Disclaimer: (The oral narration of the epic of Ling Gesar Gyap by Lam Manip on how did Gugar, the king of Hor took away Sencham Drugmo (Brug-gu-ma) the wife of King Gesar of Ling))
History: The epic of Ling Gesar can be dated back to 12th century . It is about a superhuman warrior King. The epic is still a living oral tradition.
The King of Hor, Gugar, who was in his deep sadness over the death of his wife hampered the political and economical development of Hor region. His ministers and people were worried about the bad temper of their king. To make him happy, the ministers decided to search a beautiful woman from anywhere in the world to marry with their king.
The ministers assigned three birds to fly to China, Moen and Kham and Boed to look for any eligible woman with queenly characters. Bja Tshering was assingned to go to China and look for a woman meeting the character described by them, Khuju, or the Cuckoo, was sent to Mon to look, meanwhile the Crow was sent towards Kham and Boed.
It had been nine nights and days, but none of the birds returned to Hor. Bja Tshering, from China didn’t find anyone and failed the expectation, thus he hid himself in the forest. From Mon, the Cuckoo bird in nine nights and days found no one matching the criteria given by the ministers and King from Hor.
The crow, who was sent to Boe and Kham, had seen a beautiful girl in Ling ( She was seen dressing her hair in the sun early morning) fulfilling the criteria given by the ministers and King. He waited, and in three days, he learned that the beautiful girl is the Queen of Ling, married to King Gesar.
The crow waited from all nine days and nights in Ling and retrieved all the information including the absence of Ling Gesar Gyap. He returned excitedly to Hor, met all Bja Tshering and Cuckoo, and they finally reported their finding to the King.
The Cuckoo and Bja Tshering apologized for their failure, but the Crow got the news to share. He presented “ Ling gi choe la zema drumo ray”. The crow also shared that she fulfils the criteria but she’s a widow.
Note: In ancient time, there were two widows: one window whose husband died and the other one whose husband left for war for years but alive)
The King and Ministers of Hor accepted to get Sungchong as the queen but it was never esay for them to have her. In Ling, Gesar alreadly left to Jang (North) to subdue the harm causing Demon, but as equal strength to him, his brother called Jatsa Zheykar with eighty other elderly elected members ruled Ling.
The region of Ling and Hor was political divided by Machhu, ( Mekong River) . the king of Hor sent his eight most dedicated spies to disguise themselves as Khampa and study the entire place of Ling. In three months they presented their findings, thus, King Gugar and his armies camped near the Mekong river before they attacked Ling.
The people of Ling were not known about the war plan of King of Hor, but the herders of Ling staying near the river had already seen a huge cloud of vapor from the near by boundary of river Mekong. When Jatsa Zheykar sent his armies to look, they found that it had been almost three months they camped near the river. The huge cloud of vapor was from the tea cups of the men of Gugar. They also learned that the entire pasture land was grazed to barren land by a harras of Gugar and his team, thus in short they reported the matter to Zheykar.
From Ling, Jatsha Zheykar and ‘Ling Pati Gyapchu’, or the eighty elected council of Ling came towards the boundary, but to their disappointment, at the other side of the Mekong river, the white camps filled the land like the vapor from the tea cups, mouth of both the horse and men filled the air.
The council of Ling were worried, they thought that they might have known the absence of Ling Gesar, thus they wanted to attack Ling or they wondered what could be the other reasons? Then, they decided to sent their armies to the otherside under the command of Tsajang Dempa Jangta. (Tsajangdempa Jangta was one of the most renowned and committed governor of Gesar).
Note (It is said that the eighty Drupchens in India were reincarnated as the eighty Patis of Ling. To be considered as a Pati in ling, he should be strong, brave, compassionate, intelligent and committed)
Upon reaching the center of the camp, just before the main camp where Gugar stayed, at the door step, his favorite governor called Shenpa Menrugtsi stood and he spoke on behalf of Gugar. He said that the only one reason for preparing war against the whole region of Ling is to have Sencham Drugmo( Brug-gu-ma) as the queen of their King.
