SEARCHING FOR AND VISITING GESAR MINSTRELS

THE OLD MAN DRAKPA’S SKULL

The old man Drakpa was the best Gesar minstrel in modern China. The legend of the old man Drakpa’s skull should be started from the story of a frog. Long long ago, when King Gesar riding on his purplish red horse Jianggepeibu whirled at full speed on the prairie, his horse stepped on a frog in negligence. King Gesar got off the horse and prayed for the dead frog’s soul, hoping that in its next life it could tell the stories of the Kingdom of Ling to younger generations. Later, this frog had really become a Gesar minstrel in its next life. The old man Drakpa had deep belief about this story. In his later years, he said to his daughter Baima: “In my skull, there is a print of Jianggepeibu’s hoof. After my death, when you hold the celestial burial, you will see this print.”

So, people saw the old manÕs skull on the celestial burial platform. In it there is a clear hoofprint--everyone who has seen the skull can verify this.

This story gave us a valuable clue. So, to shoot the marvelous skull of the old man Drakpa became an important aim the production unit.

But the old manÕs skull is kept by his son-in-law, who wouldn’t show the skull whatever we tried to persuade him. He said he had sent the skull to his hometown in Banbar. We didn’t know what to do at a time. Fatty Wangdui, the old man Drakpa’s grandson drove for the production unit. From him we got to know some inside stories: because of the old man Drakpa’s fame, his skull has become a sacred article. Many people want to get it. And it has caused some conflicts between his offsprings. We respect the choice of the Drakpa family, and gave up to shoot the old man's skull.

The old man Drakpa passed away in 1986, leaving limited material about him. In the later edition, we even wanted to cancel this episode. But this idea was strongly opposed by Mr.Vjam-dpal rgya-mtsho, the leading authority of Gesar study in China. “Is the old man Drakpa’s contribution only limited to his skull?” said Mr. Vjam-dpal, “He has left to us 998 recording cassettes, 25 volumes of ballads of Legend of King Gesar, whose total number of lines equals that of Poetry of Homes, and whose total number of words equals that of five The Dream of Red Mansions. And his ballads are of the highest quality, and we can even say that his ballads are the closest to the ancient version of Gesar. The greatness of the old man Drakpa lies in his remarkable creativeness.” These words made us see the light at once. Finally, we decided to vividly display the great and legendary life of the old man Drakpa through people’s recall by adopting the structure of the American documentary film The Death of Nixon.

In 1906, the old man Drakpa was born in a poor farmer’s family in Banbar, Changdu in Tibet. One day when he was seven, he grazed goats on the mountain. In chasing a blue chick, he lost his way and went asleep under a big tree. In his dream a green-faced warrior in green clothes on a green horse opened his stomach with a sword and put into it many books. Little Drakpa said hurriedly, “What’s the use of putting in these books? I can’t even read a word!” The green-faced man said, “You don”t need to know words. Later you can tell and sing the stories in these books.” This green-faced man was no other than Danma, one of the 30 Gesar generals.

Three days later, little Drakpa was found by his family. Although he was awake, he murmured all the time. At last people understood what he said, it was the legend of King Gesar! Then from the Wutai Mountain in the inland area came a Lama. After seeing Drakpa, he said to Drakpa’s mother,”This child is as precious as a gold house. Don't taint him. And bring him up carefully.”

Before long Drakpa’s parents died successively. When he was 19, in order to make a living, young Drakpa became a minstrel and led a hard life with his wife and children. Telling and singing Gesar was the only way for him to make a living. Drakpa and his family went across the vast Byang-thang Prairie, reached Ngari, went into the primeval forest in the southern Tibet three times and went over the great valley of the Yarlung Zangbo River. He had reached almost every mountain and lake in Tibet. The dew of the mountain and plain and the spirit of the sun, the moon and stars nourished his talent. And at the same time, he had suffered the earthly miseries. In the 14 years of his wandering, he lost his wife and two sons.

