The Buryat heroic epic Geser is one of the landmarks of Buryat Mongolian folklore and mythology. While there is some tenuous relationship between it and the Tibetan legends of Gesar of Ling, the Buryat Geser is a shamanist epic while the Tibetan legends are Buddhist. In fact the more important name for Geser is his original name, Bukhe Beligte, which was his name when he was a sky spirit (tenger) of the 55 tenger of the western direction. This name is used much more frequently than Geser in the first section of the story. This may possibly be because the name "Geser" was added in later after contact with the Buddhist legend. Similarities between the Geser myth and heroic myths of the Native Americans in Alaska and Canada suggest that this story has its origins from myths thousands of years old.
Geser is a very long epic, it was traditionally performed over nine days by a bard playing the Mongolian horse head fiddle (moriin huur).
Geser is actually a key to understanding the intricate cosmology of Buryat shamanism. In the opening chapters of the epic are descriptions of the creation and earliest days of the world. Here is a short summary of the creation story (I will put the full text on this page once I have finished translating it).
In the very earliest days, there was nothing but heaven and the oceans below, no land, no sun, moon, or stars. Tenger was very lonely and bored, so he created a sun and moon to light the skies. He then created the goldeneye duck, and he sent it to the bottom of the sea to bring up some mud. The duck was gone for a very long time, but finally it came up with a little dirt in its bill. Tenger placed the mud on the back of a turtle, and its legs extended down to the bottom of the sea. The mud spread out and became dry land, and Tenger shaped the mountains, lakes, and river courses with his palm and fingers. He then created the birds, fish, and animals. However, since the sun and moon shone at the same time, it was too warm and the animals complained. Tenger then commanded the moon to shine only at night, and so it remains today.
The story then tells of how the various sky spirits came about, how they are related, what direction they inhabit, and what their qualities are. Over time, the eastern and western tenger feuded among each other, and as a result of this feud several monsters and diseases appeared on the earth. This was a danger to the early human inhabitants of the earth, so the tenger conferred among themselves and decided to send one of their own, Bukhe Beligte (Gilga mesh), to incarnate on earth in order to kill off the monsters and save mankind. This myth has many intriguing parallels to the Monster Slayer and Saya myths of the Dene tribes of North America.
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| Monasteries and temples Geser Sum, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia |
Furthermore, the life of Geser exemplifies the Mongolian/Siberian shamanist ideal of living, tegsh, which means living in balance and in consciousness of one's true nature and life purpose. This principle means there must be balance between good/bad, compassion/hardness, male/female, self-denial/excess. Geser in his life embodies these ideas in his life and as the culture hero of the Buryats preserved the central philosophy of his people through the oral tradition. These same principles are what allowed the native peoples of Siberia to live in such perfect balance with their ecology for thousands of years of history.
It is very likely that Chinggis Khan himself heard this legend as he was growing up and he may have been inspired by the heroic ideals and character of Bukhe Beligte. Like this hero, Chinggis Khan was successful many times not because of superior physical strength as much as by cunning and perserverance. He appears to have consciously evoked the imagery of Geser in the organization of his court and in the symbolism of the imperial cult. Even today Buryats see many strong parallels between the character of Bukhe Beligte/Geser and Chinggis Khan.
To this day Bukhe-Beligte/Geser is a hero and national symbol for the Buryats. Shrines to Bukhe Beligte Tenger have been erected in many places throughout Buryatia since the repression of shamanism ended in 1991. There are some 30 sacred sites in Buryatia and in Buryat territories adjacent to it (Ust Orda, Irkutsk, Chita, and Aga) that are related to Geser. The most important sites, however are the birthplace of Geser in the Sayan Mountains and the Geseriin Buuts (the place of Geser's descent) outside of Ulaan Ude, the capital of Buryatia. The Geseriin Buuts is to be the center of a center dedicated to Buryat culture in the future. The shrine in the Sayan Mountains has a most interesting story connected with it. When it was to be consecrated in 1994 a shaman warned that to dedicate the shrine would awaken Bukhe Beligte Tenger and bring about his return to his people. At the time when the dedication ritual was held, an earthquake shook the Sayan Mountains.
