The hero of the epic Geser is a fabulous hero
The plot formula “The son is the successor of the father’s work,” somewhat modified, constitutes the beginning of the epic tale “ Abay Geser Khubun" It lacks the motive of reviving the son of his father, because Khan Khormusta does not engage in battle with the enemy, he forgets about the timing of the duel with Atai Ulan, the eldest among the Eastern Tengris. Instead of his father, Geser, the youngest son of the head of the Western celestials, fights with him.
Events in heaven marked the beginning of the development of the theme of the hero’s struggle with monsters on earth. Atai Ulan, thrown to the ground by Geser, begins to harm earthlings. From his remains, pestilence and disease spread across the earth, people and livestock died. At the insistence of the celestials, Geser descends to earth and is reborn into a family of childless old people as a man with an earthly hypostasis. The hero is miraculously born together with his heavenly sisters. Geser not only has an unusual origin, but also a heroic childhood. As a baby, he deals with crows, mosquitoes and young fellows sent, recognizing their hostile intentions.
The next stage in Geser's biography is his marriage to Sanhan Gohon. The description of the hero's matchmaking is not very detailed. Geser asks the inhabitants of heaven to bring down to earth a heavenly horse, clothes, weapons and, taking on a heroic appearance, rides to his betrothed. There are no traffic accidents, which usually form an independent plot link. Descriptions of marriage tests are presented in a truncated form; the usual three tests of the groom are not here. The hero receives the bride's hand after defeating the strongman Ganig Buhe.
For the second time, Geser marries Gagurai Nogon, daughter of Galta Ulan Tengri. The narrative begins with the hero turning to the book of destinies, which contains instructions for the hero before his departure for the bride living in heaven. Road incidents include an encounter with an old man riding a white horse. The elder declares himself to be its creator Burkhan. This is probably a transformed image of a zoomorphic assistant. The old man asks Geser to lift an enormously heavy smoking pipe from the ground, then a chest weighing “three-quarters of the earth’s weight.” The old man’s reciprocal help is aimed at preparing Geser for the upcoming tests, he takes him to the blacksmiths to harden his “body and soul,” then shows him the way to his betrothed.
The father-in-law meets Geser with hostility and sends him for the feather of the bird Khan Herdig. The acquisition of the feather is usually associated with the hero's struggle with the serpent, who is about to swallow the daughters of Khan Herdig. The hero dies from the snake's venom, but is then resurrected.
A wedding is arranged, after which the father-in-law sends his son-in-law hunting. Geser sets a trap on the slopes of Altai, but the animals are not caught. While checking the traps, the hero meets a woman of unusual appearance, with relict features of an animal and with a leather grinder in her hands. Geser finds out that she is going for Gagurai Nogon to marry her to her son.
In the archaic uliger “Aidurai Mergen”, a meeting of a hero with a woman while hunting ends in his death, but in “Abai Geser Khubun” this does not happen. Geser climbs the northern slope of Huhei, hunts successfully and returns with rich booty. Having passed all the tests and fulfilled the conditions of his betrothed’s father, the hero returns home with his young wife.
As you can see, the second trip to pick up his wife is described in accordance with the old compositional basis, although the motives in it are rethought. In general, the theme of matchmaking, developed in many uligers throughout the entire plot action, occupies a relatively small place in “Abai Geser Khubun”. The leading theme in this tale is the fight against monsters. Geser descended to earth to finally kill Atai Ulan, who brought evil and disaster to people. However, in reality the hero fights with numerous mangadhai, evil old women, Gal Nurma Khan, mosquito, crows, wolves and other creatures.
The connection between the introduction and the plot content of the tale is preserved by the introduction of an episode in which Geser tells his wife Sanhan Gohon about his origin and battles with the Mangadhai.
Geser ( Geser, Gecap, Kecap) - a character in Tibetan myths and myths of the Mongolian peoples, including ( Abay Geser khubun), as well as a number of Turkic (Salars, Yellow Uighurs, Tuvinians, Altaians) and Tibeto-Burman peoples.
Geser - a character in the myths of the peoples of the East
Geser is the hero of epic tales and poems, the object of a developed religious and mythological cult. The original core of the tale apparently took shape in northeastern Tibet. According to the legends about Geser, one of the three sons of the heavenly ruler was sent to the state of Lin, which did not have a ruler. He is reborn in Lina in the family of one of the princes as an ugly, snotty child named Joru. He is being pursued by his paternal uncle Thothun (Mong. and Kalm. Tsoton, Choton, . Sotoi, Hara Zutan). As a child, the boy displays miraculous abilities, destroys various demons, wins an equestrian competition for the possession of the beautiful Drugmo (Rogmo-goa, Urmai-gokhon), the throne and treasures of Lin. Then he receives a wonderful horse from the sky, acquires his true majestic appearance and the name Geser. Geser defeats the demon of the north, the cannibal Lubsan, with the help of the demon's wife Meza Bumjid (Mong. Tumen Jargalan, according to some versions, including Mongolian ones, she is Geser’s ex-wife, kidnapped by a demon). Meza Bumjid brings the hero a “drink of oblivion”, after drinking which he remains in the north.
