Chapter 37 The fourth section "Langa Xihe"

The ancient Dai document "On the Value of the Content of Dai Poetry" once mentioned that there are three kings of long narrative poems in the history of Dai people, and the third king is "Langa Xihe".The so-called "big kings" are what we call the "big masterpieces" now.The largest and longest representative work produced by a nation does not only mean its grand length, but more importantly, it depends on whether the work reflects a broad social life, and also depends on its social effect and the degree of love for it by the nation . After several centuries, "Langa Xihe" has never shaken its status as the third king.

This epic is divided into big and small Langa in the Dai area of ​​our country, and the small "Langa" is an abbreviated version of the big "Langa".The content of these two is the same, only the difference between simple and traditional.There is another variant called "Langasi Shuanghe" (12 Demon Kings), which is different in content.The complete book has 22 chapters, more than 40,000 lines in the Dai text, and about 38,000 lines in the Chinese translation. "Langa" is a place name, which is said to refer to ancient Sri Lanka. It is translated as "Langa" in Indian epics, and "Menglanga" in Dai language. "Xihe" means ten-headed king.The Chinese translation of Dai language is "Ten Kings of Langa Kingdom".This epic is based on the two fierce competitions.

The beginning of the poem history describes the richness and beauty of Langa, but unfortunately the king is old and childless, only one daughter.But the princess didn't like the hustle and bustle of court life, so she hid in the forest alone to practice.Heavenly King Maha was ordered to go down to earth to have a tryst with the princess, and after eating the mango she offered, he gave her three sons: one is the ten-headed king Feng Majia with powerful magic power; It is Biasa who is gentle, intelligent and wise.After the three brothers grew up, Feng Majia, the eldest ten-headed king, succeeded to the throne.Because of his arrogance, extravagance and domineering, the Langa country he governed became a barren land.He used deception to marry three beauties as wives, but he was still not satisfied.Once he took a flying car and went to a very far forest, where he found a beautiful girl named Silla who was practicing, so he went up to flirt with her.Feeling insulted, Silas angrily prayed to the gods to set fire to himself and set himself on fire, determined to take revenge.By order of Macca, if Silas came back to life, send it to him immediately.Sila was reincarnated and was brought to the ten-headed king by ghosts and gods.The ten-headed king was afraid of revenge, so he put the baby girl on a bamboo raft and floated away with the river. Fortunately, the bamboo raft was not flooded and floated all the way to Mengganlaga. Sira was rescued and became the king's princess. Very beautiful.

Fong Majia's evil deeds, the heavens were angry and the people complained, the gods decided to punish him, and sent another god Potia to lead his three younger brothers to reincarnate to conquer the ten-headed king.They were reborn as the three concubines of the king of Tatarada.The first concubine gave birth to a son, Langma; the second concubine gave birth to twins, named Lagana and Shada Luga; the third concubine gave birth to Parada.Among the four brothers, Langma, the eldest brother, has excellent martial arts skills and subdued the evil crow for the wild monk Palaxi.He studied art with Palaxi for three years and became a young prince with both civil and military skills.

When Silas grew up, because there were too many suitors, she had to decide by martial arts.The king has a magic bow, whoever can pull the magic bow can be Sira's husband.All the princes couldn't pull the bow. The arrogant Feng Majia was stronger than all the other princes, and he couldn't do anything after pulling it halfway. Only Langma was the only prince who could pull the bow.He has the love of Silas, who is unparalleled in the world.Fengmajia was very jealous and immediately launched a force attack, which was defeated by Langma. On the issue of inheriting the throne, Langma was banished to the forest for 12 years because of being provoked by his half-mother. His wife Sila and second brother Ragana insisted on following him.In the vast forest, Sira was discovered by Feng Majia, who was plundered by tricks.

The Langma brothers were determined to rescue Sira, but they suffered from lack of troops.They went to Mengjisha and got acquainted with Ga Lin, the younger brother of the Monkey King.Ga Lin's wife was taken over by his elder brother, and he himself was exiled. Just in need of help, he confides his experience to Brother Langma.The Langma brothers sympathized with Ga Lin, and the three became good friends.Langma took the opportunity to shoot the Monkey King to death with an arrow, and Ga Lin became the king of the Monkey Kingdom.The minister of the monkey country is the god monkey Anuman.With the help of the monkey kingdom's troops and Anuman's assistance, Langma launched a massive war against Langa that lasted several years, eliminated the ten-headed king Feng Majia, and rescued Sira.When his exile was over, he returned to his hometown and inherited the throne.The god monkey Anuman became the minister of Langma.

Due to the change of status, Langma's personality also changed, and she was no longer as gentle towards Silla as before.When Silla was robbed, she was always loyal to Langma; but after being rescued, Langma doubted her loyalty.For the first time, Silas used fire to prove the purity of her love.The second time Langma was suspicious of Sira again due to a misunderstanding, and cruelly ordered Ragana to kill the pregnant Sira.The kind-hearted younger brother deceived Lang Ma with a dog's heart instead of a heart, and let his sister-in-law go.The innocent Sila endured the pain again in the silent forest, and with the help of the wild monk Palasi, she gave birth to a son named Roma.Palasi performed magic and made a younger brother for Roma, named Xiang Wa.The two brothers have the same appearance and are inseparable.They grew up as laborers with high martial arts skills in the mountains and fields.Once, when they went to the city to sell melons and fruits, in order to resist exorbitant taxes, they made a big noise in the capital.Anuman, who has great powers, stepped forward to stop him, but was kicked to the ground by the two brothers.Anuman, who has never failed, was defeated by two young children, which surprised and angered Langma.After some twists and turns, he found out that the two brothers were his own sons.Langma repented of her mistake, took Sira back, and reunited.

The whole epic has twists and turns, beautiful language, and strong Theravada Buddhism.The often mentioned "Palasi" is not a proper name, but a general term for the mountain monks who spread Theravada Buddhism in the early days.In the traditional folk works of the Dai people, they often come and go when they are called, most of the time they are the saviors, and they are occasionally criticized and denied.However, all the Palacis that appear in different periods and on different occasions in this epic are almost all good people. They appear in the same work with some gods of primitive religion at the same time. This is a common phenomenon in the folk, which just shows that They are not a period, but a long period of cultural accumulation.

When Buddhism was introduced to the Dai area of ​​my country from Southeast Asian countries, it also brought stories about Rama in literature and scriptures.Rama is the protagonist of one of the two ancient Indian epics, the Ramayana.Dai singers recreated "Langa Xihe" based on the stories in the scriptures, so the transliteration of the names of the main characters is similar, and the basic content is roughly the same, but it is not a simple reprint of the original. "Langa Xihe" retains the earthy atmosphere of the Dai people, and the life content, scenes, and psychological quality reflected in it are quite different from those of Indian epics.As the crystallization of cultural exchanges between Dai and India, this epic is the witness of the friendly exchanges between China and India since ancient times.