Bukhe Beligte has returned to his people. At this time of spiritual renewal of the human race, what will the return of Bukhe Beligte mean for the future of the Buryat Mongols and for mankind?
Here is a short version of the Geser story read by students in Buryatia.
The War Among the Tenger
This happened in the very earliest of times. At that time, the mountain Sumber stood at the center of the world and extended up to heaven, but Lake Baikal was nothing more than a small pond.
In the upper world, beyond the downy clouds, were the 55 tenger of the western direction and the 44 tenger of the eastern direction. The leader of the tenger of the west was Han Hormasta, the leader of the 44 eastern tenger was Atai Ulaan. Between them was the land of Sagaan Sebdeg (Blue Ice) Tenger. One time Han Hormasta and Atai Ulaan happened to meet at the border of the lands of Sagaan Sebdeg. Atai Ulaan asked, "What business do you have coming here?" and so they argued and argued and finally it turned into a fight. Han Hormasta won after smashing Atai Ulaan into pieces. He then tore off Atai Ulaan's head and tore his body into bits and scattered them in the air. When the pieces drifted down to earth they turned into evil spirits and all sorts of diseases.
The people living on earth were ruled by three brothers, Sargal Noyon, Sengelen Noyon, and Hara Zutan. Suddenly there appeared on the land all sorts of evil spirits in strange forms which wreaked havoc among mankind. First they polluted the waters. Then all the animals got sick with plague and anthrax and started to disappear. Animals were hungry and were dying off.
The shamaness which served the three brothers, Sharnaihan Shara, shamanized, calling to the tenger to help the suffering of the world, and when she reached ecstasy, she threw her drumstick to the sky, and it flew to the upper world and landed on the table of Manzan Gurme Toodei, mother of all the sky spirits. When the drumstick came flying up to her, Manzan Gurme Toodei was very astonished, and took out her shaman mirror and when she gazed into it she saw that the animals and humans on earth were in danger of disappearing. Knowing this, she called the tenger to meet and decide what to do to save mankind.
Han Hormasta had three sons, the middle son was Bukhe Beligte. The tenger decided to send him down to earth to become a human. After being born as a human he would kill off the monsters and save the people.
When the Hero was Born on Earth
The oldest of the three leaders of the people, Sargal Noyon, had a dream. He said,"On the north side of Sumber Mountain I saw a lark singing , it was a bird from the tenger. If it can come down to earth it would save us from our troubles!"
Hara Zutan, while hunting in the mountain forests, saw the lark come down. It turned into a remarkably beautiful maiden. It was Naran Goohon, the daughter of Naran Dulaan Tenger (tenger of the sun). Hara Zutan brought the maiden home with him and presented her to his brothers.
Sargal Noyon said, "We will marry her to Sengelen Noyon. But since she is now living as a human we have to change the face of this heavenly woman and make her ordinary. She will live with Sengelen Noyon in a tepee and they will eat out of carved wooden pots like poor people."
Hara Zutan said, "I will mutilate this woman!" He then slashed her hands and feet, and disfigured her face so that she was no longer beautiful.
After this was done, Sengelen Noyon and Naran Goohon were married. They were sent far away to live in a smoke-filled tepee and were completely helpless. They had no dog, not did they have a child to raise upon the knee. They had no livestock and practically no possessions. They survived by gathering wild onions and garlic, netting small fish and catching rabbits with snares.
One night while Naran Goohon was sleeping inside the tepee she awakened suddenly. Her bedcover suddenly raised up, and then she heard the steps of a man walking away, but she saw no one. She then realized that the slashes on her hands, feet, and face had disappeared. That night she became pregnant and she rejoiced that she would have a child.