In 1959, Drakpa became a regular pointsman in Nyingchi and ended his 14 years of wandering life.

The real expression of Drakpa’s artistic value started after that unforgetable spring in 1979. At that time, Tibet University officially accepted him to work there. The university authority gave him the best house and moved all the 11 people in his family from Linzhi to Lhasa and made appropriate arrangements of their work and study.

The old man Drakpa recorded for Tibet University for seven years. During the seven years, he looked on the telling and singing of Gesar as the only thing in his life. And he kept on recording his tellling and singing till his death. In 1986, the old man Drakpa went to Beijing to attended the national symposium on Gesar and was rewarded by four ministries. He and Pajie, the artist of the Mongolian ethnic group who died in 1964 were both nationally granted the title “Outstanding Gesar Minstrels”.

That Lama was right. Drakpa was really as precious as a gold house. However, what he left to us is a treasure house which cannot be measured by money. His ballads have been arranged by Tibet University and published by China National Publishing House successively. The old man Drakpa’s artistic accomplishment is no doubt a bright star of the world literary constellation. When he looks down from the heaven, there must be a smile on his face.

A'gu ru rgyal's is a script-excavating artist in Golog in the Tibetan Nationality Autonomous Region. And he is the only script-excavating artist found at present.

The word “script-excavating” was borrowed from the missionary method of the Nyingma sect. It means that when believers are oppressed or when there is no complete condition for spreading the beliefs, believers hide the scripts and excavate them later when appropriate time arrives and spread them again. A'gu ru rgyal's thinks that the marvelous heroic epic Gesar is the information hidden in the universe and the soul which could only be comprehended and excavated by script-excavating artists, who write stories of Gesar from their hearts and display them to people.

A'gu ru rgyal's is 36 now. He was arranged to work in the prefecture people’s artistic museum from 1987 by Golog Prefecture government. Now he has written 20 volumes of Gesar stories. He has a happy family with a beautiful wife and two daughters.

Two women influenced A'gu ru rgyal's’s life: one is his mother and the other is his wife. They consist the life elements of A'gu ru rgyal's’s emotional world.

A'gu ru rgyal's was born in Liaoqu Village, Gande County in 1966. His hometown is the place where the Deweier tribe in history once lived, who proclaimed that Gesar was their ancester. After A'gu ru rgyal's was born, he lived with his mother, while his father lived with another woman.His mother hoped that he would become a monk in future. A'gu ru rgyal's’s poetic temperament and especially the Gesar blood lineage of the Deweier tribe deeply influenced his personality.

People of the Deweier tribe all think that they are the lineal tribe of King Gesar. And many men in Deweier tribe believe they themselves have some relations with one of the 80 generals in the Gesar stories in their precious life. The games A'gu ru rgyal's played with his playmates in his childhood were mostly about the stories of Gesar. It is from this Deweier tribe that came several Gesar minstrels such as Ngang-ring and Shasang.

Gande County, where the Deweier tribe is located, is situated in the center of Golog. Golog is regarded as the homeland of Gesar. All the Gesar minstrels tell and sing like this, “Wa”ngaimaxin Snowy Mountain is the place where King Gesar puts his soul; the god of Wa”ngaimaxin Mountain is the great god of war of Gesar. And the famous Zhaling Lake, Eling Lake and Zhuoling Lake are the places where the three tribes of Lingguo Kingdom put their souls.” It is from these sacred mountains and lakes that stories on Gesar develop to great historical epics.

And the Deweier tribe where A'gu ru rgyal's was in is just situated between the sacred Wa’ngaimaxin Mountain and the three large lakes.

A'gu ru rgyal's has been intelligent and hardworking since his childhood. Using the elementary school textbooks, he taught himself the Tibetan language. Under his mother’s care, he grew up gradually. Once when he was 17, he accompanied a relative to go to hospital in the province capital. When he returned home, his mother had died of cold. This news was just like a lightning in the sunny day that struck the young A'gu ru rgyal's. He decided to go round the Qinghai Lake 13 times to pray for his motherÕs soul. Winter went away and spring came near. The lake water washed away his tears and gentle breeze healed his wounded heart. He put all his emotions to his mother into his poems:

Over the mountain in the east,

The full moon hangs high above.

