Discovered in the 30-s of our century in the library of Zaya-pandita was a “Geser” version written with a brush. Now the version is in the State Library of the MPR. The copy (typescript) of the version is given by us to the Institute of the oriental sciences of the Academy of sciences of the USSR. In this work I make reference namely to this typescript copy.
The Zaya version consists of 19 chapters.
The chapters of the Zaya version:
- The decision of the deitys to send Geser onto the Earth, sheets 1-6.
- Geser’s birth, sheets 7-34.
- Killing of the seven evil spirits; suppression of the 300 robbers, sheets 35-45.
- The killing of a mangus; building of a new temple with the help of the tazig craftsmen, sheets 46-57.
- Geser’s marriage to Adju-mergen, sheets 96-104.
- Geser’s marriage to Adju-mergen, sheets 96-104.
- Killing of the black multicolored tiger, sheets 105-114.
- Geser’s visit to the Chinese Goma-khan, sheets 115-131.
- Geser’s getting ill; the expulsion of Geser’s wife, Tumen-Djargalan by name; her getting married to the tsar of the ransags, sheets 132-146.
- Geser’s campaign to the ransag’s country to bring back his wife; his victory over the ransags’ tsar; staying of Geser in the country of the ransag’s for nine years, sheets 147-189.
- The Sharaigol attacking the Ling country; Tsoton’s betrayal; taking Rogmo away, sheets 190-260.
- Geser’s returning, sheets 261-289.
- Geser’s war with the sharaigols; the victory over them and the bringing back of Rogmo, sheets 290-321.
- The killing of the lama-mangus, sheets 322-330.
- Geser’s advebtures in the hell; Geser’s freeing of his mother, sheets 331-335.
- The war with Andulma-khan, sheets 335-362.
- The war with the northern mangus, sheets 363-474.
- The war with Nacin-khan, sheets 475-523.
- The continuation of the preceding chapter, sheets 524-585.
The contents of the first 15 chapters coincides with the story in the Peking version. In the last four chapters it is narrated of Geser’s deeds and adventures that weren’t mentioned in the Peking version.
Narrated in the first of those additional chapters is the story of Andulma-khan. The story of Andulma-khan enjoys great popularity and occurs as an independent work with the Mongols, Buryats and others. In the second chapter it is said of killing the tsar Ransag (or Rakshis) and Geser’s marrying his daughter Sayikhulai-gua. In the third and forth chapters it is narrated of the wr of Geser-khan with the khan of the far north – nachin, who lives on the Orkhon-river.
When comparing with the Peking version of the 15 chapters of the Zaya version one might find almost a full coincidence of the contents of the two versions but there are nevertheless some discrepancies in the style, the ways of giving the contents. Besides, the Zaya version contains considerably more geographical names and personal names than the Peking version. One might suppose that the Peking version which is so close to the Zaya version is the retelling of the Zaya version.
Alongside with this it seems probable that in the basis of the two versions there is some common source. A question then arises whether one should look for that common source in Tibet for in the Zaya version there are some proper names that are undoubtedly copied to the Mongolian language from Tibetan. For instance, the name of the locality of Djalo whose tsar was Rogmo’s father is given in the Zaya version in fifferent ways: -Sagelo, -Syaglo, -Sangeslo, -Sagyala.
This is evidently the transliteration from the Tibetan language. In the Tibetan version this country is called skya-lo, it is pronounced by the Mongols as Dja-lo. The country that Geser rules is called –Gelin. This is a Tibetan word glin, which is the name of Geser’s country.
Mentioned in chapter VIII of the Zaya version is bgaa-gigur, bsadan-gur. Those are the Tibetan words bka-gyur, bstan-gyur, that are pronounced by the Mongols as Gandjur and Dandjur – the collections of the Buddhist dogmatic writing and their “interpretations”.
In Chapter V on list 65 to describe the tenderness and beauty of the girl use is made of the following expressions that commonly occur in Tibetan literature: “Under the Sun she as if thaws, under the Moon she as if hardens” (Chapter V, sheet 65). A similar comparison may be found in, for example, western-Tibetan Ladak version.
In chapter IX on list 140 it is written: khatun-u shamtab – Mong.: khormogci – “a tsarina’s skirt”. This is a Tibetan word (sam-thabs) – an apron as a shirt of the monarchs and priests. Such examples evidence of the connection of the Zaya version with some Tibetan version.
However up to now in Tibet any version similar to the Zaya version is not found. All the known Tibetan versions are so much different from the Zaya version that it is very hard to presuppose the possibility of the translation, the more so that in the Zaya version there are a lot of the proper names of purely Mongolian origin, for example, the names of Geser’s bogatyrs like Arigun, Udjesgulentu mergen khya, Altai Secen, Yesutei-secen, Isman-noyon, Kholochi-bator, Ambagadai, Tormogodai, etc.