Finally the day that the couple was waiting for arrived. When the little red infant was first born, he raised his right hand up as if to strike, bent his left leg, and looked at them with the right eye wide open and the left eye squinted. Then the newborn baby spoke these wise words, "I hold up my right hand to show I will strike my enemies. Bending the left leg shows I will kick my enemies. My wide open eye shows that I will always see the right path. My squinted eye shows that I will be able to see through deceit."
Thus the middle son of Han Hormasta, Bukhe Beligte, was born as a man on this earth.
He starts to defeat enemies while still in the cradle
While Bukhe Beligte was lying on his cradleboard, the enemies he was born to defeat learned about his arrival on earth. The evil spirits lived in a place that was dry, sunless, all plants were withered in this clearing in the forest. They met and decided that they would kill the newborn child. They sent a giant rat with a bronze muzzle to kill him. The little baby grabbed a whip with 18 tails, and struck the rat so that it shattered into ninety tiny mice.
The evil spirits then sent a raven with an iron beak and claws, black as night. The boy smashed the raven into bits, then with great strength threw the beak and claws so that they flew all the way back to the clearing in the forest where it had been sent from.
The hateful enemies of the child then sent a giant mosquito as large as a horse. The baby took a red whip and struck it with great force, saying "forever be hungry and fly among the grasses!" and the giant mosquito turned into a cloud of mosquitoes and gnats.
Seeing that the three monsters they had sent were destroyed, the boy's enemies were much dismayed. Nine hundred monsters and ninety evil spirits met together and said to their leader, "O great powerful one, a magical boy has been sent to earth by the will of Tenger! We need to kill this child, to smash him, to beat him into a pulp, to crush him!"
Therefore after some time the leader of the evil ones traveled to the boy's native land with the purpose of exterminating him. Upon reaching the border of Sengelen Noyon's lands he changed his appearance into that of a shaman. According to the custom of hospitality he walked into the dwelling of Sengelen Noyon's family, saying, "I am a shaman who has traveled from a long distance away. I have heard that you recently gave birth to a child. I have come to help and protect him."
The baby started crying loudly. The shaman said "Why is the boy crying, is it because of his illness?" and approached the cradle. As he neared the child the guest turned back into the monster he truly was. He shouted "I will take away your suld, cut off your life, and eat your ami!" and showed a mouth full of iron fangs.
The baby was ready for him. He grabbed the iron muzzle of the monster, and kicked his neck so that his head was torn off. He then threw the monster's head to the ground.
The hero's growth did not go from year to year like most children, nor from month to month, but rather day by day he grew larger and stronger. His parents said, "Before he turned even four years old he has defeated four enemies!" and rejoiced at having such a child. When he would sleep they would wrap him in a sheep's skin, but soon it was too small and they had to wrap him in a cowhide instead. While playing he would run, jump, and yell.
How the boy came to be called Nuhata Nurgai
Heroes usually are born into and spend their early years in poor households. When they are small they do not wear brocades and silk but rather wear poor and nasty clothing. For this reason they will never get cold.
The elder brother of the child's father, Sargal Noyon, came one day to visit his younger brother Sengelen Noyon. He regretted that he had married off Naran Goohon and sent her with his brother to live in exile as poor people. Therefore, when he saw that they had a child he was very happy. He wanted to adopt this child who showed the temperament of a warrior. He said, "Let me take this child with me, and he can grow up and play with my own two sons!"
The boy's parents agreed. Sargal Noyon then released his brother from his exile and Sengelen Noyon returned with his wife Naran Goohon to her own family in the upper world.
The child that was to become Geser in the future was quite a troublesome and confusing little boy for his parents. He would urinate in his swaddling great amounts of water like a river, and when he would defecate in his cradle the smell was powerful. He would run around barefoot with snot running out of his nose.
When Sargal Noyon came home he gave a feast to celebrate the arrival of the boy. He told his guests, "Up to this time this boy has no name. Find me a suitable name for him!" he told his people, "To the one who gives me a name I will give meat enough to cover his head like a hat and a lump of fat as big as his head!" From among the people an old man leaning on a white walking stick said, "He has snot running from his nose, he is sweaty and muddy. Why not call him Nuhata Nurgai (Slimy Face)?"
