The Buryat heroic epic entitled “Abai Geser-khubun” is the most well-known Ekhirit-Bulagat version of the “Geser” epic. It was written down in 1906 by Ts. Jamtsarano from a remarkable story-teller Manshud Imegenov (1849-1908), who was a poor peasant from the Kukunut settlement of the former Kuda district, the Irkutsk province. This story-teller recited the monumental epical trilogy of the hero and his sons keeping to the performing traditions of the Ekhirit-Bulagats, preserving both the originality, unique identity and the artistic wealth of the epical language and images.
The uliger written down by Ts. Jamtsarano was published by him in the academic Russian transcription in 1930 in the city of Leningrad. The text was for the first time translated to Russian by M.P. Khomonov in 1961, it was supplied with the corresponding notes and comments. Published in the year of 1969 was another translation to Russian of the same text completed by N. O. Sharakshinova. Published in 1995 in Moscow in the series of “The Epic of the peoples of Eurasia” was the last two-language (Buryat and Russian) edition of the epic under the title of “Abai Geser the Mighty”.
The Buryat “Geser” epic variant written down from M. Imegenov might be attributed to the type of the archaic epopees which is evidenced by its content and the way the main heroes are depicted. Reflected in the uliger as well as in the myths are the ancient ideas of the Buryats concerning the universe and the celestial bodies. It finds its expression first of all in the fact of mentioning the three worlds: the earth, the lower world and the sky as well as in treating of the personages: Esege Malan, Ekhe Yuren, Malazan Gurmen grandmother, Khan Khormusta, i.e. the elder deities of the Buryat pantheon inhabiting the upper world. The sky presents the western and the eastern tengris, fifty five of them being the kind deities, forty four of them being the evil deities, and over them there is Khormusta and Atai Ulan who in their turn are subordinate of the supreme deities. These ideas have something in common with the cosmogonical myths of the Turkic peoples of Siberia according to which the Universe consists of the three spheres: the upper sphere (the sky), the middle sphere (the earth) and the lower (underground) sphere. In the epic of Geser the upper world is described in detail whereas the lower world or the underground is spoken of vaguely and obscurely. Geser throws down to a deep hole all the mangadkhais caught by him. The underground seems to be associated with the other world, with its sovereign Erlik-khan – a personage of the myths of many of the Siberian peoples.
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| The struggle between western and eastern tengries |
The variant mentioned is marked by its big volume and contents as well as its multi-aspect and multidimensional nature of the episodes and personages. The content depicts the events taking place in the Universe. The split and hostility among the heavenly beings entail the battles and destruction of Atai Ulan-heaven who was head of the evil eastern celestials. Geser, the middle son of Khormusta khan who is head of the kind western deities is the executor of the will of those kind western celestials. Atai Ulan-heaven is defeated by Geser and thrown upon the Earth; from the various parts of his body there come out the monsters and the various diseases spread in the Middle World that is the Earth. All the living beings on the Earth are under the threat of dying out. It is Geser who is destined to save all the people from all evil. He descends upon the Earth having obtained the consent of the celestial protectors, that is of the thousand clear kind idols - burkhans and the blessing of the highest divinity, i.e. Malzan Gurmen grandma. The kind deities harden his body, strengthen his will, send him his three sisters – protectors, thirty three bators, three thousand warriors, the magic weapons and armor; they build for him a star-white palace, endow him with the magic abilities. Such preparations are accounted for by the fact that Geser is to go through hard trials and bitter strife in order to save people. Geser’s adversaries – the monsters-mangadkhais also have their celestial protectors and possess tremendous strength and abilities. Having descended upon the Earth as a raven Geser gets reborn by the earthly parents, a sixty-year old woman and a seventy-year old man, gets married an earthly girl Sankhan Gokhon and starts his noble mission of salvation of the Earth from all kinds of monsters and evil spirits.
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| Geser is hunting |
Geser spends most of his time in the battles far from his own home, he does not participate too actively in the everyday life of his relatives and his people. He comes back to his home after hard battles that last a few years and restores his strength. His people are always happy to hear of his victories over the enemies and his happy arrival. Geser bogatyr affairs also envolve hunting the wild animals “on the southern slopes of the Altai, in the taiga thickets of the Khukhei”, the counting of the herds and flocks, marriage proposals and matchmaking, struggle with the enemies that attack his lands. Sometimes Geser goes to the far-off lands to see what there is beyond the limits of “the visible horizon”.