In Lin, Thotun, who in vain harassed Drugmo, commits betrayal, as a result, Lin is attacked from the neighboring state of the Horas (Mong. sharay-gols, drill, Sharablin khans), Drugmo is captured, and she becomes the wife of one of the Khor rulers - Gurkar (Mong. Tsagan Gertu khan, "white-yurt khan"). Having thrown off the obsession thanks to heavenly intervention, Geser hurries to his homeland. In the guise of a bad boy (Mong. Oljibay) he penetrates the choirs, kills Gurkar by witchcraft and, having subjugated his state, returns to Lin together with Drugmo. According to a number of stories, Geser goes to China, where, with the help of miraculous means, he gets himself a princess and rescues his earthly mother from hell; destroys the demonic rulers of neighboring countries (in the north, south, east and west), subordinating their subjects to his power. In Mongolian legends, Geser revives the heroes who died in the war with the Sharigols.
The most ancient core of the image of Geser is a heaven-sent cultural hero who cleanses the earth of monsters (cf. Indian Rama). In the oral Mongolian tradition (and in the Buryat version of the epic), Geser gained a reputation as a destroyer of demons and monsters (mangus). As the chosen ruler and even the first person to descend from heaven, Geser goes back to the pre-Buddhist, Bon tradition. In a number of versions of the epic, Geser's earthly father is a mountain spirit. Considering the connection with the deity of the sacred mountain, as well as with the world mountain, Geser is perceived as the ruler of the “center”, opposed to the rulers of the outskirts, the fight against which is essentially adequate to the civilizing activity of the cultural hero. Sometimes Geser himself is the ruler of one of the four countries of the world - the north. But, apparently, the most ancient localization of Geser is Kroi (possibly from Rum - the Iranian name for Byzantium). Under the influence of Indian and Buddhist mythologies, Geser's father turns out to be Brahma or - in the Ladak (Western Tibetan) version and in all Mongolian versions - Indra (Mong. Khormusta; Among the Western Buryats, its place is sometimes taken by a shamanic deity Eseghe Malan-tengri). Based on the similarity of functions or appearance, the incarnations of Geser (or his wonderful horse) are close to a number of characters in the Lamaist pantheon; as the war deity Geser (Tib. Dalha, Mong. Daisuntengri or Daichin Tengri) is sometimes identified with Jamsaran. More recent (from the end of the 18th century) is the identification of Geser with the god of war in Chinese mythology - Guan Di.
In cult practice, Geser, as a universal protective deity (like most deities), acts as a patron of warriors, a protector of herds, a conqueror of demons, and a giver of good fortune (including hunting success). In shamanic invocations, Geser is sometimes called Burkhan or Tengri, he is called the son of the sky, living on top of a high white mountain peak in a house of clouds and fogs. Unlike Tibet, where many of Geser’s comrades and opponents are also deified, among the Mongolian peoples only Geser is the object of cult worship.
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Literature
- Abay Geser. Will join. Art., text preparation, trans. and comm. A.I. Ulanova. - Ulan-Ude, 1960.
- Vladimirtsov B.Ya. Mongolian literature // Literature of the East. - Vol. 2. Petersburg, 1920.
- Damdinsuren Ts. Historical roots of the Gesariad / Kozin S.A. (trans., introductory article and commentary). - M., 1957.
- Heseriad. The legend of the merciful Geser Mergen Khan, the eradicator of ten evils in ten countries of the world. - M.-L., 1935.
- Neklyudov S.Yu. Heroic epic of the Mongolian peoples. - M., 1984.
- Neklyudov S.Yu. The Legend of Gesar in the Eastern Mongolian Epic Tradition // Olon Ulsyn Mongolch Erdemtniy III Ikh Khural. II bot. - Ulaanbaatar, 1977.
- Neklyudov S.Yu. Transformation of the mythological theme in the oral East Mongolian versions of the Heseriad.
- Rinchinsambuu G.(comp.) Mongol ardyn baatarlag tuuls. - Ulaanbaatar, 1960 (Studia folclorica, Ulaanbaatar, T.1, Fasc.1)
- Khomonov M.P. Mongolian Geseriad. - Buryat book publishing house.
The main character of the epic is the figure of Geser - the son of a heavenly deity, sent into the world to fight the forces of evil. During this struggle, Geser accomplished numerous feats. The plot of the epic is very entertaining and full of events.
(archetypal picture)
Nowadays there are three main versions of “Geser”: Buryat, Tibetan and Mongolian. The Buryat variants preserved the most archaic features of the common Central Asian myth.
The epic "Geser" reflects the people's dreams of an ideal kingdom and a just ruler. In the first seven songs of the Buryat version, anti-Lamaist motives are found.This epic contains extensive data on shamanistic cosmogony.
