Red. w j. pub.: Сергей Владимирович Пахомов

The history of the Tibetan language in its written form goes back to at least the half of the 7lh century. At that time, because of introducing Buddhism to Tibet, a need for translating canonical texts, in most cases from Sanskrit, occurred. The translators tried to adjust the syntax and syllabic vocabulary of the nomads, the language used in feudal military quarters, and ancient epic to the Indo-European, philosophical, and religious concepts. The developing Tibetan literature (from its very beginning until the first half of the 20th century) has been under an enormous influence of Tibetan religion and beliefs, which, among other texts, will be examined in the case of selected fragments of, comparable to Gilgamesh in terms of the amount of text, the great epic of Gesar from Ling. Taking into consideration the vast area where the Tibetan language has been used, as well as its quality, originality, large amount, and diversity, the literature of the Tibetan country has exerted an influence upon the culture of China, Mongolia, Nepal, northern parts of India, Bhutan, as well as the Russian territories of Tuva, Buryatiya, and Kalmykia.