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| Geser in childhood with his parents |
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The image of Geser has the features of a hero-bogatyr that reflects the social ideals of the medieval period when there was unification of the related tribes, their conflicts and wars. It is not accidentally and no coincidence that the image of Geser, the protector of the kin, is interpreted in the plane of the heroic idealization. The image of the epical bogatyr is understood in the plane of real history and it gradually loses its initial mythological essence. There was a certain process of the development of the image: on the one hand, it was growing more large-scale in the epical context, on the other hand the hero became closer to the people as an unconquerable warrior, a fighter against the exterior enemies and the defender of his native land.
At the same time preserved in his image (as well as in the images of his three elder sisters “put down” onto the Earth together with him) are the zoomorphic features, e.g. Geser flies to the Earth having assumed an aspect of a black raven; his sisters are born from an earthly mother in the form of semi-people and semi-birds and fly away from her in the form of cuckoos. A newly-born Geser is quite plain and unattractive:
| “Then finally | |
| Out of the mother’s sacral belly, | |
| Out of the father’s sacral semen | |
| There appeared | |
| Abai Geser the baby, | |
| His both hands were, | |
| Oh, stuck to his back. | |
| His both legs were, | |
| Oh, stuck to his belly, | |
| Prostrated like a frog, | |
| Flattened like a piece of dung | |
| He kept howling very loud.” (lines 595-606). |
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| Geser's feats in childhood |
Such a traditional “lowering” of the image is typical for the heroic-bogatyr epic of many peoples. The meaning of the descent of Geser from the sky and the second birth on the earth according to the epic creators is in fact that a celestial inhabitant is not to interfere in the earthly affairs because such an “intrusion” in the other sphere is taken to be no good. In order to be allowed to interfere in the affairs of the earthly people the epical hero is to become an earthly man by origin, in other words, he should obtain a new earthly hypostasis.
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Geser is in constant danger until he gets older and becomes a bogatyr, a heroic warrior. When he was a child he had to somewhat assert himself performing his first heroic deeds. When Geser was still a child the two were-animals, at first as two and then six fellows came to him as if to help, but in reality they made attempts at killing him. Geser scatters them about, and they get crumbled to dust. Geser’s enemies are aware of the fact that a deity in the person of man, an envoy of the western sky-dwellers was descended onto the earth with a mission of doing away with the monsters, the enemies of the people. Geser when a child forseeing the danger asks his old father to take him in his cradle to a hollow. There the small boy tears off the iron beaks and claws of the ravens – his enemies.
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| Young Geser defeats mangadhai |
Then Geser asks his celestial patrons to put down for him the bogatyr’s armor and weapons. He becomes a true bogatyr only after having got the warrior’s armor and the blue horse. When getting ready for the battle he drinks his mother’s colostrum that gives him bogatyr’s strength (a widely spread motive in the epic of the Mongolian and Turkic peoples). Geser has a yellow bukharian bow made of the maral’s or Siberian stag’s horns with a mighty khangai arrow which he shoots from the distance of a few days of walk having pronounced a special invocation. The arrow hits the enemy’s vulnerable point, e.g. the main aorta of the one thousand and eight-headed miturai mangadkhai or brings a lark with a golden chest. Geser has his father’s silver sword and spear.
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| The battle of young Geser with gazarai Gani-Bukhe |
Geser is not an ordinary person, he is endowed with the thirteen magic abilities, but nevertheless he feels fear and doubts. Geser knows his own possibilities and is quite cautious in critical situations as, for example, before the attack against Galkhan Nurman-khan: he thinks it proper to put off the battle for he knows that at the moment he isn’t as strong as his enemy.
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| Geser turned into an old man |
Having won the enemy Geser obtains justice, frees his own land from all kind of filth and pollution. The story of his victories is not infrequently completed by an epical formula that “good time has come”. The main point of Geser’s struggle with the numerous enemies is verbalized in the following epical formula: “the good time has come – we took away the quiver and the arrows”.
Geser is not only the central hero of the Buryat heroic epic but he is the most popular personage in the folklore of the Buryats. The best humane features and qualities are concentrated in his image. The epic creators endowed him with a lofty heart and good intentions. Geser does not always change his decisions and invariably achieves his aims. Geser is a devoted companion and friend, but quite uncompromising in his struggle with the enemies. In accordance with the prescriptions of the common law of that time Geser buries the defeated enemy according to the ancient custom with the full military honors. The bogatyr exclaims: “I am not to boast That I won the victory over a mighty enemy, I’m not to be too proud That I had a battle with a big man” (lines 3993-3994).
