Geser. The Вuryat heroic epic

The sense and cult perception ofВ the world made the Buryat people depict the epical personages either as men with some extraordinary features (the anthropomorphous creatures) or the animals with the exaggerated grotesqueness (the zoomorphous creatures or just the mixed types bearing the features both ofВ the human being and the animal (the mixmorphous creatures). One can understand why it was so. The powerful forces excited fear, so that the people gave those inexplicable phenomena like the lightning or the space and time some fantastic mysterious coloring.

As aВ consequence the Buryat tales give the exaggerated grotesque fantastic descriptions ofВ the personages irrespective ofВ their being either positive or negative. Some are horrible, ugly and fearful whereas the others are the ideals ofВ beauty, strength and generosity. The former are quite fear-exciting with the many eyes, many heads, sharp claws and teeth covered with the snakes, blowing out the flame and sparks. The latter are well-built, strong and slender, handsome and attractive, kind and open-handed.

The Geseriade, aВ well-known epical work ofВ the Buryat people, was inВ the focus ofВ the scholars inВ Europe and Russia inВ the course ofВ almost two hundred years. Most prominent are the two narrative traditions ofВ the Buryat epic ofВ Geser, they are the Ekhirit-Bulagat and the Unga variants. The former is considered toВ be an archaic one whereas the latter dates back toВ aВ later period. There are still the other variants ofВ the same heroic epopee, e.

g. the Khorinsk variant which has been studied least ofВ all up toВ now. The interest inВ the epic which is the cultural heritage ofВ the Buryats has increased. Many talented investigators made contribution toВ the study ofВ this monumental creation ofВ the Buryat nation. The various narrative traditions and the historical and ethnographical background were studied byВ Ts. Damdinsuren, A.I.Ulanov, N.O.Sharakshinova, M.P.Khomonov, S.Yu.Nekludov, S.Sh. Chagdurov, E. A. Ulanov, B.S.Dugarov, D.A.Burchina and many other investigators.

The Buryat heroic epic ofВ Geser: the general characteristics

The heroic epic of the Buryat people “Geser” narrates of the noble deeds of Geser liberating the people from the evil, of his battles with the monsters that would not let people live in peace and harmony. Not infrequently those monsters-mangadkhais personified the powerful, threatening forces of Nature.