HU OSA 437-1-20:19/1

Two Tales from the King Gesar Epic: Khar ray lingfa khi-thit (‘Story of a King’)

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4 minutes 11 seconds

Ladakhi (Original)

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Tsultrim Falke is in his sixties, from the village of Pishu. He is the head of the village and a traditional farmer. Tsultrim Falke can be said to represent the meeting of traditional and modern culture. Unlike most people his age, he can write in Tibetan and he has also traveled outside the valley. His understanding of the Gesar epic also reflects both oral and modern written tradition. According to his account, he learnt the Gesar epic (or the tales he was familiar with) in the traditional, oral way from his elders, that is, from his grandmother and another female relative from the village of Hongchat. Though he probably listened to these tales as a child, he consciously started to pay attention to them and committing them to heart at the age between fifteen and twenty. It must also be mentioned that Tsultrim Falke was familiar with written, book-versions of the Gesar epic, as well as the fact that the Gesar epic is known “everywhere,” that is over a wider geographical region. During his travels, he had found a book in Varanasi (India), in which there was a text of the Gesar epic, complete with pictures. He claimed to have another book of the Gesar epic in his possession, brought from Tibet by his grandfather. How far these bookish versions influenced his own recall of what he had first learnt in the oral way, remains to be determined. Finally, he was also aware of folklorists and other researchers’ interest in these texts (which made securing his cooperation easier). He once made a visit to Morup Namgyal, the singer and collector of Ladakhi folk/traditional songs, in Leh, even taking his volume of the Gesar epic along. He requested that they make a recording together. However, this recording finally did not materialize. During being recorded, Tsultrim Falke first explained the storyline and then sang the epic. This mixture of poetry and prose, or the chantefable style, is the traditional way to perform the Gesar epic.