Most convincing against the translational character of the Zaya version is its language for it is written in a fine Mongolian language, it is abundant in the Mongolian proverbs and sayings, particularly in the last chapters, for example, in the chapter of Andulma-khan.
I’d like to give a few examples: “Do not believe that there are few evil enemies, a poisonous snake is thin” (chapter X, sheet 165). Tsoton’s characteristics is given using such a purely Mongolian saying: “As a rasp-file does not tell a relative iron the same way a dog does not tell its relatives” (chapter XVII, sheet 451).
Given in another chapter is a figurative and picturesque description of the skipping of the seven demons or evil spirits: “They run, cross the steppes, break the rocks, root out the bushes, trample down the tea beds and thickets” (chapter III, sheet 39).
The last chapters of the Zaya version are of a certain stereotyped composition that makes them similar. Each chapter begins with a brief account of the contents of the previous chapter. Then it is indicated who is Geser’s adversary, Geser’s campaign is given account of; the bogatyrs attack one after another, they drive away the herds of the adversary’s horses. Following the bogatyrs’ battles with the adversary Geser effecting by stratagem and magic wins the enemy. Then Geser takes the adversary’s daughter as wife, solemnly comes home and feasts with his bogatyrs.
The analysis of the Zaya version makes it possible to claim that it is not a mere translation from Tibetan but an independent Mongolian version into which with the time there appeared some Tibetan elements. This version appeared as it is shown above in the Mongolian environment and reflects the aspirations and dreams of the various layers of the Mongolian society. This version is a collection of the Mongolian story of Geser not always given in an orderly and consecutive way.
For instance, Geser killed a yellow-yurted khan, but in a few pages the same khan who had been killed in the previous chapters pursues Geser (chapter XIII). The sharaigols killed the thirty chief bagaturs of Geser but Geser after the victory over the sharaigols feasts with the same thirty bogatyrs of his and nothing is said of them being revived. Geser was born when Tsrgin was 80 years of age but when Geser achieves the age of 85, Tsargin is only 95 years old (chapter XVII).
The Zaya version begins with the following phrase characterizing the condition in the county at the moment of Geser’s birth: “The troubled time has come. The order among the living creatures of the world living on the golden earth has got broken up; the great torture and murder the powerless, the many do the same with the few, the strong with the weak, all experience sheer torture ”.
Who were those great, many, strong, who tortured and killed the weak and and small? The answer to this question is given in chapter II (sheet 8), where the thesis has been refined: “In the Tibatan country there were the three brothers – the three princes: San-lun, Tsargin and Tsoton. It is exactly that those three were the tormentors and torturers of all the living being (the people)”. The hard time was exclusively an interior one, the point is not of any exterior enemies.
“The time was hard with the people of the earth (8). Governing were the sheer chatterers and driven away from ruling were the white-bearded wise men, the noblemen and lords were driven away. The bigger ones ate the small ones, the paired ate the unpaired, the strong ate the weak ones, the many ate the few; all were at war with each other”. (Chapter XVII, sheet 385).
Such was the world when Geser appeared. His mission was to win over the rulers who tortured the people and become the head of the “black-headed”, that is of the common people. It is just in this version that the mission of Geser is formulated in a more exacting and clear way.
All his actions and deeds are of democratic nature. He is a true leader of the people against the princes and great lamas. He is a true leader of the people against the rich and powerful. When meeting Geser one of the common folk says that there came the one who will make all equally happy. Geser is a poor man bearing the nickname of “Snot” , he defeats the strong bogatyrs and princes.
This democratic nature of the story sharply changes in the last chapters. Geser is portrayed here as a great conqueror, creator of the powerful state, the sovereign of almost the whole world. In the chapter of Andulma-khan Tsoton is no evil traitor as he has been shown earlier but a re-incarnation of the deity and divine being Damdin. It turns out that he did all the blameworthy doings solely with the aim of revealing the illusionary nature of the life phenomena and the variety of the divine manifestations.
Here one can feel the interference of the feudal authorities and lamas. No doubt it was next to impossible to recite the poem in the original way as it was composed by the common folk, so a story-teller coming from the feudal circles could not recite it in the former way. It would not be proper to show the prince Tsoton as a traitor with all the inherent in him negative features. Probably in order to please the feudal authorities Tsoton’s deeds acquire an air of some deific deception and Tsoton himself is idolized and deified. As for Geser he becomes an ordinary feudal, Buddha’s envoy, the propagator of Buddhism.
Thrown out of the story are the democratic elements: Geser is not at the head of the common “black-headed” folk, he does not struggle with the supreme lamas. He is a formidable conqueror, waging a war of aggression, an annexationist war, but not a defender of the people’s rights and his motherland. However this feudal superimposition does not distort and falsify the story upon the whole but they get superimposed or impregnated into it as an something quite alien contradicting the main message of the story of Geser.
