Gesar
GESAR. As is the case with most epic texts—Rāmāyaṇa, Gilgamesh, and King Arthur, for example—little is known of the historical and artistic genesis of the Gesar epic (Tibetan, Gling Ge sar gyi sgrung), a complex and lengthy narrative relating the heroic deeds of the divine king Gesar. The earliest known written version of the epic dates back to 1716, when it was translated—possibly from Tibetan—into Mongolian on the orders of the Manchu emperor. Different versions are attested: the Eastern Tibetan from Khams province (Eastern Tibet); the so-called Amdo Tibetan from a province in northeastern Tibet; the Western Tibetan from Ladakh, an oral version that has affinities with both the Eastern and Amdo versions, though it is shorter than the Eastern one; and the Mongolian one, which boasts a great number of episodes that cannot be found in the other versions. Hunza (northeast Pakistan), Lepcha (northeast Nepal), Buriat (North Mongolia), Khalkha (Mongolia), and Kalmuk (Siberia) versions are also recorded. Regardless of discrepancies among all versions, the core of the epic, which is made of six or seven episodes (sometimes called the proto-epic), has been extant since the seventeenth century at the latest.
The Epic: Historical Background and Links with Buddhism
Whether a real person lies behind the epic hero Gesar is still debated.
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