Chapter 5 The second section spreads an overview

It is said that according to preliminary statistics, the Tibetan text of "Gesar" has collected and recorded 2 million lines.Therefore it is the longest epic epic.Of course, the length cannot be compared with the high and the low. Generally speaking, long and great works can reflect the historical appearance of society in depth and breadth. This epic is circulated in the largest number in Tibet, Qinghai, and Sichuan in Tibetan areas, followed by Yunnan and Gansu; in addition, it is also circulated in some areas of Tu, Yugur, and Naxi.Alternative texts of this epic have long been found in Nepal, Bhutan and other countries and regions abroad.Some of the chapters have been translated into more than a dozen languages ​​including English, French, German, Russian, Japanese, and Indian.There are more than a dozen Chinese publications such as "Biography of King Gesar" and "Ling Gesar" in China.

It has two kinds of books that are circulated among the people, one is the chapter book, and the other is the branch book.The chapter-by-chapter collection focuses on the main heroic deeds of the protagonist Gesar. The story is organized in chapters, coherent from top to bottom, short in length, complete in content, simple in language, strong in folk flavor, and less religious in color. It may be the earliest original libretto .The chapter-based book is expanded and enriched on the basis of the chapter-based book. Each part takes a chapter and arranges it extensively to develop into a full-length rap literature.Every time a new legend of Gesar is produced, a new branch edition may be produced.In the early days of some legends, Gesar may not be the main character. Over time, people attached various hero legends to Gesar, making Gesar the most famous Tibetan.

The basic storyline of the epic is generally considered to be the birth of a hero, Gesar's victory in horse racing, his marriage with the first beauty Zhu Mu, and his four battles: conquest of demons, conquest of Hall country, conquest of Jiang country and conquest of gate. country.If it continues to expand, there will be 18 large and 18 small wars, that is, there are 36 major and minor wars.In the back, there is also a chapter about Gesar going to hell twice to save his mother and his wife.The last one is his return to heaven. In fact, far more than this figure is circulated among the people.Just like a snowball, the pages are getting bigger and bigger, and no one can tell how many parts there are.Tibetans in different provinces and regions sang chapters with different content, but the basic content of the story is similar, with little change, but the subsequent chapters have their own advantages and disadvantages.For example, in the legends on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Gesar did not have a biological son, but his nephew inherited the throne. However, the materials found in the Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan state that after Gesar conquered the country of Huoer, he once took over the country. Minister Dajiabu's daughter, Gesang Quzhen, is a concubine and pregnant. Because of her discord with the princess Zhumu, she is forced to return to the heaven. Fifteen years later, Gesang Quzhen's son went down to earth and participated in the war between Gesar's Ling country and the northern fury country.This is not exactly the same as the Qinghai sung version that has been translated into Chinese.

The content of this epic is quite complex, and the social and historical periods reflected in the subsequent chapters may even be more barbaric and backward than those reflected in the earlier chapters. specialty.However, it has the basic characteristics of folk epics, that is, the clues are simple.Each part develops the storyline centered on Gesar, and a war constitutes a relatively independent branch. Except for the basic four expeditions, the other wars do not have a strict order.Except for Gesar and another negative image, Chaotong, the rest of the characters hardly run through. This epic is preserved and circulated in oral and written forms at the same time, with oral transmission as the main and writing as a supplement, and folk artists play the decisive role.Before the democratic reform in Tibet, some of these artists almost lived a life of vagabonds and beggars, and their social status was very low.

Because the Tibetans not only have written characters, but also can print, there has always been a wealth of written materials.According to scholars’ on-the-spot investigations, the writing process of “Gesar” is very complicated, which can be roughly divided into three situations: one is to make written records based on oral singing by folk artists, and this kind of book is generally called “oral singing book” or “singing book” The Oral Book".Some copies were processed and sorted out by lamas, and then returned to the people.Another situation is that literati organize and process according to one or several manuscripts.For example, the most exciting "Huoling Wars" branch edition, the manuscripts circulated in Qinghai and Gansu, were sorted out by the two on the basis of more than 20 oral materials.There is another situation, that is, the creation of literati imitating the folk "Gesar", which later became an integral part of the entire epic, recognized by everyone, and can also be sung orally, such as the branch of "Save the Mother in Hell" produced.These literati themselves are lamas, so they are naturally religious.

Dozens of materials collected in Qinghai in the late 1920s and early 1960s are all woodcuts.There are also a large number of manuscripts in Tibetan areas. In the 1980s, a group of folk artists who rapped and sang "Gesar" were discovered. There are two or three artists in Tibet who can sing more than 20 songs by themselves.There are three main ways for these people to learn singing: family tradition, teacher tradition, and learning from other artists quietly by themselves.However, because of the strong religious thought, artists all sanctify and mystify their rapping process, some say it came from a dream, some say it was given by God, which is not credible.Modern people should use the materialist reflection theory to analyze the so-called "dream orthodoxy".

These artists have made great contributions to the preservation and enrichment of the "Gesar" epic.What they sang has been recorded. The artistic level of various oral traditions, woodcuts, and manuscripts varies greatly, and the essence is often submerged in the complicated content.Extracting the best of them will be a painstaking long-term work. As mentioned above, besides the original story of Gesar, other continuations appeared among Tibetans in different regions.Due to the vast land and sparse population in Tibetan areas and the unbalanced social development, some areas have already entered the feudal lordship system, while some areas have not completely separated from the clan and tribal society before the democratic reform, so that the divisions in different areas reflect the The social form and the historical content included are not exactly the same.Judging from its original basic storyline, it is preliminarily judged that it was finally formed into a large-scale heroic epic, which should be from the 11th century to the 13th century.By praising the hero Gesar, the epic reflects the Tibetan people's desire for a wise king to govern the country during the period of feudal separatism on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and shows their good wishes to establish a unified and ideal feudal kingdom.Based on major historical events, artistic processing has been carried out.Its main part was formed during the entire feudal lordship period, and new content was constantly added during the 800-year spread process.Among them, the material culture, spiritual culture, and social structure from the end of primitive society to slave society and feudal lordship society...are superimposed and have everything that one expects to find.As for its upper limit, it is difficult to have sufficient data to make an argument.Although the "Gesar" epic uses several myths, the two cannot be equated. Myths come first and epics follow.The main body of a heroic epic is the hero's military exploits, not myths, and myths strung together cannot form an epic.The current discussion on the embryonic period of this epic involves many speculations, so I will not introduce it.

Although the branch book has a strong religious color, it is not religious literature.The gods in the works and many heroes with the blood of gods have exactly the same behaviors, thoughts and feelings as mortal people.What's more, the role and influence of religion cannot be analyzed in isolation from the historical conditions at that time.Any religion has its process of emergence, development and demise.In Tibetan areas, with the disintegration of slavery, Buddhism gradually replaced the dominance of native religions and became the spiritual pillar of feudal lordship society. The divine grant of monarchy in "Gesar" was realized through Buddha and God, which obviously has its own history limited.On the other hand, it also shows that the suffering people can only express their love, hatred and longing through religion.In essence, this is a great epic that promotes the spirit of enterprise.

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