Geser. The Вuryat heroic epic

The religious cults and rituals

The ideas of the heavenly origin of the totemic forefathers of the Buryats as well as the ideas of the spirit-hosts of the localities, the shamans, the epical heroes are related to the archaic cult of the Eternal Blue Sky which is taken to be the highest divinity and the creator of all that is found in the Universe. The highest divinity, the Sky or the Heaven (tengri in Buryat) is personified in the epic as Khormusta Tengeri or Esege Malan Tengeri. The most archaic cult of the Mother-Earth, the foremother, has the genetic ties with the cult of the World Tree and the World Mountain. It has greatly affected the emergence of the other, not less popular cults, like those of the fire, the mountain caves, the water (rivers, lakes), the genealogical tree. When reading the epic one comes across the other cults, like those of the ancestors, the magic. There are the shamanic elements and the Buddhist inclusions. Then one can mention the cosmogonic prologue of the epic, the creation of the main hero by the Heavenly Gods who was then sent down to the Earth with the mission of fighting the evil, Geser’s three celestial sisters, the theme of the cosmic marriage or the motive of being born from a cracked-apart stone. The archetype of the celestial forefather is often connected with the solar motive, e.g. a golden pole or the rays of the Sun coming through the upper opening of the yurt are associated with the conception of the son.

The proto-Buryats, i.e. the hunters and gatherers or pickers of the plants including the sorrel, garlic, berries, kind of bulbil lily representing the forest tribe communities entered the new stage of the social and economic life brought about by the establishment of the paternal right much later than the ancestors of the other nomad tribes. The socio-economical ties were those of a tribal community and the Buryats did not undergo the process of unification for a considerable period of time. Even in the end of the XIX century the Buryats somewhat preserved the patriarchal and tribal relations since the new tendencies did not display themselves so vividly in their economy: there were neither factories, nor railroads, nor electricity, etc. Due to this the epic preserved itself in a pure form with some impacts of the feudal and Buddhist ideologies. One should mention that the epic of Geser in its versified version which is believed to be the Buryat creation was preserved by the “western” Buryats. Аmong them most widely spread were the shaman rites. One can say that the oral “Geser” and the shamanism are to some extent interrelated. The versification and the shaman elements evidence of “Geser’s” being old-aged since it is generally recognized that the most ancient epical works of the Mongolian people as well as the shaman invocations were in verse not in prose.

Widely spread were the genealogical myths in which the cult of the mountain spirits was depicted. It is just the mountain spirit who appears to be in fact the father of Geser on the Earth. According to the epic the man possesses not one soul but a few of them. One soul is in the body, another one may leave the body in its sleep, the other souls are somewhere else out of body. Very often the souls are of the zoomorphic form like the two golden fish coming out of a mangus’ nostrils during his sleep. One might recollect the hero chasing the three stags that were said to keep inside the soul of a mangus. In the Oirat epic the soul may be found in a copper-headed iron-winged crow which flies out of a cut-open breast of the mangus’ mother. Then the crow turns into a fish, marmot; the hero chases it as eagle, fish or marmot. In a demon’s body in one of his big toes or in one of his ninety five stomachs found not infrequently was an

One should mention the existence of the cult of the mountains, prayers on the mountain, begging for children and the birth of the child from a mountain spirit. When building something in the mountains if the necessity arose to move stones from one place to another it was advisable to complete certain rituals to appease the spirit of the mountain. The relics of such consciousness may be observed in our days too. As we have already mentioned there are the totemistic features fairly well preserved in the epic. In a Khori genealogical legend of Khoridoi-mergen the hero gets married to a celestial fairy that had been a bird previously. Very well known is the motive of a swan, the ancestor of one of the tribes. In the Mongolian epic of Geser two bulls are shown as fighting, one of them being white, the other black. The white one is taken to be the protector of Geser, the black of the mangus. The totemic ancestors of the Bulagats and the Ekhirits are the grey Bukha noyon bull and the black and white bulls. This motive has its parallel in a Tibetan legend which describes the fight between the white and black snakes coming out of the mangus’ nostrils or in the Tibetan version of the Geser epic where the two snakes fight having come out of the mangus’ ears.

The nomad tribes of Central Asia left the monuments resembling the “deer stones” or the stone slabs with the engraved inscriptions, the magical formulas. In Transbaikalia and Mongolia they found the sacral writings on the rocks, the so-called rock paintings or petroglyph on which depicted most frequently was an eagle in flight. They date back to the second half of the second millennium B.C. They all are of the conventional nature and are given as symbol or sign. It is another evidence of the fact that there existed a written language though primitive. There is much in common between the drawings mentioned and the zurags (drawing) of the Balagan ongons. The ongons are the symbols of the ancestors’ spirits and the eagles are also thought to be the spirits of the ancestors. The Baikal region is abundant in the legends of the genealogical totems depicted in the form of a flying eagle. According to those legends the host of the Oikhon island was married to a tengri’s daughter. She gave birth into a son, Burged by name which means “eagle”. He adopted the eagles as sons. The latter gave the beginning to the kin of the Ol’khon shamans who were known as the shubuuni noyod – the lords of the birds. They say that earlier during the sacrifice ritual to Khan Khoto babai they made the three replicas of eagles out of birch bark. When I attended the tayilagan on the Baikal I saw that on the shore of lake Baikal the shamans put the three birch trees and under each of them they put the meat and the bones of the sheep sacrificed, covered them with hides and burned. When an eagle flew down onto one of the trees they said that the spirit of the ancestor of the kin represented by that tree came down. Those belonging to that kin were overwhelmed with joy. There are also the legends that the eagle was once a shaman, that is why the eagle is much esteemed. One can come across his image everywhere. We might just mention in this respect Khan-Garudi. Garudi came originally from India perhaps through Tibet, its image might have intermingled with that of the eagle, the cult of which is so widely spread in Buryatia.