The epic “Geser” reflected in an allegorical form the ideas of people who lived in society at the stage of transition from gathering and hunting to cattle breeding, from matriarchy to patriarchy. The poem praises fidelity to duty and stigmatizes treason and betrayal.“Geser” is a hymn of love for one’s land. “Do not allow the enemy to approach your native land, do not wait for him, but go out to meet him, there he will be defeated” - this is one of the most important motives of this epic legend.
The epic tells that in time immemorial it happened that unprecedented diseases, famine and pestilence began to spread on earth, wars broke out, misfortunes and misfortunes began to come to people. The Celestials, seeing this, decided to send Buhe Beligge to earth, who should was born on earth as a man, and not come to people in the guise of a celestial being. The future hero was born into the family of a seventy-year-old old man and his sixty-year-old wife, who was actually the daughter of the sun, and received the name Zurgai.
(picture clickable)
He was an ugly child: snotty and mangy, but already in early childhood the magical abilities of this extraordinary baby appeared. His earthly relatives began to guess about the great destiny of the future hero. Even while Zurgai was lying in the cradle, an evil shaman was sent to him by heaven, who was supposed to destroy the hero. The baby easily copes with the shaman. Soon Zurgai makes his own bow and makes a horse out of tree bark, on which he goes to fight the evil demons Albins. He brings brides to the house: first the khan’s daughter, and after a while another girl, the daughter of a rich man, wins the competition. Thanks to these girls, Abai Geser appeared to people in his true form: a hero - the liberator of the earth from evil demons. The celestials send Geser a magical horse to help him, which will be his faithful assistant in dangerous battles and campaigns. Geser's first feat was the battle with the giant Lobsogolda-Mangadhai. The evil spell of this giant's wife turns Geser into a donkey. But the celestials help him regain his former appearance as Abai Geser. The battle with a powerful enemy lasted six months, and the celestials did not remain indifferent to this battle. In the end, Geser manages to win. Another feat of Geser was the battle with a monster possessing great magical power, Gal-Durme-khan. The hero cannot defeat the villain in a fair fight, because Gal-Durme Khan can die and be reborn an infinite number of times. But exhausted by the battle, he promises not to do evil to people in the future and retires to the eastern edge of the earth. In the battle with Kharaabal Mergen, Geser dies, defeated by formidable black forces that came from the east. These powers were caused by the magical spells of Kharaabal Mergen. Geser's prophetic horse informs the wives and sons of his master about his death and helps them find a magical remedy that brings Geser back to life. Gzszr accomplished many other feats. He cleared the world of monsters, established peace, harmony and prosperity on earth, and made it more suitable for human life.
The epic about Geser has preserved ancient folklore motifs. In the language of the legend there are many words and idiomatic expressions that have long gone out of use. This provides linguists with material for studying the history of the Buryat language.
Many peoples who know the epic legend about Geser worship Geser as a celestial being, a deity, a great spirit. Geser patronizes warriors, protects herds, he is the conqueror of demons and the giver of good fortune (including hunting luck). In shamanic invocations, Geser is called Burkhan or Tengri, the son of the sky, living above a high white mountain peak, in the house of clouds and fogs. Unlike Tibet, where many of Geser’s comrades and opponents are deified, among the Mongolian peoples only Geser is the subject of cult veneration. The Buryats have legends that songs about Geser protect from the ghosts of the dead and demons. There were special magical talismans of Geser, which were supposed to save their owner from the machinations of evil spirits.
The historical origin of the legend of Gzser is lost in the distant past of the great nomadic empires of Central Asia. It is still not known who the real prototypes of the epic heroes are. The hundred-year history of the study of the epic has given rise to many theories and hypotheses.
