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| Ts. Zh. Zhamtsarano |
In 1906 one of variants of the Buryat epos “Geser” was recorded by Ts. Zh. Zhamtsarano from a well-known Buryat rhapsode Manshud Imegenov (Emegenov) in the Kukunut ulus (now the Ekhirit-Bulagat district, Irkutsk province). The epos shows how Geser was sent to the Earth by Tengris – celestial deities. He performs his heroic deeds for people’s happiness and peace. It depicts the mythological level of folklore consciousness. One of the best folklore traditions of the Buryat people, the heroic epic of the mighty hero-bator and liberator of the whole world from all evil Geser is a wonderful creation of gifted rhapsodes - uligershins who came from common people and who partook of the rich spiritual and world view heritage of their own people and who could express it with help of magic of word.
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| M. Imegenov |
Many peoples have fascinating tales narrating of the ideals of kindness and fairness.These are the following: the Uzbek “Alpamysh”,the Kyrgiz “Manas”, the Turkmen Gyor-ogly; the Kalmyck “Jangar”,the Anglo-Saxon “Beowulf”, the French knights’ novel “Tristan and Isolda”, the Karel and Finnish “Kalevala”, the Evenki Nimngakans, the Sakha-yakut “Nyurgun-bootur”, “Meldiu the Mighty, etc. All of them sing glory to life and beauty, kindness and fairness, common sense and wisdom of men, their struggle for the highest ideals, happiness, love and prosperity. The Buryat Geseriade is a unique creation of the people, it’s very big and surpasses in size the epics of many other peoples. It is sometimes called the Iliade of Central Asia. The Geseriade is spread on the vast territory from the tropical Ganges, a river in North India and Bangladesh flowing from the Himalayas into the cape of Bengal, to the cold Amur in North-East Asia; from the sunlit Yellow river in East China to the cool Lena in East Siberia.
The Buryat text together with the Russian translation was published by A. B. Soktoev and others in the book “Абай Гэсэр Могучий. Бурятский героический эпос”. – М.: Издательская фирма «Восточная литература» РАН, 1995. – 526 с.: ил. – (Эпос народов Евразии). ISBN 5-02-017879-9 (Abai Geser the Mighty. The Buryat heroic epos. – M., “The oriental literature” Publishing House, RAS, 1995. – 526 p.: ill. – (Epos of Euroasian peoples). ISBN 5-02-017879-9).