The heroic epic of the Mongolian people is rich in the other diversified mythological elements. One could mention the demons who appeared out of the remnants of the evil deities thrown down to the Earth. Geser had the reputation of the destroyer of demons and monsters, the personifications of the dark chthonic forces. The epic tells of the Tengris coming down to the Earth, of the middle place between the Sky and the Earth, of the dragons, of the various “personified” monsters such as the mangadkhais, many-headed snakes, birds, huge dogs, frogs, ants. The fantastic images reflect the mythological essence of the epic and hence its archaic shaman nature. The cosmic elements are widely presented in the epic of the Mongolian people. They are the Sky, the Sun. the Moon, the stars, the Earth, the water, etc. To this may be added the cosmogonic prologue in the Geser epic. Geser is often given help by his three celestial sisters. Presented also is the solar motive. The conception of a child is associated with a golden “pole” of the light coming through the upper hole of the yurt.

The performing of the “Geser” epic was of a ritual, magic, shamanic nature. The epic-tellers sank into the trance when reciting the epic. The epic was used by shamans for exorcising the evil spirits. Geser is taken to be the son of the Tengri. Sometimes the Earth and the Water are regarded as Geser’s parents which is associated with the shamanic ideas of the human personification of the souls of the mountains and localities. Reciting of the epic-uliger appeases the spirit of the Master of the taiga and helps in hunting. The epic-teller himself was in fact a shaman or a peculiar type of shaman.

Prior to the battle, on the mountain or obo the heroes of the epic performed the shaman smudging asking to protect them and give the victory over the enemy. The petrogenetic motive, i.e. the birth of the hero out of stone is evidently associated with the shaman cult of the personified mountain deities. The common people took the shamans to be very powerful and helpful to them. This is reflected in the Buryat epic. A woman shaman throws the tears and snot of the poor people onto the heavenly palace and the latter gets cracked and leans over on one side. Thus the heavens learned of the sufferings of the people on the Earth. Besides the khats, ejins, zayans in Cis-Baikalia there were the spirits of the lower categories, i.e. the bokholdois, shudkhers and shulmuses, ada or anakhais, ukheri ezi, etc. They caused the misfortune, illnesses, even death. The people were afraid of the evil spirits, they kept their children away from them. They called a shaman, completed smudging, put a knife under the pillow to save their children or an axe under the threshold, they had at home the sanctified mirrors, bells, polecat’s fur. The objects sanctified were called hakhyuuhan (savior) in the Buryat language.

The everyday traditions and customs

The epic shows that the traditional occupation of the Buryats was hunting, then cattlebreeding. The battles with the epical personages that were quite often the embodiments of the powerful natural forces, for example, Gal-Nurman who personified the prime element of the Fire, played a big part in the life of the Buryats. Before the description of the battle the epic-tellers gave a detailed account of the clothes, weapon and armour of the heroes. A good place in the life of the people was given to the tournaments, for example when matchmaking. After a successful matchmaking they had a big feast, which lasted nine days, on the tenth day the guests went home.

When people met they had a long friendly talk so that “the foam came out on the water, the grass grew on the stone”. The epic gives a detailed description of the dwelings of the Вuryats, i.e. the straw-huts, yurts, wooden and stone houses that evidences of the evolution of the epic itself. This all is the background against which the epical scenes are laid. From them one can draw some knowledge concerning the habits, customs and traditions of the Mongolian people, including the Buryats.

In the early morning they get up, they are not in the habit of staying in bed for a long time because a lot of work to be done is usually ahead. Their bedding is very soft, sometimes of the fur of the sable, they compare it with the lungs of animals. All that is soft, nice, luxurious is associated on the physical level with the lungs of animals. Then they have their tea, when eating they discuss their home affairs and news.