Representatives of the Gelukpa Buddhist school believe that the epic has no historical basis. Representatives of other traditions believe that King Kesar (Geser) was the leader of the nomadic tribes of Central Asia who were at enmity with Tibet. The basis for the hypothesis that Geser lived in the 11th-12th centuries AD was the biography of Padmasambhava, which mentions the name of Geser. Albert Grünwedel opined that the name Kesar represented a Mongol-Tibetan translation of the Roman title Caesar (Caesar). In the Manchu tradition, King Geser is identified with Guan Di, the popular hero of the famous Chinese novel “The Three Kingdoms”. Guan Di was the military commander of the founder of the Wuhan dynasty. There is a hypothesis that the Geseriad glorifies the national hero Genghis Khan. However, studies of the Buryat version of the epic have shown that this is not so, since the legend about Geser was compiled among the people long before the birth of Genghis Khan. Europeans learned about “Geser” from the message of the famous traveler, naturalist and historian Peter Simon Pallas. In 1772, traveling through Eastern Siberia, he visited the city of Maimachen (now Altan-Bulak) on the border of Mongolia, where the Geser Temple was located. Pallas described the temple in detail and reported on the existence of the epic. In addition to the only description of this temple, Pallas recorded a prayer to Geser that was read here, as well as an oral tradition according to which the incarnation of Geser is the Dalai Lama. After Pallas' expedition, a lot of evidence was collected about the veneration of Geser and the temples erected to him. Temples of Geser were built until the 30s of the 19th century. In the mid-19th century, a statue of Geser in the image of a Buddhist monk was consecrated in Urga (now Ulaanbaatar). One of the datsans of Urga (Dishi - samdanlin-datsan) received the two-volume “Geser-un choynhor” (Geser’s Prayer Wheel) - a collection of prayers and spells for expelling evil spirits in the name of Geser. It is known that during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894, a new statue of Geser the Warlike was erected in the hallway of one of the Mongolian temples of Geser the Good. Lamas and laymen believed that old Geser the Monk would not dare to kill the Manchu Emperor, but Geser the Warlike would be able to do it. In 1921, Baron Ungern, having taken possession of Urga, announced in the courtyard of the Geser Temple that he had arrived to defend the religion of Buddha and the throne of the great Manchu emperors from the Reds and atheists. Baron Ungern was hailed as the embodiment of Geser the Warlike. The lamas argued that the bullets of the Red Russians and the black Chinese could not harm the incarnation of Geser and only a Mongol bullet could defeat him. In 1932, a new temple of Geser was built near the Gandan Monastery in Ulaanbaatar, where believers were attracted by a soothsayer who predicted the future.
The epic has 22 thousand lines. The first literary edition of the Mongolian version of the epic was published in Mongolian in Beijing in 1716. The epic has been translated into many languages of the world. Mongolian scholar B. Laufer, who believed that the epic had Mongolian roots, wrote: “The Tale of Geser Khan... is, without a doubt, the most interesting work of all Mongolian literature, in which heroism, humor and poetry are colorfully mixed with oddities and the trivial.” In 1930 – 1931 edited by academician B..Ya. Vladimirtsov published a grandiose epic of the Buryat people, recorded by Ts.Zh. Zhamtsarano from the words of Manshud Emegeyev, one of the great Buryat Uligershin storytellers. Vladimirtsov highly valued the Buryat version of Geser and put it on a par with the masterpieces of world literature. He called it “a colossal Buryat epic, far superior to the Iliad.”
In 1931, the French traveler Alexandra David-Neel, who lived in Tibet for a long time, published a brief retelling of the Tibetan version of “Geser” in French. She came to the conclusion that the legends about Geser rest on a historical basis. The great military leader, a truly historical figure whose life is hidden in the mythological narrative, according to her, lived between the 11th and 12th centuries. She called the Geseriad the “Iliad” of Central Asia” and believed that the epic of Geser “in its national significance should be considered along with the Iliad, Aeneid, Nibelungs and Roland.”
Many places are associated with the name of Geser in Buryatia and other countries. It is believed that Geser's homeland was the high Sayan mountains, and Geser's throne was the highest peak - Mount Munku-sardyk (Eternal White Char), located on the border of Mongolia and Buryatia. An architectural complex was created near the city of Ulan-Ude, which is called “Geser’s Parking Lot,” where, according to myth, the hero of the epic stopped to rest and tied his horse to a hitching post before moving on. The millennium of the epic “Geser” was solemnly celebrated in Buryatia in 1995.
The significance of the Geser epic for the peoples of Central Asia has always been great. For centuries, it remained not only a legendary poetic story, figuratively telling about the distant glorious past, but also a folk religion. Geser himself, in the popular imagination, was not only the most beloved hero, but also at the same time a powerful deity who patronized hunters and warriors, and a messiah, destined to appear on earth at a special hour for the last battle with world evil.
The time and place of creation of the epic still remain a mystery. Among the numerous scientific assumptions, we can single out the authoritative opinion of Yu.N. Roerich from his book “On the Paths of Central Asia”. He, quite rightly, traces the epic to the Bon religious culture of pre-Buddhist Tibet and sees in the images, and in its entire structure, echoes of the ancient cults of the Sun, Moon, Stars and seasons. In addition, the scientist names among the possible historical prototypes of the hero - the legendary ruler Geser, who lived in Tibet in the 8th century.
Historically, the epic has three main areas of distribution: Tibet, Mongolia and Buryatia. Each of them has its own versions of the legend, differing in local variations in the names of the characters, places of action, and numerous additions that arise at the whim of folk performers. According to an ancient tradition, like the epic itself, it was performed both on ordinary days and on holidays, by folk singers (uligershins in Buryatia), who kept in memory the various exploits of the hero and strictly monitored compliance with the important ritual part of the performance (in fact, they were the only people's servants of the cult of Geser). Scientists observed a live performance of this epic back in the 30s and 40s: you can learn about this from Yu.N. Roerich, who traveled a lot in Mongolia and Tibet, as well as from Buryat folklorists. In Russia, until recently, the most serious study of the epic was carried out in Buryatia. It was in Buryatia that the 1000th anniversary of Geser (conventional date) was celebrated in 1995. Therefore, it is not surprising that in literary and reading circles the epic is better known as Buryat. The consolidated literary version was published in mass editions twice in translations by Vl. Soloukhin (1968) and S. Lipkin (1973).
