Thursday, October 22, 2009
Old Tibetan 24K Gold Gilt Bronze King Gesar Statue - King Gesar -- A Heroic Epic of Tibetans
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King Gesar was born a son of supreme god Indira. In the youth, he was mischievous to the point of wickedness, unruly, but divine by nature and possessing supernature. His great antagonist was his paternal uncle, cowardly, vain and pretentious, who hoped to rule the country. The hero was banished with his mother, but his exile enabled him to build up hidden strength. He came out victorious in a horse race, whose winner was to become the country's king. Then he started to conquer the kingdom of demons, the Jiang kingdom and the Hor (northern people, Mongolian) kingdom. The war between `Ling' and Hor kingdoms was one of the central pieces in the story. The war between `Ling' and Hor started with a beautiful girl, Qomu, the queen of king Gesar. The Hor king, `white tent king', heard about her beauty, and sent a message to `Ling' king for her. Upon the refusal, Hor king sent troops to attack `Ling' kingdom. After several battles, another girl was sent to Hor king in the place of Qomu. The trickery was discovered, and battle renewed. The capital of `Ling' was captured by Hor troop with queen Qomu. King Gesar summarized all his troops and with the help of an important Hor general, captured the capital of Hor, killed the `white tent king' and rescued Qomu.
King Gesar, a heroic epic of Tibetans, used to be oral literature handed down for more than one thousand years among Tibetans and now has been compiled into a book.
The book is in more than 120 volumes with over 1 million lines and over 20 million words. It is the longest epic in the world and has a very close tie with the Tibetan Buddhism.
This epic came into being in the 3rd-6thcentury, was further enriched from the early years of the 7thto the 9thcentury, and gradually became mature and widespread during the period from the 10thcentury to the early years of the 12thcentury. Along with the revival of Buddhism inTibet, monks of Tibetan Buddhism began to take part in the compiling, collection and popularization of King Gesar around the 11thcentury. Finally, the basic framework of the epic was established and the earliest handwritten copy appeared. Most compilers, collectors and disseminators of the handwritten copy were monks of theNyingmapasect of Tibetan Buddhism.
Based on ancient myths, stories, poems, adages and other folk literatures of Tibetans, the epic King Gesar was produced and developed. It represents the highest achievements of ancient Tibetan culture. In the epic, King Gesar's outstanding achievements were highlighted. He was not daunted by brute forces and difficulties. With his amazing perseverance and magic power, he fought in all sides, subdued demons, suppressed tyrannical forces, supported weak forces and benefited people. The epic fervidly eulogized the struggles of justice winning over evil and brightness winning over darkness.
This epic boasts high academic value in addition to its great worth in the research of Tibetan social history, relationships between classes, communication among different nationalities, moral concepts, folk customs, cultures, etc.
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