How misery it is,

When I think of my mother.

A’gu in his childhood,

Had not tasted such suffering.

My dear mother’s kindness,

What’s the use of knowing it today?

He wrote 53 poems altogether commemorating his mother. All these poems’ aspiration and style come from the sixth Dalai Lama Tshang-dbyangs rgya-mtsho’s “love songs”, which enjoy a high reputation in Tibetan literary history.

He got to know his wife Dagrijie because of these love songs. On his way home after praying for his mother’s soul, A'gu ru rgyal's was invited by a family in Dangluo Village. The host asked A'gu ru rgyal's to teach his two little sons the Tibetan language. In an evening surrounding by clear moonlight, A'gu ru rgyal's read these poems to this family. The audience all shed tears. Dagrijie, the elder sister of the two little boys fell in love with A'gu ru rgyal's in this atmosphere. Later they got married. Of course, A'gu ru rgyal's also wrote the most affectionate lines to his beloved wife-

My love as chaste as jade,

Your moon-liked face appears in my longing sky.

You are the one who dominates my life,

Your beautiful voice like that of cuckoo linger around my ears.

You are my ideal companion,

Your loveÕs fish swim in my sea of heart.

My soul of looking for the truth of life,

Flies in your flowers of love.

A'gu ru rgyal's is fortunate, for he was born in a good time. A cultural engineer of searching for, saving, sorting out, publishing and studying the heroic epic Gesar is widely carried out in the whole Tibetan area. Under the direct concern of the leaders of Golog Prefecture in Qinghai Province, A'gu ru rgyal's is accepted as a national official. He says that he can write 120 volumes of Gesar stories. Now he is practicing this sacred mission whole-heartedly.

When Gesar artists tell and sing Gesar stories, they all wear a hat. Why? Although the hats are of different colors, but the similar ornaments tell us something. What are they? Let’s see some different hats of different artists.

Yumei: The hat left by her father

Yumei is the first woman Gesar minstrel in China. When we saw her, I named dozens of characters in Gesar stories successively, and she at once sang the representative lines of these characters with different styles. After the shooting task was completed, Yumei took off her hat. One person in the production unit was curious. He took over the hat and was about to put it on his head. Yumei stopped him kindly. She said, ÒYou can’t bear it. Your head will ache. Respecting the Gesar artistis, the curious person made a face and put back the hat.

Yumei’s hat was left to her by her father. At first, the hat was simple and had only one plain color. Yumei herself modified the hat and tied to it many colorful cloth strips, which make the hat more beautiful.

Yumei’s hometown was Suoxian County in Nag-chu in northern Tibet. Her father Luoda was a strong and famous Gesar minstrel. Yumei liked to hear her father tell and sing Gesar stories since she was a little child. One day when she was 15 years old, Yumei grazed oxen and goats on the back mountain. She went to sleep gradually. She seemed to come to Gesar’s camp and see many people and things in Gesar stories. At this time, an eagle came down from the sky and pecked on her right arm. She was awakened by the pain. Since then, there is a green print on her right arm.

After she came home, Yumei suffered a serious illness. She lay in bed unconcious for several days. She came to at last. Her father was near death. Before he died, he said to Yumei’s mother, “My yang” (good luck in the Tibetan language) of telling and singing Gesar has passed on to Yumei.” After her father’s death, Yumei really became an excellent Gesar minstrel rapidly.

Among Gesar artists, the phenomenon of “from father to daughter” in Yumei’s case is very rare. As long as the Gesar artists I have met, Yumei is the only one of this case.