The first chapters of the epic offered to the reader are part of an unpublished translation by the poet A. Prelovsky, who has been successfully working on translations of Siberian folklore for many years. This is the first translation in our history of the narrative version of the Geseriada, recorded from the words of the most talented folk Buryat poet Pyokhon Petrov in the 1940s. The translator sought to find the most faithful expression of a living folk creation and therefore adhered to many of the features of the oral Buryat tradition, caring about the poetic form and accuracy of the language. For example, initial rhyme, personal monologues, etc. Our magazine publication “Geser”, we hope, will help the reader to penetrate the fabulous spirit of the epic, give a sense of its scale and, perhaps, arouse interest in the great culture of the peoples of Central Asia.
Narrative version by Pyokhon Petrov (1866-1943)
Recorded by I.N.Madason (1940-41)
Interlinear translation to the first scientific publication of Uliger (1960) by A.I. Ulanova, Dr. Philol. sciences
Literary translation by Anatoly Prelovsky (1997)
Scientific consultation of literary translation by E.N. Kuzmina, Ph.D. Philol. sciences
Illustrations by N.G. Protasov
Chorus
He punished those who started wars,
he tamed those who were arrogant,
he frightened those who bared their teeth,
he beat those who walked like a predator,
living on Mount Sagan Burge
he rode a special horse,
that he was like a falcon in running;
had offspring, very magnificent:
Mayaana was born from Esege
how the midwife received many
and raised many - not just one
and calorific Naran Dulaan.
And we would have all the Western Tengris
there were fifty and five,
when Segen Sabdag would join them,
that he lived in the middle of the universe
on the cloudy top of Sakhidag
away from wars, strife, quarrels and fights.
On the eastern side of the sky
their inhabitants, the Tengris, were angry.
Those Tengri were led by Atai Ulan,
their elder, their ancestor,
and with him - Shusa Ulan, Uher Bayan
brought a lot of troubles to the living.
Atai Ulan gave birth to three sons:
Sagan Khasar was the eldest, he rode
on a light gray fast horse;
Shara Khasar was average, he rode
on a long-maned gray horse;
daughter was his favorite.
But Atai Ulan with his power
began to do evil - and so he forced
cough and make this girl sick,
and she was ill for three years,
I suffered and dried up year after year.
If a girl goes into eternity,
then all the tengris of the western sky
will become subordinate to the eastern ones.
But as Naran Gohon began to dry up,
then Manzan Gourmet revealed
rise up and sing selflessly
will take it, and on the chest they will sparkle
silver letters on the back
the bird's gold ones will sparkle.
You must touch him with an arrow like that,
so as not to kill, but to capture a living one
tip hole - and softly,
without damaging a feather, to the ground
deliver this bird from under the sky.
But if we don’t save Naran Gohon,
then to all of us, Tengri of the western sky,
will have to submit to the eastern
to go, but it seems inconvenient,
and it seems like a reproach.”
Beligte Manzan Gourmet replied:
“White, where is the lark for me?
find it if you haven't heard of it?
White as a lark to me
catch him, since I haven’t seen him?”
Grandma Manzan Gourmet said:
“Ask Khan Khirmas about this:
he saw this bird - he knows
how to get it out of the sky.”
Beligte went to Khan Khirmas,
and then the father told his son:
"When I was strong and young,
I have often seen this bird
Yes, I haven’t seen something for a long time.
In the west, on the northern edge
holy heaven, you will still find
winged-inspired singer.
As soon as the sun dawns,
that lark begins to sing
and in the sky, near the clouds,
hangs on his own song,
reading the golden letters,
what's on his chest and whistles,
looking at the silver letters,
what's on his back - that's when
You can take this bird without difficulty.”
On my father's bay horse
putting on the saddle and strapping it on
Once Sengelen was away,
“Mom, you’re on your head, I pray,
your star-white cap
She raised it with her right hand
a star-white cap - and right there
Naran Gohon came out of the top of her head
someone's pure soul and to the sky
rose without leaving a trace.
She held it with her right hand
hat - and right away from the armpit
someone's right one also slipped out
pure soul and soared to the sky.
She pressed down with her left hand
cap to his head - and immediately
someone came out of the left armpit
pure soul, soaring to the sky.
And then there was a tickling in my navel -
and soon someone came out from there
a pure soul soared into the sky.
Naran Gohon everything was new.
someone promised with renewed vigor:
“Now, according to the golden
I will be born to fulfill my duty!”
It turned out that Naran Gohon
first appeared from the top of the head
son - Zasa Mergen, and from the armpits
and the navel sisters were born -
three sisters, intercessors for the brothers.
And even later at Naran Gohon
the bones began to ache, they began to itch
hair - and born right on time
They swaddled and carried the baby out
and at the northern wall of the dwelling
laid - the boy the whole clearing,
I stained all the grass near the hut.
On the east side, on the south
the same outrage was repeated.
Naran Gohon asked her husband:
“Take it, put it on the slide!”
Sengelen carried his son to the hill
and left it on the grass in the sun.
The boy fidgeted and cried
so that his child's cry could be heard
to the land of lame evil spirits.
And then, sobbing, he began
set snares around - and soon
Having acquired seventy of them, he set them up,
and left the spoils to wait.
I heard the bitter cry of a child,
I saw a boy on a slide
black, the height of a three-year-old bull,
the underground mouse said:
“This is not an ordinary baby whining -
with a twinkle in his eyes the child cries,
I should visit him -
And she came, sniffing out the victim,
but she herself fell into the snare.
And the child took his belt whip,
tamarisk, where eighteen
sharp veins, and began, excising,
black to punish the villain -
the whole valley in small pieces
he filled that huge mouse.
And he said: “From now on and forever,
mice, you won’t get any bigger!”
And he also said: “However, the first
the enemy is defeated! - and fell asleep on the hill
in a cradle, golden from tar.
It all happened again the next morning,
everything was as before: all the diapers,
stained all the grass behind the hut
boy - and he's off to the hill again
carried it, and he set a snare
near the hut, and began to cry.
Yellow wasp the size
from the horse's head then said:
“It’s not an ordinary child who whines,
I need to check on the baby -
drink blood from his chest..."
Arrived and went down to the baby
and got caught in a snare, entangled.
And again with his belt whip
the boy began to excise the villainess -
the whole valley in small pieces
filled that yellow bloodsucker.
And he said: “From now on and forever,
wasps, you will remain like this:
You'll never be bigger!"
And he also said: “Well, the second
defeated the enemy! - and in the cradle
the boy sighed like a baby
and, forgetting what he had done, fell asleep.
Everything happened again the next day,
everything became as before: from the home
the boy was carried to the clearing,
so that you don’t get dirty in the house, don’t cry, -
and again he set a snare there,
and burst into tears with such force,
that in the land of lame evil spirits
His crying awakened the monsters.
There's a mosquito the size of a horse
he said: “The child is whining,
I should fly to the baby -
taste the blood from his chest..."
He flew in and got caught in the snare -
and the kid whips his belt
started looking for the bloodsucker
He crushed the villain and exclaimed:
"Mosquitoes, now and forever
you won't be bigger anymore
than these crumbs!” - and climbed
into the cradle, and slept - did not wake up.
_20.06.1998/glavy_iz_poemy_velikiy_geser_chast_1/image004.jpg)
(Continued next)cool)
Note
Abai Geser (“Abai” here, as an address to an elder, is closest in meaning to “venerable”) - an epic, heroic name. “Geser” has no direct translation in the Buryat language. It seems to us that the closest interpretation, although controversial, would be a punishing husband, a warrior. (Hereinafter notes by E.N. Kuzmina and A.V. Prelovsky).
Tengri (tengri, tengeri, tengriy, obsolete tengerin; from the Turkic-Mongolian "tengri" - Sky, as the supreme masculine principle, deity) - a celestial anthropomorphic being of the highest order, a personified deity who enters into communication, as well as family relationships with people ; more simplified - celestial.
Khan Khirmas (in the original - Khan Khirmas tengri, where Khan is an integral part of the name. Variants: Buryat. Khurmast, Khormusta Khan, Khan Khurmas; Tuvan. Kurbustu; Manchu. Khormusda. Goes back to Sogdian. Khurmazta, Old Persian. Ahuramazda , pehl. Ormazd) - the supreme heavenly deity of the Buryat shamanic pantheon, the thunderer, the head of the clan or the elder of the good Western Tengri. Omitting the part of the name “tengri”, here we declare our principle of adapting the compound names of the epic to the Russian verse of the translation.
Ministry of Education of the Irkutsk Region
MBOU Alar Secondary School named after P.P. Batorova
International festival - competition
"Ecological folklore of the peoples of the world"
“The Buryat epic “Geser” is a hymn to Man, a hymn to the Earth - in the name of saving Life on it”
Prepared by: Maraktaeva Svetlana Nikolaevna -
teacher of Buryat language and literature
With. Alar
2012
Ethnoecological aspects in the study of the Buryat epic “Geser”.
One of the contradictions of the modern era is the ever-deepening contradiction between society and nature. In this regard, the purposeful work of the school to form the initial concepts of environmental culture among the younger generation becomes extremely important.
In this case, environmental education should represent an integral system covering all aspects of human activity. It should have as its goal the formation of a person’s worldview, based on his unity with nature and the direction of his culture and all practical activities not on the exploitation of nature or even on preserving it in its original form, but on its development, capable of promoting the development of society.
It is necessary to reveal the contradiction between society and nature, to find ways to resolve this conflict.