Everybody laughed, and, smiling, Sargal Noyon embraced the old man warmly. After that time Nuhata Nurgai watched Sargal Noyon's animals.
Sargal Noyon's own two sons were called Altan Shagai and Mungun Shagai. They constantly tested his strength, tested his quickness of mind with riddles, and sent him out on the hunt. He succeeded at any test that they put him to. Sargal Noyon then thought, "Any man who can endure such tests at this time was certainly born to defeat the monsters and evil things on the earth!"
At that time the leader of the people of the northwestern lands, Temeen Ulaan, has a very beautiful daughter named Tumen Jargalan. He announced that he would give his daughter in marriage to any man who was able to win three demonstrations of strength. Warriors came from many different households and gathered for the contest. Nuhata Nurgai also came, wearing old clothes and riding a mouse brown two year old colt. But once the contests began he won every single one. He picked up a huge liver colored rock and threw it so forcefully that it shattered into flints. He then uprooted a pine tree from the forest and threw it so that it shattered into splinters. He then pulled up an ephedra bush and threw it further than anyone else. No one was able to match this kind of ability. Among them was the boy's uncle Hara Zutan, and from that time onward poisonous hatred boiled in his heart toward his nephew. Having won all the contests, Nuhata Nurgai took Tumen Jargalan back to his own country as his wife.
After returning home, before long Nuhata Nurgai went out again on his travels. He still rode the little mousy colt, and was armed with a simple red willow bow and horn tipped willow shafted arrows. He went here and there about the world. He arrived at one country where its ruler, Shaazgai Bayan, was promising to give his daughter in marriage to any man who was able to defeat a giant warrior.
The giant had a powerful black body, a chest as wide as the sea, armor of forged iron, a broad strong bow, a quiver made of planks, rode a buckskin horse and had a powerful booming voice.
With the power of his body and the quickness of his mind Nuhata Nurgai was able to win the contest. He therefore was able to take Shaazgai Bayan's daughter, Urmai Goohon, back to his home as his second wife.
How the Hero was transformed into Geser
Tumen Jargalan, Urmai Goohon, and Nuhata Nurgai had a very dull life together. Their life became poorer and worse every day. The two wives were very astonished, for after he had brought them home he never slept with them. Instead, he would always go out at night and would not return until daybreak.
One night Nuhata Nurgai climbed to the summit of Mount Sumber and did a ritual to honor Etseg Malaan Tenger. There, at the summit of the mountain, his face changed into his true appearance as Bukhe Beligte. Instead of a boy's body he had the appearance of a warrior, a dark red brown face, broad white teeth, a powerful broad chest, powerful black fists, multicolored eyes, and black hair a fathom long!
Looking down from the upper world Bukhe Beligte Tenger's father, Han Hormasta saw his son upon the summit of the mountain. He took back the warrior's equipment that Bukhe Beligte had entrusted to Etseg Malaan Tenger before his birth. He then sent these things down on a warrior's horse, a bay that came down from heaven. It had hooves that would never slip, legs that would never get cold, and a mane that was three armfuls worth of hair. When it alighted upon the mountain its hooves struck sparks upon the rocks and lightning glittered in its eyes! The horse was named Beligen (gift).
The warrior who had now become Geser grabbed the red reins of the horse, put his feet into the silver stirrups and sat upon the silver saddle. He rode down toward the world, and saw the seven lands while riding his horse. His bay steed Beligen galloped between heaven and earth through the skies, the hero had become like the eagle.
On his way back to his home Geser met thirty three warriors, three thousand and ninety soldiers, and three hundred captains for his army. They followed him as he traveled toward his home. Thus Geser came to the world to kill the monsters, suppress the evil spirits, and bring life and happiness to all people and living things.