Janta gave a befitting reply to Menrugtsi, he spoke on his face ‘ The king and the people of Hor are dreaming for the things that cant have anyhow. In Ling, Sungchomdrumo had the prophecy from Lha Ugyen Pem, and her prophecy is all about serving a King who has his power over the entire Universe. She in short is meant for the King of Ling, not for a devil King of Hor. And if you still look for her, it would be like borrowing an axe to chop off one’s own head. Ask for anything other than her and redraw from Ling’
But so determined were the King of Hor and his armies, they replied “ Our King Gugar is the king of Sky, thus, every place belongs to him, and if you dare to challenge a king whose power and strength is as vast as sky, you would only regret at the end. In a small province of Ling, Gesar is no one compared to Gugar, therefore, before they destroy Ling to the ground, it would be better for the people of Ling to surrender Sencham Drugmo’
Both the parties didn’t come to a conclusion, on the otherside of Mekong river, the council of Ling started discussing what next can be done. Meanwhile, the brave council men started to volunteer to attacked Gugar and his army.
The first attacked from Ling was led by Zigphen ( Zigphen dug gi dongpo) He worn all his war armaments, rode on his horse Rapa Ganachen and crossed the river to enter into the enemy zone along with twenty something armies.
In the unprepared state of the army of Gugar, the team of Zigphen destroyed some of the camps and searched for the main camp where Gugar must have resided. In the panicking state, the brave governor like Top Chen Lambuthabar, Bhadhur Cholamukpur and Thop Chen Menrugtsi rushed for the safety of their King.
At the door step of Gugar, Bhadhur Cholamukpur stood at the door step of the camp where Gugar resided and faced Zigphen. At the other side of the camp, the armies murmured the name ‘ Bhadhur Cholamukpur, Bhadhur Cholamukpur’ . Thus, it feared Zigphen a little as he heard the popularity of Chola. In their first attack from Ling, Zigphen retreated from the door step of Gugar.
This kind of single leader attack continued for days, and the King of Hor was also scared that Gesar might have returned from Jang. In the council of Ling, Aku Throdong, a betrayer revealed to the enemy of their plans. He shot on arrow attached with the message’ ‘The next strong army will be led by Dharphen, and I don’t need to describe this bravery, but your preparation can defeat him’. The men of Gugar had the information and they prepared to face Darphen.
Note : (Aku Throdong is also an oldest council member of Ling, but he had never been loyal to Ling and Gesar for even once. He had a strong wish to become the next king of Ling, it was also known that he was known to be the reincarnate of Lha yidam Tandin)
Dharphen and his army were attacked with thousand arrows in middle of the Mekong river. Thus, he had to retreat even before the enemy zone. The council of Ling doubted Aku Throdung but they were not so sure who licked their plan to the enemy.
To keep the plans within themselves, the council decided to only include few trusted men of Zheykar which excluded Aku Throdung. In their discussion, they appointed Tsajang Denpa Jantha for their next attack.
Jantha worn his armaments, rode on his horse Churuchem ( White and Black colored horse) and rushed towards the enemy place swinging his sword ‘ Jangpayumay’ and destroyed almost all the enemy camp before he faced Thop Chen Langbuthabar. And behind him stood ten thousand of his army. In the helplessness state, Jangta retreated for the second time.
Note : Gi Jangpayumay is blessed by god, the prophecy reads that every swing of sword finds the target, and every target is chopped into two equal piece at once)
Dharphen planned for the third attack, but Zheykar, stopped him following a bad dream the previous night. However, he didn’t listen, and in this attack Dharpen fell into the hands of their enemy.
The fall of Dharphen led to the internal negotiation, Ling agreed to give away their Sencham Drugmo to the king. In Ling, they already decided to sent a cousin of Sungchongdrumo as Sungchong who was equally beautiful as her. They sent her in the queenly farewell, but again, Aku Throdung revealed it. When they knew that Sencham Drugmo was not sent. The entire Army of Hor marched towards Ling, destroyed the whole of Ling and capture Sunchong Drumo.
In the first three nights, the King tied her on a wall and left out in an open area ( These three nights she was said to be protected by three white cranes of Ling) for not agreeing upon their marriage. Upon the repeated request of a minister who was said to be Ling origin, they released her.
He pleaded the king ‘ for year, ten thousand of men and horses were killed for just one woman, and now when you have her, you don’t care her. Marry her with dignity or else release her’
Note: Gesar didn’t return yet, he was said to be poisoned and made senseless at Lo.
Note: I listend this oral narration from Lam Manip, However, it may contradict with the epic. I admired his oral narration techniques. However, I also confirmed the name of generals wil an assistant professor lop Chorten Tshering.
In my next blog, I will bring you another history on How did Gesar get Sencham back from the king of Hor.
enjoy reading
Pema Wangchuk Parop 