Epic is a kind of art with a long history, and it has spread in many civilizations and traditions all over the world. The famous epics and myths of Homer in ancient Greece are recognized as the origin of Western literature. "Gilgamesh" in Babylon, "Mahabharata" in ancient India, "Beowulf" in Old English, "Song of the Nibelungs" in ancient German, "Song of Roland" in ancient France, The African Mali epic "Sundiata", etc., were once widely sung and had a long-lasting influence. Aristotle of ancient Greece once carefully discussed the connotation and characteristics of epics and gave a high evaluation of this artistic style, which opened a precedent for humans to understand and comment on epics. People in all corners of the earth, in accordance with their natural environment and cultural traditions, have developed epic performance traditions of various forms and complex styles. Numerous epics have become monuments of human oral performance culture.
The large-scale epic of "Gesar", sung mainly among ethnic groups such as Tibetans and Mongolians, can be called a vivid sample of the great art of human oral expression. Its many characteristics are breathtaking.
The story of "Gesar" is "as many as the hairs on an ox," and it is innumerable. It is the longest epic in the world. Before the "Epic of King Gesar" was known to the world, Western reference books said that the longest epic in the world was Mahabharata from ancient India, with 100,000 Odes, and 200,000 lines of poems. As for the length of "Epic of King Gesar", there are no accurate statistics so far. But we can roughly know that there are more than 100 types of Tibetan epic texts, which "division" do not overlap with each other, and more than 1 million lines of poetry in the verse part alone.
The Epic of King Gesar is not only the longest epic in the world today, but also reflects the prehistoric history of the Tibetans. In the process of spreading, people blended some social systems, moral standards, values at the time, and some folk customs, language characteristics, etc. of the ancient Tibetan plateau society into the epic. And there was a primitive religious belief - Bon before Buddhism was introduced. Through the singing of many generations of artists, their beliefs have been continuously integrated into the epic.
Religious and Cultural Significance
King Gesar is a true historical figure who gradually deified in the process of epic singing. The oral epic "The Epic of King Gesar" based on Gesar is the longest heroic epic in the world.
He unified the tribal disputes that lasted for hundreds of years after the collapse of the Tubo Kingdom, developed agriculture and animal husbandry, allowed the people to live and work in peace, and brought stability to the Tibetan people.
He advocated Buddhism that was more systematic than primitive religion Bon and formed a unified Tibetan culture with the Buddhist worldview as the core.
According to the legend of King Gesar, his half-brother Jiacha Xiega(their mother is the Han nationality) had notable military exploits and made great contributions until he died heroically on the battlefield. He is a positive hero with the most perfect personality in "The Epic of King Gesar".
Biography of King Gesar
King Gesar of Ling Kingdom, Dege County, Ganzi Prefecture, named "Jueri". King Gesar had a poor family since he was a child and made a living by grazing. Due to the sowing discord from his uncle, the mother, and son lead a wandering life and depended on each other for survival. Gesar was ambitious when he was a child, but there are always people who don’t want him to be good.
At that time, the leader of their area was Jueri's uncle Chao Tong. His uncle represents the matrilineal side. In ancient times, the matrilineal could not be the king of a place, the king must be the paternal line. However, his uncle could manipulate the fate of the tribe when the patrilineal party did not really become the king, so his uncle suppressed the young Gesar in every possible way. In the end, King Gesar, with his extraordinary martial arts and intelligence, defeated his uncle and won the throne, leading his tribe to overcome various disasters, such as floods, snowstorms, and droughts that had not been encountered in a century. During this period, King Gesar also won several key battles, such as the Menling War, Huoling War and Jiangling War, and developed the borders.
When he was 12 years old, with the assistance of his elder brother Jiacha Xiega, Jueri quietly returned to the tribe. He won the first prize in the horse racing event held by the Ling family's large, middle, and small factions. Later, he won the throne and became King Gesar, and married Zhumu as his wife. From then on, he began his military career in the South and North Wars.