Sengelen Noyon and Naran Goohon rejoiced to know they had borne such a heroic son. When Tumen Jargalan and Urmai Goohon realized that they were married to such a handsome warrior they were content.
He was then asked, "Where shall the people's famous hero Geser make his home?" He answered, "By the great river, on the shores of the eternal lake, by the Hatan River, and on the shores of the black lake, in the land of the larks!" (the eternal, black lake is Lake Baikal) In this beautiful land Geser lived happily for three years and a day.
Geser's Third Wife Alma Mergen
One day Geser got up and told his family, "I am tires of eating beef, I miss eating game. I will go hunting in the Altai and Sayan mountains."
Thus Geser went hunting among the peaks of the Altai and Sayan Mountains. After three days of hunting he had not killed a single deer. On the fourth day he saw a spotted deer running in the forest and he followed it. Then suddenly a young man riding a chestnut horse appeared and shot the deer before Geser. While at a trot the boy reached down, grabbed the dead deer, swung it up on his horse, and galloped away.
Geser was angry and shouted after the boy. He then rode after him and continued to shout, but the boy ignored him and continued riding. Geser did not want to return home without the deer. In great anger he struck Beligen with his whip and pursued the boy. The boy and his horse were starting to get tired, and they were approaching the shores of Baikal. But the youth rode fearlessly into the waters of the lake and disappeared.
Geser tied his horse to a tree and entered the waters of the lake supporting himself with his spear. He then discovered that he had found the entrance to the country of Uha Loson, the head of the water spirits. The rider of the chestnut horse was none other than the daughter of Uha Loson. When she had met Geser she had taken on the appearance of a young man while hunting.
He came to the house of Uha Loson and announced who he was, and he was introduced to Alma Mergen. When he was young, Uha Loson had known Han Hormasta quite well. Furthermore, they had agreed that his daughter Alma Mergen and Han Hormasta's son Bukhe Beligte would be married. According to this custom, Alma Mergen became Geser's third wife.
After ten days of feasting Geser announced his intention to return to his homeland. He had still not slept with his new wife. Alma Mergen used her own guile to keep Geser from leaving and put a drug in his food that made him lose all his thoughts and worries about his former life. He did not know whose son he was, where he came from, where he was going, he was powerless to remember anything. At this time Alma Mergen became pregnant and gave birth to a daughter.
Days and months went by, and became years. Geser had become stupid, and did not remember his home, his lands, or his livestock. Instead he watched the animals belonging to his father-in-law. On the shore of the lake his horse Beligen had turned into skin and bones and was barely able to stand. At that time the western tenger looked down from the upper world and were astonished, saying, "We have not heard about Geser for a long time, we do not hear the galloping of his horse Beligen." They then sent Bukhe Beligte's three older sisters down to earth to see what had happened.
After traveling to many places the three sisters came to Uha Loson's land and found Geser. They slapped him on the right cheek and he vomited up a black object, then they slapped him on the left cheek and he vomited up the rest of the drug that had deprived him of his senses. They then smudged him with juniper and sprayed him with spring water so that his body returned to normal.
Geser went out hunting, killed a moose, and threw the carcase before his father in law, announcing to Uha Loson that he was returning to his own country, saying, "You do not catch foreigners in a net, you should not put guests in a moosehide bag." and he left taking his wife and two daughters with him. When Uha Loson brought them to the shore of the lake it was night. Geser immediately went looking for his horse. When he found Beligen, his horse was barely alive, but Geser hugged him around the neck, happy to find him again.
Once Beligen the bay horse had regained his strength Geser, his wife Alma Mergen, and his two daughters returned to the land of the big river, the eternal lake, the Hatan river, the black lake. Geser then built three houses for his three wives. With happiness filling his heart he would say to them affectionately, "Is the sun in the sky beautiful, or is Tumen Jargalan beautiful? Is the sun in the heavens beautiful, or is Urmai Goohon beautiful? Is the golden sun beautiful, or is Alma Mergen beautiful?
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