Invaluable assistance in the process of environmental education can be provided by turning to folklore as an inexhaustible source of wisdom of the people in their relations with nature. One of the folklore genres is uliger.
The heroic epic "Geser" is a unique monument of the spiritual culture of the Buryat people. It is compared to a huge river that overflowed throughout Central Asia and the Far East.
Uligers allegorically and figuratively depict objects and phenomena of the surrounding reality. The beauty of uligers, fairy tales, myths, legends for children of any age is that they allow you to lift the veil of mystery over this or that object or phenomenon.
Most of the uligers have an environmental orientation, although at first glance it is not always noticeable.
“...He was born, they say, in ancient times, when the first tree was blossoming, when the mighty wapiti calved, he was born, they say, when the thick tree was still a bush, when the eldest of their khans was still lying in the cradle, they say he was born. When the wide Angara River was still flowing like a stream, When the abarga, a huge fish, was still a baby, he was born, they say..."
The fate of the great epic is tragic and triumphant. Thanks to the storytellers who possessed the enchanting power of folk poetry and passed it on from generation to generation, Geser is still with us today.
The entire narrative is permeated with an epic understanding of life: the confrontation of the ancient collective with the outside world takes place in a titanic struggle with hostile forces, and this struggle from the very beginning lies entirely on the shoulders of the uliger mergen (bator). The fulfillment of this destiny is always associated with the hero’s departure outside his native land, with his long trip and long stay on a foreign side. He faces obstacles, one more difficult than the other, the enemy replaces the enemy, delaying the achievement of the goal. In the descriptions of all kinds of road trials, the hero's combat with hostile forces, and pictures of nature, the ancient world appears in all its grandeur and pristine, harsh beauty, in the vastness of which epic events unfold: feats are accomplished, enemy strongholds are crushed, evil enemies and mythical monsters are destroyed. The epic world of the Uligers is full of bright colors of trumpet sounds: near the high mountains, in the wide Tamshinskaya steppe, the paths of the epic heroes and their eternal enemies - the Mangadhans - cross. The struggle between them is titanic in nature. Fellow tribesmen are drawn into the orbit of this powerful confrontation, miraculous forces and heavenly deities are called upon to help. The world of uliger images is rich and diverse: in the epic action, in addition to the main characters, many characters are involved: some of them form the entourage of the epic hero, others are the camp of the Mangadhai and other opponents opposing him. In this colorful, uliger world, animals take their place and play an active role. These characters are also divided into groups of friendly and hostile heroes.
In uligers of the “Alamzhi Mergen” type, the totemistic and animistic ideas of the ancients are reflected in various forms of figurative embodiment of fetishism. The personification of nature, zoomorphic and anthropomorphic characters, the depiction of people in uligers represent stages of the gradual development of the innermost meaning of various things and phenomena. Everything that exists - living beings, objects and natural phenomena - is endowed in the uliger with feeling and reason, and acts in real life conditions. Here we are dealing with the transfer of human properties to the creatures around him - an attempt to explain the unknown with the help of the known.
The uligers feature the image of an animated mountain, which becomes the refuge of a deceased hero and stores his body until a certain time. The image of a “living mountain” is present in archaic stories where a sister saves her brother by obtaining his betrothed – the resurrector. This image is undoubtedly based on the life experience of the ancient bearers of the epic. The mountain in uligers is also shown as a difficult obstacle on the hero’s path. Human experience and cognitive abilities developed in the process of long-term work, in the course of mastering the surrounding nature, comprehending its laws, the world of things and phenomena. A miraculous stone, a healing tree, living water, according to his concepts, have miraculous properties - with their help, in certain circumstances, you can revive the dead and heal the sick. For example, a stone can bring good luck, help those who are suffering, and bestow happiness.
The uliger glorifies water with its universal properties. It is spoken of as living water - “eternal black water” (munhyn hara uhan), - resurrecting the dead, sick,strengthening power. Such water bubbles up at the top of a high mountain, and a tree and medicinal herbs grow nearby.
The epic also reflected the Buryat’s reverence for fire. The beginnings of the Uligers talk about how the hero builds a house, heats the stove, and the smoke from the chimney rises to the skies. The element of fire is embodied in the image of Gal-Dulme - khan. Images of forests, rivers, lakes, mountains appear in uligers at the stage of “split” of the image, in the person of their owners – zoomorphic and anthropomorphic creatures.
The sky and celestial phenomena occupied a large place in the ideas of people of the distant past. Ancient man spiritualized the sun, moon, stars, snow, rain, thunder, lightning. The sky was thought of as a certain higher being, predetermining the course of life and the nature of events on earth, at the same time spiritual and material. Like Geser, other heroes of the Uligers seem to receive heavenly origin. Drawing pictures of life in heaven, the uligershins recreate earthly orders that are consistent with the life, morals, and customs of people. Images of the hero's zoomorphic friends and his wonderful assistant appear mainly in stories about heroic matchmaking. Friends are ants, turtles, dogs, birds. The heroine's assistant in "Alamzhi Mergen" was the burbot fish, whose anthropomorphic double is Dalai Bayan Khan. Rescued or tamed animals are superior to the hero in some qualities, but still play a subordinate role in relation to him. The hero's zoomorphic opponents include the enemies of the animals he saved: a bear, a wolf, a motley bird.
