Eye-catching achievement made

The 40 Selected Volume of the Epic of King Gesar (Tibetan edition). [Photo/China Tibet Online]

In August, 2013, the academia witnessed another achievement in the study of the Epic of King Gesar-the 40 Selected Volume of the Epic of King Gesar (Tibetan edition) was published.

Speaking of this, Jampel Gyatso became excited and could not conceal his pride.

"This is the most excited thing for me. It is a time-consuming project. We have spent nearly 30 years in compiling the selection from some 300 published editions."

"It is a pity that some old researchers evolved didn’t live to see the final moment," said the old man.

The newly-published edition includes 40 volumes, nearly 600,000 lines in Tibetan poem-equals to 20 million words in Han characters. It is the most complete version yet in China to put the stories of King Gesar together.

"The changes and achievements of the Epic of King Gesar reflect the government’s determination to protect Tibetan culture," said Jampel Gyatso.

Much longer than the Epic of Gilgamesh in Mesopotamia, Homeric epics or Indian epics including the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, the Epic of King Gesar is hailed as the longest heroic epic in the world and has circulated in diverse ways for thousands of years in Tibet.