Gesar is the longest epic ever discovered in the world. It is not only a melting pot of ethnic cultural diversity, but also a witness to the sustainable development of multi-ethnic folk culture. It has a long history, magnificent structure, huge volume, rich content, magnificent momentum and wide spread.
Historical legends
The Biography of King Gesar tells a story: A long time ago, natural and man-made disasters spread all over Tibetan areas, and demons and ghosts were rampant, and the Lebanese people suffered greatly. Merciful Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara asked Amitabha to send the son of the God to descend to the earth to surrender the devil, so as to help all beings get out of their misery. The son of God, Tibagawa, vowed to be the king of dark-haired Tibetans in Tibetan areas-that is, King Gelsall. In order to enable Gesar to accomplish the sacred mission of exorcising demons, restraining the strong and helping the weak, and benefiting the people, the epic author endowed him with special personality and extraordinary talent, and shaped him into a demigod hero who is a vigorous and uplifting spirit in Tibetan primitive religion. Gesar was framed many times after he came to earth, but because of his own strength and the protection of the gods, he was not killed, but killed evil monsters.
Gesar has been doing harm to others and benefiting itself since its birth. At the age of five, Gesar and his mother moved to the bank of the Yellow River, and at the age of eight, the Ling tribe also moved here. /kloc-at the age of 0/2, Gesar won the tribal racial conference and won the throne. At the same time, I married Mori Jiangzhumu. From then on, Gesar began to display his great power, marched eastward and fought westward, and subdued the northern demons who invaded Guo Ling in all directions, defeating White King of Hall, King Sadan of Jiang Guo, King Xinchi of Menyu, King Noel who ate heavily, King Chidan of Katchesong, and Gui Zhu Gu, and successively subdued dozens of "clans" in the world (tribes and small countries in ancient Tibet).
Character value
The epic Gesar, which has been sung for thousands of years, is also called The Biography of King Gesar. Mainly spread among Tibetan, Mongolian, Tu, Yugur, Naxi, Pumi and other ethnic groups on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China, it tells the story of King Gelsall's heroic achievements in exorcising demons, restraining the strong and helping the weak, unifying various ministries and finally dying. This oral epic, loved by many ethnic groups, is the crystallization of grassland nomadic culture, representing the highest achievement of ancient Tibetan and Mongolian folk culture and oral narrative art, and its singing and performance have been passed down from generation to generation in countless bard. It has a long history, magnificent structure, vast volume, rich content, magnificent momentum and wide spread. Gesar, as an immortal heroic epic, was produced and developed on the rich basis of ancient Tibetan myths and legends, poems and proverbs, providing valuable primitive social forms and rich materials, representing the highest achievement of ancient Tibetan culture, and at the same time being a visualized ancient one.
character trait
A living epic
The Biography of King Gesar is a living epic. Epic has always lived among the people and spread widely in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Known as "Zhong Ken", an outstanding folk rapper has sung in different styles from ancient times to the present.
The longest history in the world.
Biography of King Gesar is the longest epic in the world. According to the data collected so far, The Biography of King Gesar has more than 120 volumes,10 million lines and 20 million words. Judging from the number of words alone, it far exceeds the sum of several famous epics in the world. Homer's epic Iliad * * * Volume 24, 15693 line; Ode is also 24 volumes 12 1 10 lines. The Indian epic Ramayana is divided into seven chapters. This old book contains about 24,000 carols. According to India's calculation method, a ode has two lines and * * * has 48,000 lines. The latest refined edition has been compressed to 18550 ode, with more than 37,000 lines. Mahabharata is an epic with rich contents. The book is divided into 18 articles, with a total of 65,438+10,000 poems and more than 200,000 lines. The Biography of King Gesar was once considered as the longest epic in the world before it was discovered and recognized by the outside world.
Heteromorphic character
Among them, no matter the hero on the front or the tyrant on the back, no matter the man or the woman, no matter the old man or the young man, they all portrayed distinctive personalities and outstanding images, leaving an indelible impression on people, especially the hero headed by Gesar, which became an immortal model in the history of Tibetan literature. It is one of the characteristics of the epic Gesar to shape the characters through their own language, movements and story lines. So although there are many characters, they give people a different feeling and have no sense of concept. Both of them write heroes, but they are different. Writing Gesar has foresight and leadership style; Write that manager Wang is witty, kind and mature. Sino-Japanese War is about courage and strength, while Ma Dan has both wisdom and courage. Everyone has outstanding personality and vivid image: the portrayal of female images is more beautiful in language and vivid in characters.
Inherited value
Gesar is the main carrier of religious belief, local knowledge, folk wisdom, national memory and mother tongue expression of relevant ethnic communities. It is the source of inspiration for traditional folk art creation such as Thangka, Tibetan opera, playing and singing, and also the source of modern art forms. For thousands of years, epic artists have been playing the role of telling history, transmitting knowledge, regulating behavior, maintaining community and adjusting life, and educating ethnic members moderately with epics. Epic singing has the functions of expressing national feelings, promoting social communication and adhering to traditional beliefs, as well as strengthening national identity, values and influencing folk aesthetic orientation.
The spread of Gesar among many ethnic groups is not only an important link in inheriting national culture and condensing national spirit, but also a vivid witness of mutual exchange and understanding among ethnic groups. In addition, this epic has spread to Mongolia, Buryatia, kalmyk, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan and other countries and the surrounding areas south of the Himalayas. The influence of this cross-cultural communication is extremely rare.
Since 1950s, influenced by the modernization process, the livelihood of Tibetans and Mongolians has changed, and professional artists have begun to shrink. In recent years, a group of old artists have passed away one after another, and there has been a situation of "people die and sing empty words". The audience of Gesar is shrinking, and the epic tradition is in danger of extinction, so the protection work should be carried out immediately.
The state attaches great importance to the protection of intangible cultural heritage. On May 20th, 2006, Gesar was approved by the State Council to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage. On June 5th, 2007, the Ministry of Culture identified Tsering Zhandui in Xizang Autonomous Region, Cairang Wangdui in Qinghai Province, Dawazaba, Wang Yongfu in Gansu Province, Ani in Sichuan Province and Lv Rifu in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region as the representative inheritors of this cultural heritage project, and included them in the list of 226 representative inheritors of the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects.