Gesar of Ling

Author: Traditional

Time Period: 1001 CE–1500 CE

Country or Culture: Tibet

Genre: Legend

Overview

Gesar of Ling is an old and popular Tibetan epic. Its powerful hero, Gesar, performs many great and legendary feats. Gesar may have been based on a historical person, but throughout the epic Gesar of Ling, the protagonist uses various forms of magic and primarily battles supernatural, demonic forces.

Gesar enters the world relatively lowborn, yet many magic portents hint at his truly exceptional nature, great powers, and extraordinary destiny. As a teenager, Gesar uses trickery, magic, intellect, and supernatural forces to win a beautiful bride, Sechan Dugmo, and become the king of Ling. Gesar is aided in his exploits by his magical steed, Kyang Go Karkar. After securing his rule and the power of his kingdom by magical means, Gesar receives his divine task from his sister, the goddess Manene. Gesar must defeat the four demon lords who rule the four countries surrounding Ling at the four cardinal directions of the compass.

There is no known author and no single, authoritative written text of the epic Gesar of Ling. Instead, most scholars believe that it developed as an oral epic in eastern Tibet around the twelfth century CE. By the time the Mongols received the surrender of Tibet in the 1240s, Gesar of Ling was widely popular in Tibet. The Mongols liked the epic so much that they translated, developed, and included it in their own literary tradition. It is in a Mongolian version that the epic was first printed in Beijing in 1716. However, with hundreds of individual storytellers handing down Gesar of Ling through many generations in a wide Central Asian geographical area including Tibet, Mongolia, and western China, many unique versions of the epic developed.

The first Western translations of the epic of Gesar of Ling were published in the nineteenth and early twentieth century in Germany and England. In 1996, American writer and Buddhist teacher Douglas Penick published The Warrior Song of King Gesar. This English version of the epic appears the most accessible for contemporary readers. Penick acknowledges a variety of Western translations and Tibetan sources. He combines his sources much as a contemporary Tibetan storyteller would. The Warrior Song of King Gesar includes all the key elements of the epic and is used as source text for this presentation and analysis.

An archetypal and structural analysis of The Warrior Song of King Gesar shows how the epic lays the groundwork for Gesar’s appearance on earth. This is followed by the rites of passage for the young hero. The ultimate quest of Gesar is to rid the world of four demon kingdoms endangering his patrimonial realm of Ling. Its epic narration shows literary variation and imagination in dealing with key mythological themes. These include combating evil and displaying the valor, resourcefulness, and character of the hero. At the same time, the hero is challenged in an archetypical way and is required to use his considerable talents to fulfill his divine mission. Cultural criticism illustrates how Buddhist ideas coexist in the narrative with older, pre-Buddhist Tibetan traditional elements. These are highlighted in Penick’s version. The analysis also addresses the question of the epic’s historic development. Feminist criticism shows that there is multidimensionality in the epic’s portrayal of female characters. This applies both to those women on the side of Gesar, such as his bride, and to those arrayed against him, such as various female demons and enchantresses.

Summary

The Warrior Song of King Gesar begins with a portrayal of Gesar. The hero is depicted in full adult splendor as he and his warriors look down from heaven to earth. Below, the world is in severe disarray. It is to save humanity that Gesar decides to be born. His mission will be “to establish the kingdom of freedom, confidence and joy” (Penick 6).

Gesar’s mother, Dzeden, is a dragon princess who has assumed human form. As such, she serves the old king of Ling, Singlen. One night, Dzeden has the first in a series of mystical dreams that prepare her for giving birth to Gesar. Singlen’s wife becomes suspicious that Dzeden is carrying her husband’s child and mistreats her. On a special day when all of Dzeden’s animals give birth to their young, including the foal that will become Gesar’s warrior horse, Kyang Go Karkar, Gesar is born in an unusual way: “A white egg marked with three black spots pushes out of the top of Dzeden’s head. She wraps it in a cloth and . . . the shell breaks open and a strong ruddy boy steps out” (Penick 8).

King Singlen’s brother Todong fears that this boy will become the next king instead of him. Todong tries to kill Gesar, who survives all his physical assaults. In a duel of magic, Gesar defeats a magician employed by Todong to kill him.

Gesar grows up alone with Dzeden in the wilderness. When he is about fifteen, the bodhisattva Padma Sambhava appears to him in the morning sky. Padma Sambhava tells Gesar he must begin to fulfill his destiny. As Singlen has left Ling to meditate, his successor must be chosen. Gesar changes into a raven and persuades Todong to organize a horse race, open to all men of Ling. The winner shall receive the hand of the merchant’s daughter Sechan Dugmo and be crowned new king. The raven disingenuously assures Todong that he will win.

Todong organizes the horse race. Gesar and Kyang Go Karkar join but look rather ragged. Through magic, Gesar wins. He and his horse assume their splendid selves. Gesar claims the beautiful Sechan Dugmo in marriage and ascends the throne of Ling.

Gesar establishes his pattern of going into a solitary retreat after each of his successes. One morning, Gesar is visited by his sister, “the goddess Manene, coming to him on an opaline rainbow” (Penick 25). Manene outlines Gesar’s next task. He must gather his warriors and enter a secret cave on Mount Magyel Pomra, where he will find weapons and treasures for his upcoming battles. Gesar does as he is advised.

Next, Manene tells Gesar he must “destroy the Tirthika stronghold” (Penick 31). There, renegade priests have horded medicine and Buddhist scriptures, withholding them from the people. Gesar approaches the stronghold of the Tirthika alone. From Gesar’s body, four warriors emerge. They are a tiger, a lion, a garuda (magic Buddhist bird), and a dragon. The warriors defeat the Tirthika priests, and Gesar brings bales of medicine and volumes of holy books back to Ling.

“Your life here, Great Fearless Friend of Man, / Is without comfort or ease. It is ceaseless warfare. / Again and again, you must rouse yourself and raise yourself up. / Again and again, you must rely only on your discipline. / Again and again, you must confirm your dignity. / You must raise the Tiger, Lion, Garuda, Dragon victory banner. / Conquest over demonic degradation must be re-enacted again and again.”

With his kingdom in order, Gesar receives a new set of divine tasks from Manene. She visits him one night “across a bridge of faint moonlight” and tells him that he must defeat the four demons ruling over lands surrounding Ling in the four directions of the compass (Penick 47). The next day, Gesar tells his wife and his people that he must leave them to begin his mission. Alone, he must kill the twelve-headed demon, Lutzen, ruling the north. As Gesar enters Lutzen’s realm atop Kyang Go Karkar, a fierce bull attacks him. Kyang Go Karkar speaks to Gesar, exhorting him not to give up in this first crisis of his power. Gesar succeeds in killing the bull.

As Gesar approaches demon Lutzen’s stronghold, he uses persuasion, battle skills, and trickery to overcome its three rings of guards. Gesar wins over Lutzen’s warriors, who are descended from gods and from humans, by promising them their freedom if they kill the demon guards, which they accomplish. When Lutzen leaves his castle, Gesar enters. He persuades the demon’s “elegant and beautiful” Chinese wife to betray Lutzen (Penick 57). From the wife, Gesar learns how to defeat the demon by killing his two demon sisters and cutting off all of Lutzen’s heads while he is asleep.

After Gesar kills Lutzen, the Chinese woman gives Gesar a potion. This makes him forget himself and his mission. He lives with her for six years while Kyang Go Karkar languishes in a cavernous stable. Gesar is visited finally by a headless falcon. The bird reveals itself as Gesar’s half brother Gyaza, son of Singlen. It tells Gesar that Ling has been conquered by the white demon Kurkar, who rules the realm of Hor to the east of Ling. Kurkar has taken Sechan Dugmo as his wife and installed Todong as his deputy in Ling. Aroused by the bad news, Gesar shakes of the Chinese woman’s spell. He confines her to a cave and rides Kyang Go Karkar back to Ling.

Gesar overthrows and imprisons Todong and prepares for war against the kingdom of Hor. With trickery, Gesar defeats Kurkar and his brothers by playing on their greed and superstitions. Assuming his true form, Gesar beheads Kurkar, takes Sechan Dugmo home, and reluctantly kills Sechan Dugmo and Kurkar’s child, who is Gesar’s mortal enemy. At home, Gesar forgives both Todong and Sechan Dugmo. Peace is restored to Ling.

Following his divine destiny, Gesar slays Jang, the demon king of the west. Jang prepares to attack Ling to please his new wife. Gesar anticipates this and defeats Jang and his armies through his combination of trickery, impersonation, and great physical strength.

After Jang is defeated, Gesar vows to meditate for thirteen years. After ten years, Manene appears to him. She tells Gesar he must break his personal vows for the benefit of his people and attack the last demon, Shingti of the south. Gesar assembles his army to advance on Shingti’s realm. At the border, Gesar has messengers tell Shingti that the demon must give his daughter Metok Lhadze in marriage to the son of Todong. Otherwise, Shingti faces war and destruction. Shingti refuses. Gesar defeats and kills him and skins his body. Metok Lhadze chooses to marry Todong’s son.

With his destiny fulfilled, Gesar moves atop a mountain platform in the east to meditate for three years, accompanied by Sechan Dugmo and a royal retinue. Afterward, Gesar bids farewell to his people. He, Sechan Dugmo, and select elite warriors stay behind. Gesar prepares them for their journey to the heavens: “Now that our work is done, There is no need for these bodies to perpetuate themselves” (Penick 135).

As morning comes, Gesar and his party depart for the sky. They leave behind their empty clothes, but their people know that Gesar will be with them always in spirit.

Bibliography

David-Néel, Alexandra. The Superhuman Life of Gesar of Ling. Trans. Violet Sydney. New York: Kendall, 1933. Print.

Kornman, Robin. “The Influence of the Epic of King Gesar of Ling on Chögyam Trungpa.” Recalling Chögyam Trungpa. Ed. Fabrice Midal. Boston: Shambala, 2005. 347–79. Print.

Lieberson, Peter, comp. King Gesar. By Douglas Penick. Narr. Omar Ebrahim. Perf. Yo-Yo Ma, Peter Serkin, and Emanuel Ax. Cond. Lieberson. Sony, 1991. CD.

Li Lianrong. “History and the Tibetan Epic Gesar.” Oral Tradition 16.2 (2001): 317–42. PDF file.

Penick, Douglas. The Warrior Song of King Gesar. Boston: Wisdom, 1997. Print.

Rothstein, Edward. “A Modern Voicing of Myth and Buddhist Belief.” New York Times. New York Times, 28 Aug. 1993. Web. 22 Apr. 2013.