(Translation) Joro's Youth: the first part of the Mongolian epic of Geser Khan

The epic of King Gesar of Ling is the national oral epic of Tibet, sung by itinerant bards in their land for many centuries but not recorded in print until recent times. Spreading widely beyond Tibet, there are extant versions in other languages of Central Asia. The first printed version is from Mongolia, produced on the orders of the Kangxi emperor of the Manchu Qing dynasty in the early 18th century. In the process of transmission, the original saga lost much of its Tibetan flavour, and this Qing edition can be regarded as a genuine Mongolian work. Its hero, Geser Khan in Mongolian, became a folk-hero, later deified both in China and Mongolia. Geser’s mission is to save the world from endemic evil and strife, bringing peace to all. Although he himself is the son of a god, Geser as a human is unpredictable, romantic and funny, and many of his adventures belong to the picaresque. This translation of the first, and one of the longest, chapters of the epic covers his miraculous birth, his turbulent youth, and his marriage to the beautiful Rogmo Goa. It celebrates and commemorates the 300th anniversary of the printing of the epic in Peking in early 1716.

I had the privilege to work with Igor on this project. At the same time, I also feel very sad that this became our last project and that this will appear after his death. On 1 June 2016, Igor and I met Sharon Strange at the Australian Centre on China in the World (CIW) to sign the contract for publishing Joro's Youth — this very piece of translation. After signing the contract, we said 'ciao ciao' to each other because both of us had other appointments. I never thought that it would become our last meeting. It was Igor's wish to publish this book through CIW as a sign of his gratitude towards CIW for welcoming him as a member of its academic community.