The controversies in some versions of the cycle of Geser are accounted for by the influence of the various social environment, the feudal, on the one hand and the people’s, on the other hand. The Zaya version is particularly of contradictory nature. Closely interwoven in it are the people’s and the feudal elements, the lama and anti-lama sentiments and frames of mind.
In the Zaya version there are a lot of proper and geographical names, at any rate they are more numerous here than in the Peking xylograph. The names in both the editions mentioned just above are quite numerous. Mentioned here are for example the Hwang Ho River and the Koke-nor lake.
Mentioned in the Zaya version is the Uda river whereupon Geser lived when on exile. The river starts from the Marco Polo’s ridge, flows down its southern slope and gets lost somewhere in Tsaidam. One could mention the Angirtu ridge whereabouts Geser moved from place to place, the Chichirgana river where Geser’s brother Djasa Chikhir lived once and the Machen-Bompa that Geser’s wife, Rogmo-goa sees from the land of the sharaigols. In our days it is the name of the main of the tops of the Amne-Machen mountain washed by the curve of the Khuankhe-river.
In this version it is indicated that the action takes place in the locality of Amdo. In chapter XI it is said that in order to become a Tibetan khan Tsoton hatched a plot with the sharaigol khans against Geser. The sharaigols having intruded to the land of Lin submitted their credentials to Tsoton. It is written on list 258: “They named Tsoton the khan of Tibet”.
The location of a number of the states and peoples is indicated quite definitely. The three rtibes making up the state [Lin] of Geser are enaged in cattlebreeding and move about in the neighborhood of Kuku-Nor and the source of the Hwang Ho-river. There the Chinese farm the land (sheet 28). In the vicinity, probably, to the south and west from Geser’s land there live the sharaigols. The latter are in alliance with the state of Balbo, that is, Nepal. The Nepalese prince together with the sharaigols wages war against the state of Ling. To the east of the Ling country there is the state of the ransags (chapter X, sheet 167) with the center Kukukhoto.
Close by the ransags to the North of Lin there is the kingdom of the manguses. The khan of the manguses enumerates the counties surrounding his own country: to the north there is Nachin-khan (of the forty four and four mongols), in the east – Shiragoldjin khan, in the west there is Gumbo-khan, in the South there is the Chinese Goma-khan (chapter XVII, sheet 445). Added here should be the fact that to the south of the manguses there is the country of Ling. The manguses live in between Tibet and Mongolia.
Mentioned in the Zaya version are the names of Geser’s many relatives and his 30 bogatyrs, their fathers, wives and children, indicated are the tribes they come from. Further given are the names of the relatives of Geser himself. There were the three brothers: Tsargin, Sanlun and Tsoton. Tsargin’s elder son was Nan-o or Nanchun, Nanchun’s wife was Monkhulon goa, who was the daughter of the Mon country (South-Tibet region). Their son was Dzula. Tsoton’s wife was Alonjid, tsar Djindi ‘s daughter, their son was – Atan or Altai.
Sanlun’s wife gave birth to the two sons – Djasa and Oronsy. Djasa’s wife gave birth to Khimusun Goa, their son was Laitsab, Oronsy’s son was Tsagan Kharatsgai. Sanlun’s lover or mistress was Dashin-Amurdjila, who was Ma-Bayin’s daughter, she gave birth to the son Djoro who then obtained the name of Geser. Geser had one son that was killed, nine daughters, six wives. These are his wives.
1. Arlun-goa or Tumen-Djirgalam, Ma-Bayin’s daughter (in the Tibetan version – Meza-Bumdjid).
2. Rogmo-goa, the daughter of the tsar of the Dja-lo country.
3. Adju-mergen or Anu-mergen, the daughter of the tsar of the northern country Tsagan-Lus, that is, the White dragon. If the name of the country “The White dragon” were translated from Mongolian to Tibetan, then it would be Kar-lu (dkar-klu), that reminds of the name of a Turk people “karluck”.
4. Gunu-goa, the daughter of the Chinese tsar.
5. Sayikhulai-goa, Rogmo’s sister and daughter of the tsar of the Saran (the Moon) country.
6. Nayikhulai-goa, Nachin tsar’s daughter who lives on the Orkhon river.
Given also are the names of the Sharaigol bogatyrs. The chief among them are the following: Shimba Chamba Shinam Baruchag, the son of mergen Zurgaan Erhiit, who is the son of Khonkhor or Khunkhur Shimtso, Ramchid or Aramzad, Burgud khara chus idegch tushmel, the son-in-law of the white-yurted tsar, the Chinese prince.
All these names and historical and geographical data confirm the supposition that at the root of the story of Geser there lies a certain historical event. In this version Chinggis-khan is mentioned by chance, just accidentally as a later, posterior layer or superimpositition. All the rest of the names and place names date back to the pre-Chenggis-khan’s period of history, when Tibet was disintegrated, disunited and split into a lot of minor principatities.
To the 275th anniversary of the edition of the Mongolian version of the "Geser" epic. A booklet.