Each variant of the epopee reflects the evolution of the epic that proceeded along with the development of the community it narrates about. The higher is the social development, the more rich and artistic is the epic, its composition, language and style. Given in the text are the many habits and customs which survived or are somewhat forgotten. The guests were invited to get seated in the western or right-hand side of the yurt which was believed to be the most honorary place in the dwelling, its door being most often in the southern part. This is accounted for by the following circumstances. There was a dynamic balance between the dual natural oppositions, i.e. between the right and the left, the anterior (front) and the posterior (rear, back) side of the space, the male and the female half of the community, the good and the evil, strength and weakness, white and black, etc. The front or the anterior right-hand space orientations were regarded as male, light, active, positive whereas the back or posterior, left-hand space orientations were considered to be female, dark, passive, negative. The yurt was divided into the right-hand (male) and left-hand (female) halves, men took seats in the right-hand side, women on the left-hand side. A glass with a drink was given with the right hand and all the meaningful gestures were made with that hand. In the epic they invite their guests: “Please, get seated higher” which means to take seats in the right-hand (western) side of the dwelling, i.e. in the honorary place.

The people in the epic address each other ceremoniously, with the highest esteem. They are friendly and hospitable. They treat their guests to whatever is good in their home. The Buryats are very careful about their home.

In the old days as well as not infrequently nowadays there was a tradition of the respectful attitude towards the man as the embodiment of all that is positive. He was the personification of the head of the kinsfolk, therefore it was strictly forbidden to step over a man or his belt, sash. This is depicted in the epic when one of the girls reproaches her girl-friends because they stepped over a sleeping old man. She says: “You stepped over an old man, thus you broke the women’s custom” and herself goes round him avoiding stepping over the man. When the devils – albins were going to harm Geser they stepped nine times over the food they had prepared for him. There was also a strict regulation not to bring home any meat at night for it was fraught with the negative consequences. This might be related to the prohibition to kill the wild animals at night for one could miss and hit, say, a she-deer or a she-goat or just simply mistake them for a male-animal in darkness.

A good talk was of importance. They talked with respect and dignity, carefully selecting the right words. They went to see each other, to have a hearty talk душевный разговор. The Buryats always kept a good meal for the guest. That was commonly dry curd, milk skin, cottage cheese, pancakes, sweets and hot dishes like boiled meat, clear soup and the like.

The personages of the epic are very tender to their horse, they treat it as a true friend and devoted companion. They get mounted on the horse with the exacting movements as if completing a kind of ritual.

In case one makes some mistake or is guilty there is no excuse. He is heavily punished just as he deserves.

The Buryats are very tender towards their children. If a family did not have any children the Buryats were greatly sorry for such people and sympathetic with them. They did want them to have at least one child to continue the lineage. Thus if a family with no children asked for one they were never refused. The families with several children gave one of their sons or daughters to a childless family, they did it with no regret for they were quite sure that their child would grow up in very good conditions. The two families kept good relations and were respectful towards each other. Sometimes a child was given to the relatives if his/her parents were not well-to-do and had no opportunity to provide him with all needed. Thus there were very few orphans or beggars.

The Buryats treated their routine work with great diligence. The epic says that the worth of man is in his doings, the worth of woman is in her sewing. Good attitude to one’s work and duties was inseparable from the Buryats since childhood. Life itself prompted them to be hardworking people, or else they would not survive. The Buryats wanted their children to be modest enough and restrained. They taught them not to shout out, not to cry out his/her mind when not asked to, not to talk too quickly as if saying a tongue-twister, not to laugh too loudly showing the teeth. They taught the young people to be restrained.

The Buryats were always ready to give a rebuff to the enemy, to fight him if the necessity arose. But despite their being quite ready to rebuff if necessary. The Mongolian tribes as well as the other people in the world strived to peace and quiet life without any battles, without shedding blood. They took up their swords only when there was a need to safeguard the motherland and strengthen the status of the kin.

They were ecologically-minded, loved their native place and took care of it. This is evidenced by the following episode. The epic narrates of Loir Khara Lobsogoldoi, Geser’s enemy. He was taken as the embodiment of such prime element as water. Having defeated Lobsogoldoi Geser tells not to kill him for otherwise the vegetation would not grow without water. One can understand that he did that because he was devoted to his motherland, he was anxious that the Nature should flourish.

The epic gives much material for discussing the traditions of the Buryat people. Besides the traditions mentioned above there is much material on suit before the marriage. There were the tournaments, trials, seeing off and meeting a bride. There also were the various methods for killing a sheep for donation. There were some prescriptions for organizing the feasts, games, dancing in circle, for holding the tayilgans (a religious ceremony, festival) and the rituals like purifying, telling the fortune, smudging, offerings, invocation, etc.

All the habits, customs and traditions of the Buryat people are generous, benevolent. They disapprove of the unworthy deeds. The Buryat people are careful and scrupulous about the children, loving towards their native land and nature.

Naturally there is no marked development of the images in the epic. Most often the characters are either positive or negative. Our attention is focused now on the main character. The whole narration is concentrated around the main personage, i.e. Geser.

Having analyzed the situation Geser usually takes up the most complicated problems to solve, he is sufficiently confident of himself. Geser respects the elder people, obeys the decisions of the council of the Tengris, he is tolerant of some of their mistakes and weakness. In spite of his divine origin Geser is humane, he does not like the idea of being singled out, rather he would live the way the other people do, though he never forgets about his true designation.