Recent Russian Publications On Indian Epic

Author(s): J W De Jong
Publisher: J W De Jong

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THE ADYAR LIBRARY BULLETIN
Vasil’kov refers to the story of Astika, first told briefly in 1.13, and, thereupon in great detail (1.14-53) just as the topic of M itself is first told 'briefly in 1.55 and, thereupon, in the 18 books of the epic. Vasil’kov remarks that it would be impossible for a rhapsode to memorize the complete text of M, but that it is quite possible for a bard to sing a poem of this length. For instance, the Kirghiz bard Orozbakov (1876-1930) sang a version of the epic “Manas? which contained about 200,000 lines and also the sequels which are of about the same length.1 In M it is often said that the singer satisfies two conditions. He tells his story truthfully (tattvena, yathātatham, yathāvịttam, yathātattvam, etc.) and in detail (vistareņa). In the description of battle scenes the singer frequently uses the word tataḥ and repeats a word or words from the preceding śloka. According to Vasil’kov these devices facilitate the choịce of formulaic expressions when the tempo of the narration is accelerated.
1 Vasil’kov gives a reference to Zhirmunsky's paper on the epic folk-singers in Central Asia (VII Congrès international des sciences anthropologiques et ethnologiques. Moscou 3 août-10 août 1964, volume VI, Moskva, 1969, pp. 234-41). However, according to Zhirmunsky Saghymbai Orozbakov dictated by memory about 200,000 verses of his version of the epic 'Manas' whereas Sayakbai Karalayev (born in 1904) can recite the same number of verses of this epic and also about 200,000 verses of the sequels, which deal with the son and the grandson of Manas, the 'Semetei ’ and the Seyetek (p. 236). Elsewhere Zhirmunsky attributes about 250 000 verses to the versions of the epic ‘Manas' dictated by these two singers (Nora K. Chadwick and V'ctor Zhirmunsky, Oral Epics of Central Asia, pp. 279-80).