In the year when she was 21, Yumei was moved to work in the Gesar Research Institute in Tibet Academy of Social Science. Her work was to tell and sing Gesar. It is marvelous that Yumei can continously sing many new Gesar stories. Now she has recorded 16 volumnes of Gesar, but they have not been edited into books, which worries her very much. Experts say that Yumei had left her living environment in Suoxian County too early and the “growth” of Gesar stories in her heart is thus affected by this, which is expressed in the incompleteness of her stories.

When we met Yumei for the first time, her voice was hoarse. The production unit bought loquat ointment for her and sent people to accompany her. When we meet again, she coordinated our shooting work very much. Before we departed, she gave one of her treasured rosary to me. It is so precious. In it there are Gesar artists” deep affection and earnest expectation to our production unit.

Samzhub: The origin of Gesar artists’ hats

Samzhub is an 80-year-old Gesar artist, who is entitled the “master of language”. Actually he is the one who tells and sings Gesar stories the most at present and has recorded and produced 56 volumes of Gesar stories. Samzhub’s hat is of the tiger leather color which looks imposing on his head. Samzhub has his unique opinion on all the locations concerned in the epic Gesar. He said that given a map, he could mark all of them clearly.

As regards the origin of Gesar artists’ hats, Samzhub told us it had to come back to the story of Gesar going alone to the Kingdom of Hor to save his loved wife Vbrug-mo. After Gesar defeated the Kingdom of Mo in the north and came back home, his Ling Kingdom had been raided by the Kingdom of Hor. Facing the strong Kingdom of Hor, it was useless to start a large-scale war. Gesar thought it was only possible to win the enemy by using his intelligence.

In order to enter the Kingdom of Hor, Gesar did some makeup. He made an exceptional hat and praised its remarkable function both in talking and singing. This is the famous “praise of hat.” At last, the Hor soldiers who guarded the city wall believed Gesar was an outstanding person and let him go into the Kingdom. Then the epic went into the famous chapter of Battle Between Kingdom of Hor and Kingdom of Ling. Ever since then, when all Gesar minstrels tell and sing Gesar they would wear a hat imitating the one Gesar wore at that time.

Samzhub was born in Denqen County in Qamdo. He has never returned to his hometown since he left there in his twenties, for his grandfather who loved him since his childhood had died. He began to know Gesar in his grandfather’s arms when his grandfather told him the Gesar stories. Then he traveled across the vast plateau with horse gangs and met many Gesar artists. One of these artists named Luoda taught a lot. Later he met Yumei. When they talked about the old artist Luoda, he came to know that Luoda is Yumei’s father. Through scores of years of practice, SangzhuÕs telling and singing skill of Gesar has become proficient. He can tell and sing Gesar in many dialects, which makes him popular among farmers and herdsmen in southern Tibet.

Samzhub got married when he was 35 and live a stable life with his wife in Maizhokunggar. Now he works for the recording of telling and singing of Gesar in Tibet Academy of Social Sciences. In 1986, Samzhub, Drakpa and young Yumei were granted the title “excellent Gesar minstrels” by four national ministries in Beijing.

Butega explains why there is no saddle among the hat ornaments

Butega in Yushu Prefecture is already 80 years old. He is the heir of the second generation of the well-known family of the most famous Gesar transcript in China. His grandfather Galu could use a manuscript of Gesar to exchange a strong ox. When Butezhi was eight, his mother fell in love with a merchant and went to Lhasa. And Butega was brought up by his grandfather. Practicing handwriting became Butega’s required course. Then the copying of Gesar transcript could be said as the whole formal education he received.

The Gesar transcript of the Galu family has its unique style and formation. The paper is made of a grass named “bitter heart grass” in the Tibetan area which is very durable and hard to decay. The style of the hard pen calligraphy is unique to the Galu family. The first sentence of each chapter is written in red ink.