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Geser’s bogatyr qualities are accentuated in the epic by his milieu, i.e. his men-at-arms and warriors. They form up a special group separated out of the people dependent on him. In this respect Geser (in contrast to Alamji Mergrn, Yerensei and the other Buryat epical heros) comes forward as the leader of his kin and tribe unity that oppose the enemy. It is just in the battles that the strength of his disposition and personal qualities, his bogatyr might and skills get fully revealed. Geser’s bogatyr’s nature is shown in the description of his appearance: And Abai Geser the Mighty rose Like the sun in the cloudless [sky], Like supple reed He was standing (lines 1453-1456). In this symbolically
traditional description of the main hero of the epic the common earthly features are lacking. The appearance of the epical hero – healthy, strong, brave and handsome – is reflected in the traditional formula: His face became All round and red. Not a child but a giant! Such had become [Geser], Not a man but just a gem! Such had become [Geser]. His neck became like bull’s (lines 1211-1217). The face is described in the hyperbolized form: His face became Quite so red. He put on earrings As big as wheels, His face became All round and red (lines 1207-1212). His bogatyr height and might are shown at the moment of his putting on the clothes: He put on wide trousers Black and [soft like] liver Cut and sewn Of seventy hides of Manchurian deer, Having tightly fastened the belt, Thus put on those good wide trousers. He also put on High boots, black like sandal, Cut and sewn Of fish skin, Which were his size And were very good in his campaigns. Very good boots! He put on his shoulder The coat of special silk Which he put on going out for a battle. The seventy bronze buttons With his skilful thumb He buttoned, With his skilful index finger He pressed on them while buttoning. He put round his waist The belt with a silver set, And then To his right side he attached A quiver with silver decorations Resembling a sloping field. To his left side he attached A thin housing for the bow with decorations, Resembling a narrow valley (lines 1126-1155).
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According to the epical tradition of the Mongolian and Turkic peoples Geser’s horse takes part in all the bogatyr’s campaigns and heroic deeds. He is the hero’s friend and adviser. He is not only very clever but can talk like a human being, he is the hero’s friend and adviser. The horse shares the host’s sorrows and hardships, saves him and gives advice. He grazes on the slopes of the Altai and Khukhei in the herd of the Siberian stags until Geser calls him. Having heard Geser’s voice the horse instantly comes back to his silver tethering post. The description of Geser’s blue horse, his merits and virtues are hyperbolized in the epic: “And the stately grey horse Five hundred forty feet in length” (lines 6912-6913). The description of the horse’s race is also hyperbolized: “And rode At a slow trot, Pieces] of turf as big as a cup Were thrown off as far as three thousand Five hundred feet. He rode very fast, [Pieces] of turf as big as a pot cover Were thrown off as far as three thousand Five hundred feet. He rode so fast that From under his forelegs the fiery lava ran out And from under his hinder legs” (6922-6931).
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| Geser's wife Urmai |
Of significance is the role of the female personages in the epic. They are either in the close surrounding of the main hero or in the opposition to him displaying hostility or insidiousness wishing to ruin him.
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| Geser's wife Alma Mergen |
Of different type according to their disposition and actions are Geser’s other two wives: Sankhan Gokhon (the earthly wife) and Gagurai Nogon (the celestial wife). Sankhan Gokhon is the mother of his three sons, his helper, the hearth keeper. She saves her husband when he was captured by a mangadkhai and turned into a horse by help of magic. She does not give in to difficulties in the struggle against strong enemies. Having blinded Obsogoldoi and having deceived the old woman -mangadkhai Sankhan Gokhon brings Geser home, brings back his own man’s look, restores his strength and mind with help of the healing juniper and the water of life. The image of Sankhan Gokhon is taken as symbol of woman’s faithfulness and maternal love. His second wife Gagurai Nogon is the moral antipode of Geser’s earthly wife. She yields to the old woman - mangadkhai’s persuasions, betrays Geser and goes away to the mangadkhai. Geser’s two wives live different life, their fate is not the same. Sankhan Gokhon stays together with him in spite of all the misfortune and in the end comes to know the happiness of the family life; she is greatly respected and honored.
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Geser’s three elder sisters are the bogartyr’s patronesses and protectors. Shortly after being born at the same time as Geser by the earthly mother they ascend onto the Heaven as birds. It is said that the elder sister was “as beautiful as a cuckoo bird”, the middle sister was more beautiful than a cuckoo bird, the younger one looked like a tomtit, and the three of them all did not listen to the words of their mother and flew away to the sky. Geser’s sisters watch what happens on the earth, they also watch the actions of Geser’s enemies. Thus having turned into the magpies the sisters warn the bogatyr of the approaching Miturai mangadkhai who can be defeated only beyond his own land. The inseparability of destiny of Geser and his sisters is the same as the relations of brothers and sisters in the generic society. Usually in the archaic texts the sister “appears to be stronger and mightier than her brother” as, for instance, the sister – she-fighter in the tale “Aidurai Mergen”. Just like that in the “Geser” epic the sister substitutes for her brother having taken his appearance and going through all the trials wins the victory for him and brings him to life with help of magic.
