Lives Retold

Cahiers d’Extrême-Asie, 2017

This article is a brief literary study on the potential illumination that the oral-traditional epic of Ling Gesar can provide for an understanding of cultural attitudes concerning the concept of "law" (khrims) in premodern Tibet. Gesar is presented as a symbol of "law" in a variety of classical (non-epic) Tibetan sources, and "the law" is one of the recurrent themes which make up oral-traditional epic of Gesar's "pool of tradition". The article thus surveys the theme in a variety of sources ranging from classic Tibetan "legal texts", to historic recensions of the epic ( 19th and early 20th centuries) and also the published répertoires of near-contemporary Tibetan epic bards. Cet article propose une brève étude littéraire sur l'éclairage que l'épopée orale traditionnelle de Ling Gesar pourrait apporter à la compréhension et aux attitudes culturelles tibétaines envers la loi (khrims). Gesar est représenté en tant que symbole de la loi dans diverses sources classiques, et la loi, conçue d'un point de vue général, est l'un des thèmes récurrents qui constituent « le réservoir d'éléments traditionnels » de l'épopée. Cet article s'appuie sur dif-férents matériaux, dont les textes légaux classiques ; ceux de l'épopée historique (datés des XVIII e , XIX e et XX e siècles) ; et des publications des répertoires oraux des bardes quasi contemporains.

The wide-spread Tibetan folk epic "Gesar of Ling" [གེ་སར་རྒྱལ་པོ] has a few versions in eastern dialects of Shina. Of extra-linguistic interest is the transposition of the original's Buddhistic setting to accommodate the preferences and expectations of an Islamic audience

Centre for Bhutan & GNH Studies, 2024

In 2009, the government of the People's Republic of China successfully petitioned UNESCO to recognize the Epic of King Gesar of Ling as an intangible heritage. Since that time, formalized recognitions from the government have been issued in regard to the locations of Gesar's palaces and birthplace. However, these locations are widely debated inside of Tibet and, outside of Tibet, the validity of Gesar is debated and largely doubted. Recently, Tibetan lamas and foreign scholars have worked together to research, record, and validate Gesar traditions. With the Tibetan emphasis being largely on faith and the Western emphasis on objectively provable science, the process has been difficult and deeply emotional. In this paper, I will explore Western versus Eastern ideas of "provable validation" in the 900-year-old Gesar epic. Through field research, concentrating on the regions of Golok and Yushu, cooperation with Western and Himalayan Gesar Scholars, and working closely with Gesar Affiliated Monasteries, I will present different ideas and values of what makes Gesar important; as well as how, or if, he is viewed as real by the participants and researchers. By partaking in the cataloguing of supposed Gesar artifacts and working alongside the famed འབབ་སྒྲུང་། Babdrung or "Trance Reciters" of the Himalayas, I will explore the following: how ideas of validation effect both research and folklore, the significance of the idea of Western-Scientifically-Provable validity, and the question of whether-for such

Culture of Central Asia: written sources, 2018

It is known that there are three oral versions of the Buryat epic «Geser»-Ekhirit-Bulagat, Ungin and Khori. Ekhirit-Bulagat version, the most archaic one, was recorded in 1906 by Ts. Zhamtsarano as told by the narrator Manshud Imegenov and published in 1930-1931. The field records of Ungin version are kept in the general archival fond and in the personal fond of the Сenter of Oriental Manuscripts and Xylographs of the Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SB RAS). The texts were recorded by Buryat scholars S. P. Baldayev and I. N. Madason from folk storytellers in 1940's. The article briefly describes specifics of poetic styles and plots of the Ungin «Geser». Modern scientific information environment requires creating an electronic annotated catalogue of folk records of «Geser» epic.

Rescued Epics. Review of Аврагдсан туульс. Rescued Epics. Three Heroic Epics from the Repertoire of the Bayit Bard Uwxin Bat. L'Harmattan Kiado, 2012. 215 p. In: Folklore: Electronic Journal of Folklore. 2013, Vol. 55: 191–193.

For a millennium or more the Armenia epic or epics known as Sasna tsrer, roughly “The Different Ones of Sassoun,” or by a second title, David of Sassoun, was passed down in oral form from generation to generation around Lake Van, especially in the area of Sassoun. In the century since its discovery it has been transformed from an indigenous, regional tale to the national epic of all Armenians. No literary Armenian source, however, from the fifth to the nineteenth century, knows of David or any of the epic’s principal characters. What follows is the opening introductory paper to the international conference organized at California State University, Fresno in 1978. It presents the history, but also the various problems, with the Armenian epic, that has since the twentieth century has been consecrated at the national epic. See the Preface under Books, David of Sassoun

The Classical World, 1985

The Journal of American Folklore

the board of trustees of the university of illinois timothy thurston he tibetan Gesar epic beyond its bards: An ecosystem of Genres on the roof of the World his paper examines the Tibetan Gesar epic beyond its text and bards. It begins with a synopsis of the epic itself and reviews some of the multilingual literature on the Gesar tradition with attention to translations, storytellers and poetics, and questions of historicity. But heritage regimes shape broader knowledge of traditional practices. Using proverbs and localized micro-narratives, this paper recognizes an ecosystem of Gesar-related genres, suggesting how epic knowledge extends beyond heritage epistemologies.