Ye. Khundaeva - Geser. The Вuryat heroic epic

But it hasn’t been translated to English although it might be the prerequisite (предпосылка) of its becoming known to a wider public. Therefore a decision was taken to translate the epic to the English language. The English translation of the Ekhirit-Bulagat variant of the Buryat version of “Geser” written down by Ts. Zhamtsarano in 1906 from Manshud Imegenov was recently completed by Ye. Khundaeva. The present English translation of the epic of Geser is made on the basis of the manuscript (Inv. No 1) of the collection of the Buryat folklore (The Center for the Oriental Manuscripts and Block Prints, The Institute for the Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan studies, SB RAS, Ulan-Ude) which is entitled “Abai Geser khubun” and its published variant (Abai Geser khubun, Moscow, 1995).

Those were the remotest times when there were neither celestial gods nor sun, stars. Instead of the sky there was some misty haze and below there was only water. The Great Mother the Goddess was all alone. And she decided to create a world and fill it with some creatures. For the beginning she made an earth from a piece of clay brought from water by the duck created by her earlier and put it on back of the turtle. Then there appeared the mountains, valleys, rivers and lakes; moreover, there appearеd the beasts, birds and fish. The goddess makes the sun and the moon. From the rays of the sun and the light of the moon she gives birth to the two daughters Manzan Gurme and Mayas Khara who afterwards become the foremothers of the kind western and the evil eastern sky-dwellers or deities-tengris. The goddesses’s daughters had then many children and grandchildren who were fond of having merry open-air parties and festivals with the games – naadan. On the first day of the naadan there were the wrestlers’ competitions, on the second – those of the archers, on the third day – the horse races, on the fourth day the people devotedly listened to the singers, storytellers and epic-tellers – uligershins, on the fifth day there were the contests of the sages. In a word, there was a joyous festival which might be called the “ yokhor ” in the Buryat language.

In the western part of the sky there live the fifty five tengris, their head being Khan Khormusta. He has the three sons, the middle of them being future Geser. In the eastern part of the sky there live the forty four tengris, the head over them being Atai-Ulan, who has the three sons too. Living in the middle place of the sky is Segen-Sebdeg tengri. He has a daughter Seseg-Nogon, she is a beauty and sews skillfully. The eldest sons of the heads of both the skies eagerly wish to take her as wife. The western and eastern deities want to get possession of the middle sky, there bursts out a quarrel between them. In the battle that followed the western tengris win. Having cut Atai-Ulan into the pieces they throw them down to the earth that causes the people the numerous troubles and misfortune. From the parts of Atai-Ulan’s body there appear the various monsters: from the chest – Gal-Durme khan, from the thigh – Lodsogoldoi mangadkhai (monster), from the neck vertebrae – Sherem-Minata devil, from the stomach – Mitagar Khara Mila, from the liver – Ganga Bured khan, from the right hand – Abarga Sesen mangadkhai, from the left hand – Asurai Shara mangadkhai, from the right leg – Khitad Gumen khan, from the left leg – fourty-eyed Dume, from the kidneys – the Edir sagan tree and the spotted deer Taril Eren, from the lungs – Black Guma Mitan who had a thousand of the white eyes. Apart from them, there were the other monsters that caused the innumerable troubles, such as Arkhan Khara devil, fifteen-headed Asurai mangadkhai, ninety-five-headed Yenkhoboi mangadkhai.

In order to save the people from all the misfortunes Khan Khormusta’s middle son Erkhe Beligte (future Geser) gets down to the earth. To complete his mission he is to be re-born on the Earth because being of the celestial origin he is too pure and sacral for the earthly life. He gets born into a poor childless family of an old man Sengel and an old woman Sengelen. The old woman gets pregnant in a magic way and gives birth to the three children. The two daughters get up onto the sky, remaining is the son who is far from being nice-looking and stains all around at that. He gets the name of Nyukhata Sura (Snot Sura). He does a lot of trouble to his elderly parents.

Being quite a small child the future Geser does away with the envoys of the monsters. Having completed a lot of the noble deeds, he gets the three wives. Nyukhata-Sura becomes а bagatur (mighty warrior) Abai Geser Bogdo khan. The tengris give him a magic horse, bator’s (mighty warrior) clothes and the miraculous weapon and armour. When he comes back he learns that his native place was attacked by the three Sharyn (Sharaigol) khans. He sets out for a fight to save his wife from those khans. On his way he comes across a she-mangadkhai Moyil-Khara who desecrates him with a piece of dirty felt and turns him into a donkey. Geser’s celestial sisters set him free and make him a human being again. Geser-bator punishes the monsters and saves the earth from the evil. Each chapter of the epic is devoted to his struggle against the enemies of the people.

In some other variants of the Geseriade conflicting in the primordial times are the two camps of the tengris – the celestial deities. Those are the western fifty five tengries headed by Khan Khirmas-tengri and the eastern forty four tengris headed by Atai Ulan-tengri. Among the western tengris there is the second son of Khan Khirmas by name of Bukhe Beligte, the earthly name of Geser after his second birth. Atai Ulan-tengri gets Naran Gokhon to fall seriously ill. In case she dies the western tengris will have to submit to the eastern deities. Manzan Gurme-grandmother reads the sacred book and learns how one could cure the girl. She sends Bukhe Beligte for a skylark with the golden letters on the back and the silver letters on the chest. They apply the bird on the chest and the back of the sick girl and she recovers.

Such a description of the start of the heavenly events is connected with the mythological ideas of the Sun deity whose personification was Naran Dulan tengri as skylark. The reason for the quarrel between the heads of the western and the eastern tengris was the desire to possess the rich and prosperous middle Segen Sebdeg tengri’s land. Atai Ulan sends his bators to Segen Sebdeg with the request of submitting to him. Khan Khirmas makes the same suggestion. Segen Sebdeg values his own freedom and the independent position and refuses them. He drives the envoys away. Then Atai Ulan sends his sons to Segen Sebdeg with the same message. Bukhe Beligte (future Geser) from the western skies also arrives there. Sagan Sebdeg again refuses them. The sons of the tengris (heavens) begin to fight. Bukhe Beligte wins the victory over his adversaries. He throws down Atai Ulan’s sons onto the Earth where they turn into the evil Sharablin khans.

After the defeat of his sons and warriors Atai Ulan again sends the tengris of the mist, dusk and gloom, hoar-frost. But Bukhe Beligte meets them with the nine tengris of wind and flame. Khan Khurmas and Atai Ulan join the battle. Khan Khurmas, having learned that the soul of his adversary is in the metatarsus of the big finger of his right foot, strikes it and thus beats the enemy. The defeated Atai Ulan-tengri is thrown upon the Earth where the various monsters come out of the different parts of his body.

In the land of the three Tugeshin khans there comes the time of the misfortunes, mortality. The people die, the rivers and grass dry out and fade away. The shamaness Sharagshakhan makes the offerings of the sick people’s tears to the western deities, namely, to the head of the 55 tengris Khan Khirmas-tengri, to Shutegte-burkhan and Manzan Gurme- grandmother. Thus she informs the tengris of the misfortunes on the Earth. Khan Khirmas asks in turn his sons to get down to the Earth but only Bukhe Beligte agrees to go down on condition that his father should give him all he asks for.