Here the image of the heroine is in many respects like the image of the man hero and is created by use of the similar artistic and pictorial means. However the portrayal of the epical heroines in contrast to the images of the archaic bogatyr maidens is supplemented by the portrayal of their role in the family and social life.
Quite numerous in the epic are the personages embodying the forces of the hostile camp who are in constant opposition to Geser. Those are first of all the mangadkhais (manguses) who do their best to do away with the bogatyr. Each of the monsters has numerous heads with horns. Those are the one hundred and eight headed Miturai yellow mangadkhai, the seventy and eight headed Danyal mangadkhai, the one hundred and eight headed daniyal mangadkhai, one-hundered-eight-headed biting mangadkhai, sixty-seven-headed mangadkhai Obsogoldoi, thirteen-headed asurai mangadkhai and others. In Manshud Imegenov’s variant (unlike some of the Unga variants) the mangadkhais are connected with the relative relations and make up one big family. The eldest among them is 97-year-old mangadkhai-woman who keeps in her hiding place the souls of all the mangadkhais. In order to win the victory over all those monsters once and for all one needs to get hold of and do away with their souls or else they’ll get revived and go on causing the evil on the earth. Many heads symbolize the strength and vitality, survivability of the mangadkhais. One can render them harmless by cutting off his main head. The monsters possess not only a huge physical strength but also supernatural powers which Geser sometimes cannot oppose.
The bogatyr fights with the other enemies too, those like the fellows- werewolves, the iron-beaked ravens, the huge gnat or mosquito, the giant by name of Galkhan-Nurman-khan, the enormous snake, mad wolves and others.
Such are the images of the main personages surrounding the epical bogatyr. It is just in the interaction or struggle with them that the genuine bogatyr features and characteristics of the main hero of the Buryat epic “Geser” are fully revealed.
Of great interest are the geographical names mentioned in the uliger. The ideas of the cardinal points are commonly of the general indefinite nature. In the epic there are no exact designations of the localities and the geographical coordinates. One can single out a few layers of the toponymic names that are of different origin. The mythological toponyms should be taken as the most ancient ones. Such is the notion Sumeru (of the Sanscrit origin) which according to its function is the active plotline element since near that mountain there are the most powerful sky-dwellers well known in all the epics of the Mongolian speaking peoples. Among the common names one could mention the following: zambi (the Earth, the world), ulgen delkhei (wide land, boundless world), өөрын үнэр дайда (native land) и хүнэй хүйтэн дайда (alien unfriendly land). In the epic Geser going on a field battle generally moves northward whereas his native land is in the south (the movement of the heroes constantly oriented according to the countries of the world is typical in the epic of the Mongolian-speaking peoples). The enormous epical world involves “the yellow sea”, “the black sea”, “the open Tamshin plain”, “The Tebkhe mountain”. The historical land representing the motherland of the Mongols as it is shown in all the epics of the Mongolian people might be probably found in the places indicated as Altai and Khukhei. The heroes of the epic usually go hunting on top of the Altai mountain as well as the northen slopes of the Khukhei mountain, their horses pasture there together with the wild marals, they gain strength before Geser’s field battles. These mountain ranges represent the natural center of the bogatyr’s and his fellow tribesmen roaming from place to place; all the events in the epic take place around those places. No matter how far Geser and his warriors go they invariably come back to their native nomad camp.
Mentioned in the epic is the lake of Baikal as well as the rivers like the Angara, Lena (Zulkhe). On the right bank of the Angara river there is the Orgoli mountain which is identified with the mountain of the same name in the epic of Geser. According to a legend it was formed of the “pinch” of the earth that flew off Geser’s arrow that had been shot following the mangadkhai who was running away. The names of the concrete localities were probably used in the oral epic-teller’s tradition to substantiate the authenticity of the events described in the epic.
M. Imegenov’s variant considered above enables to get a good idea of the national peculiarity and originality of the Buryat version of “Geser” which is a part of the gold fund of the national culture; one of the most valuable cultural possessions of the Buryat people.The Buryat epic “Geser” has largely preserved the ancient elements of the work’s plot line. In the variant published in English highlighted are the mythological ideas of the ancient Buryats as well as the details and realistic pictures and details of the heros’ way of life. This all is aimed at the main task of reproducing the true picture of the world, the struggle of the forces of good and bad, the search for happiness and peaceful life.