The unity of nature and man is expressed in legends about the owners (ezhins) of rivers, mountains, forests, rivers, and localities. They appear as strong and powerful people: Gray Baikal, the beautiful Angara, the mighty Irkut, etc. On earth, Geser is born a second time and lives in the sunny country of the Larks, which in all its characteristic features resembles the Siberian region. Taiga, where cedars and larches grow, where arshans are found - healing springs. Where roe deer, wapiti, deer, and moose live. Describes the hills and steppes where they grazeflocks of sheep, herds of cows,herds of horses, Baikal and the Lena River are mentioned.
In the fight against rivals, Geser does not use heroic armor and weapons sent down “from above,” but his natural ingenuity and earthly tools. Geser's strength during battles with the Mangadhai lies not in his powerful physical abilities, but in his inextricable connection with the Earth and the people living on it. In the most difficult moments, his earthly wife, earthly children and earthly brothers-in-arms come to Geser’s aid. They save him by washing him not with divine eternal living water from the top of the world mountain, but with the water of earthly springs, healing springs, fumigating him with taiga heather (juniper).
Picturesque scenes of nature, taiga, inaccessible rocks, steppes, stormy rivers, Lake Baikal, the Baikal mountains covered with coniferous and deciduous trees are realistically described.
Thus, the Buryat epic “Geser” is essentially a hymn to Man, a hymn to the Earth - in the name of saving Life on it.
“... He was born and rose on a healing, nourishing land, with countless lambs. He settled as a master on a healing, healing land, with countless kids. He was born the owner of a blooming, beautiful land, blown from the lunar side. He was born the owner of a green, flowering land, sunny side, fanned...” (from the epic “Alamzhi Mergen”).
“Geser" - this is a hymn of love for one’s land. “ Do not allow the enemy to approach your native land, do not wait him, but go out to meet him, there he will be defeated ” - this is one of the most important motives of this epic tale.
The Buryat people have always respected the environment and have always strived to do everything in accordance with nature. Based on Buryat traditions, in this case, using the example of the epic, I teach children to respect nature. Everyone should follow these simple principles of behavior in nature:
1. In sacred places where rituals of worship to the owners of these places are performed, you cannot kill wild animals, you cannot cut down a tree. The spirits of our ancestors live here. In our village this is Mount Sorgothoi, special places of rituals are Ubgete (each clan has its own place).
2. Our ancestors considered it a great sin (yehe seer) to cut down a tree unnecessarily, throw garbage into the water, dig the ground unnecessarily (ask the owner of this place for permission, that is, the spirits). The basic rule that must be followed by everyone: “Do not take from nature more than what is required.”
Using the example of the traditions of the Buryat and Russian peoples, I lead children to the conclusion that this folk wisdom can and should be followed in our time.
“To someone who has been deaf to nature since childhood, who in childhood did not pick up a chick that had fallen from the nest, who did not discover the beauty of the first spring grass, then it will be difficult to reach him with a sense of beauty, a sense of poetry, and maybe even simple humanity.” - V.A. Sukhomlinsky.
List of basic and additional literature
Batorov P.P. Digest of articles. Irkutsk, 2006
Vasilyeva M.S. Buryat and Russian environmental traditions. Ulan-Ude, 2002
Hymn to man, hymn to the earth “Abai Geser”, S. Chagdurov, Ulan-Ude, 1995.
Zimin Zh.A. History of the Alar region. Irkutsk, 1996
Zimin Zh.A. Local history. Ust-Orda, 1992
Kozin S.A. The hidden legend of the Mongols. Ulan-Ude, 1990
Magtaal, ureel, solo. Ulan-Ude, 1993
Scientific publication – Buryat heroic epic “Alamzhi Mergen”, Novosibirsk, “Science”, 1991.
Prelovsky A, “Great Geser” (version of uligershin by Pyokhon Petrov), Moscow, 1999.
Sharakshinova N.O. Heroic-epic poetry of the Buryats, Irkutsk, 1987.
Sherkhunaev R.A. Alar is my destiny. Irkutsk, 2001.
Sherkhunaev R.A. Manshut Imegeev, singer of “Geser”, Irkutsk, 1993.
“Khangalovsky readings” - Interregional Scientific and Production Committee, Ust-Ordynsky village, 2008.
Khangalov M.N. Collected works.Ulan-Ude, 2004.
Website geo.ru
Website “Network of creative teachers of the Buryat language “Nidal”.
Website "Network of creative teachers of the Buryat language" - "Khuramsha"
Illustrations for the heroic epic "Geser"
