. Epic singers, through repetition of the grand verses, have for generations been imbrued with a deeper understanding of Tibetan history, society, religion and customs than most. Its content yielded countless folktales, ballads and proverbs that, as they are passed down, serve not only as cultural rites but also as an education in Tibetan culture.
Unlike other folk artists, the bards do not pass down their legacy to apprentices or offspring. It is believed that the skill of recitation comes not by study but as inspiration directly from the gods. The balladeers believe the renewal of talent in generation after generation of artists has to do with the reincarnation of a character related to King Gesar. This is in line with the basic tenets of Buddhist reincarnation and the Lamaist Living Buddhas of traditional Tibetan culture.
Performance of the epic is naturally accompanied by some rituals therefore, such as burning incense, powdering roasted barley and worshipping god images or singing in front of a mirror. According to the bards, adherance to ceremony enables them to establish contact with the gods and become empowered to carry out their recitations.
The balladeers always wear hats with all kinds of birds’ feathers and carry bronze mirrors as well as musical instruments made of oxhorn. A variety of sound effects and gestures enhance their singing.
Like the Homeric epics, this great work King Gesar existed in oral form before it was ever written down. In a sense, the popularity and immortality of the epic should be credited to the the inheritors of the oral tradition. It took folk artists generations of painstaking effort and loving devotion to create the legend. With instilled wisdom and an abundant knowledge of their history and culture, each has made meritorious contributions to developing this Tibetan cultural heritage.
Balladeers were always highly revered in Tibet, and today they are regarded as national treasures. During the large-scale cultural preservation project launched by the central government, more than 100 bards were discovered to be active in rural and pastoral areas. The oldest of these performers is 86 years old, while the youngest are in their 20s and 30s. To arouse more interest in learning the epic, the government has set up a training base for King Gesar artists and plans to integrate this masterpiece into local primary school curriculum.
As the longest epic in the world, King Gesar is unique as a wellspring of indigenous cultural diversity and evidence of sustainable, dynamic human creativity.
Today, some of the inscribed woodblocks of the epic can still be found in Lhasa and Xigaze. The oldest extant text of the epic is a Mongolian woodblock print commissioned by Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty in 1716. A statue of Gesar in the Potala Palace draws countless pilgrims on a daily basis. The hero of Tibet continues to inspire thangka paintings and feature in Tibetan Opera and other art forms. King Gesar attracts both young and old “subjects of the heart,” providing the Tibetan people with a cultural icon and historical continuity in the narrative.