Butega started to work in the early 1950s. He used to be writer in cultural troupe and school teacher. Finally he worked in the prefecture people’s art museum, copying and sorting out Gesar. He denoted many of his grandfather’s transcripts to the country. In recently years, he and his son Qiujunzhaxi have finished sorting out six transcripts handed down from his forefathers which contain two million words in total and have all been published officially. Now he is working on the sorting out of the recording cassettes of Tshe-ring dbang-vdul, the famous minstrel of the writers’ association of Qinghai Province and Zla-ba grags-pa, the youngest minstrel in the prefecture. In 1986, he and his son were both rewarded by the country’s four ministries. The problem this family is facing is that whether there is heir to Gesar transcript. Qiujunzhaxi’s two daughters are studying in medical university in Xining in Qinghai Province, who are not likely to be the heiress; a son is studying liberal arts in a normal university, who will probably become the fourth generation heir of Gesar of the family. We look forward to that day.

Although Butega doesn’t tell and sing Gesar himself, he has a Gesar artist hat. The hat’s base color is white and has beautiful tassel-like ornaments. He explained to us the meaning of every hat ornaments. There are bows, arrows, armors, etc. The pointed ends at the two sides of the hat represent horse ears, but there is saddle missing among the ornaments. The lower part on the left of the hat is blank, which is the place for saddle at first. Butega said that after Gesar captured King of Baizhang of the Kingdom of Hor, Gesar’s subordinates put Gesar’s saddle on King Baizhang. Since then, there has no saddle among the hat ornaments. The vacancy represents an important victory, a brilliant glory.

Tshe-ring dbang-vdul: A Gesar hat in his heart

Tshe-ring dbang-vdul is an old artist of 80. His hometown is in Amdo County in Nag-chu, Tibet. When he was eight, there broke a big fight between his tribe and tribe in Xinjiang. His father and elder brothers died in that fight. In order to pray for the souls of his family members, nine-year-old Tshe-ring dbang-vdul went on the pilgrimage. He knelt and went around the Gangdisi Mountain and Namco Lake for 13 times. And when he did this, four years had passed and Tshe-ring dbang-vdul reached 13. His arms and laps got wounded countless times. At last he was struck down by disease. Among rocks by Namucuo Lake he slept continuously for seven days and seven nights and was taken care by sister Denqen who was on pilgrimage with him. It is marvelous that after he came back, he could tell and sing Gesar. This is the magic experiences of Tshe-ring dbang-vdul.

A young man who could tell and sing Gesar was certainly popular in his hometown. His life was improved. Not before long, love also came to him. A girl who is four years older than him fell in love with him. These two young people attended in the building of the military depot on Tanggula Mountain and earned some money.

Since then Tshe-ring dbang-vdul lived with his wife in the village in Tanggula Mountain, which is 5,000 metres above sea level and inaccessible to the outside world. In the early 1980s, the trend of looking for Gesar artists went into Tanggula Mountain. “The Singing Concert of Gesar Artists of Qinghai Province”began to be held. Tshe-ring dbang-vdul was late in the concert, but his outstanding skills made him win the first prize. This event changed his life. After examination, the Beijing expert team led by Vjam-dpal rgya-mtsho decided this was a rare Gesarartist of high level. Then the Qinghai Province government arranged him to work in the province’s writers’ association.

Tshe-ring dbang-vdul is versatile. He made Gesar hat and clothes himself according to the image of Gesar in his mind. The hat made by him is of grand manner with many triangle flags. The patterns on the flags are all animals and fierce beasts, which are the embodiments of generals in Kingdom of Ling and the 13 military gods of Gesar. We can see that Tshe-ring dbang-vdul has put many efforts in these clothes and what is important is that he think at that time Gesar wore clothes and hat just like this. He talked about all this sincerely. In the whole course of interviewing these Gesar artists and shooting the films about them, we can strongly feel that Gesar artists have combined the reality with the Gesar stories. You cannot separate them, for they live in a Gesar spiritual world.

About the author:

Sun Mingguang

a distinguished scenarist-director of televised documentary film and humanist and geographic photographer. He has shot 2,000-minute documentary film. He is the scenarist-director of the 30-episode televised documentary film Gesar. He has published literary works of various types totally more than 1.5 millions words.