Songtsen Gampo
Songtsen Gampo was the 33rd King of Tibet from 618 or 629 until his death in 650, and the founder of the Tibetan Empire. The first of the "Three Dharma Kings of Tibet", he formally introduced Buddhism to Tibet and built the Jokhang with the influence of his queen Bhrikuti, from the Licchavi kingdom of Nepal. He unified the Tibetan Plateau, conquered lands adjacent to Tibet, and moved the capital to the Red Fort in Lhasa. His minister Thonmi Sambhota created the Tibetan script and Classical Tibetan, the first literary and spoken language of Tibet.
His queen mother is identified as Driza Thökar. The exact date of his birth and his enthronement are not certain, and in Tibetan history it is generally accepted that he was born in an Ox year of the Tibetan calendar. According to Tsepon W. D. Shakabpa, he ascended the throne at age thirteen, in 614, and reigned at least until 648.
As Tibetan kings usually ascended to the throne around age 13, several earlier dates are also suggested for the birth of Songtsen Gampo include 569, 593 or 605.
Early life and cultural background
It is said that Songtsen Gampo was born at Gyama in Meldro, a region to the northeast of modern Lhasa, the son of the Yarlung king Namri Songtsen. The book The Holder of the White Lotus says that it is believed that he was a manifestation of Avalokiteśvara, of whom the Dalai Lamas are similarly believed to be a manifestation. His identification as a cakravartin and incarnation of Avalokiteśvara began in earnest in the indigenous Buddhist literary histories of the 11th century.Family
Songtsen Gampo's mother, the queen, was a member of the prominent Tsépong clan, which played an important part in the unification of Tibet. Her name is recorded variously but is identified as Driza Tökar.Songtsen Gampo had six consort queens, of whom four were Tibetan and two were foreign born. The highest-ranking consort was Pogong Mongza Tricham, and a noble woman from Zhangzhung. Well-known even today are his two foreign wives: the Nepali princess Bhrikuti as well as the Chinese Princess Wencheng. Songtsen sponsored the building of two temples to house the images of Buddha brought by his Nepalese and Chinese wives, however he showed little interest in propagating Buddhism otherwise, and was buried according to pre-Buddhist protocols and rituals when he died.
Songtsen Gampo's heir, Gungsong Gungtsen, died before his father, so his younger son Mangsong Mangtsen inherited the throne. Two Dunhuang sources give different mothers for Mangsong Mangtsen: the Tibetan Annals say the mother was the btsan mo. It is unlikely that the mother was the btsan mo because the Annals did not use the honorific kinship term yum for her.
Tibetan Empire-era documents found at Dunhuang say that Songtsen Gampo also had a sister Sad-mar-kar and a younger brother bTzan-srong who was betrayed and died in a fire,. According to one partially damaged scroll from Dunhuang, there was hostility between Sa-tha-ma-kar and bTzan-srong, who was then forced to settle in gNyal.
When the prince Gungsong Gungtsen reached the age of thirteen, his father, Songtsen Gampo, retired, and the prince ruled for five years, which could have corresponded to the period when Songtsen Gampo was working on a new Tibetan constitution. Gungsong Gungtsen is also said to have married 'A-zha Mang-mo-rje when he was thirteen, and they had a son, Mangsong Mangtsen. Gungsong Gungtsen is said to have only ruled for these five years and died at eighteen. Songtsen Gampo, returned to the throne. Gungsong Gungtsen is said to have been buried at Donkhorda, the site of the royal tombs, to the left of the tomb of his grandfather Namri Songtsen.
According to Tibetan tradition, Songtsen Gampo was enthroned while still a minor as the thirty-third king of the Yarlung dynasty after his father was poisoned circa 618. He is said to have been born in an unspecified Ox year and was 13 years old when he took the throne. This accords with the tradition that the Yarlung kings took the throne when they were 13, and supposedly old enough to ride a horse and rule the kingdom. If these traditions are correct, he was probably born in the Ox year 605 CE. The Old Book of Tang notes that he "was still a minor when he succeeded to the throne."
The current head of the Royal House of Tibet and king in exile is a direct descendant of the Dharma kings and has been crowned King of Tibet by Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama. His Majesty King Lhagyari Trichen Namgyal Wangchuk lives in the United States and travels the world speaking out for the human and religious rights of the Tibetan people, under the occupation of the People's Republic of China.
Cultural accomplishments
Songtsen Gampo sent his minister Thonmi Sambhota and other young Tibetans to India to devise a script for Classical Tibetan, which led to the creation of the first Tibetan literary works and translations, court records and a constitution. After Thonmi Sambhota returned from India, he stayed in retreat at Kukhamaru Palace in Lhasa while creating the Tibetan script. He then presented the script to the court and taught the king. Songtsen Gampo then retired for four years to learn the written language, after which he translated twenty-one tantric texts on Avalokiteshvara, and the Mani Kumbum.Songtsen Gampo moved the seat of his newly unified kingdom from the Yarlung Valley to the Kyichu Valley, site of the future city of Lhasa. The site itself was originally a herding ground called Rasa but the name was changed to Lhasa on the king's founding of the Jokhang Temple. The name Lhasa itself originally referred simply to the temple precincts.
He is also credited with bringing many new cultural and technological advances to Tibet. The Jiu Tangshu, or Old Book of Tang, states that after the defeat in 648 of an Indian army in support of Chinese envoys, the Chinese Emperor, Gaozong, a devout Buddhist, gave him the title variously written Binwang, "Guest King" or Zongwang, "Cloth-tribute King" and 3,000 rolls of multicoloured silk in 649 and granted the Tibetan king's request for "silkworms' eggs, mortars and presses for making wine, and workmen to manufacture paper and ink."
Traditional accounts say that, during the reign of Songtsen Gampo, examples of handicrafts and astrological systems were imported from China and the Western Xia; the dharma and the art of writing came from India; material wealth and treasures from the Nepalis and the lands of the Mongols, while model laws and administration were imported from the Uyghurs of the Second Turkic Khaganate to the North.
Introduction of Mahayana Buddhism
Songtsen Gampo is traditionally credited with being the first to bring Mahayana Buddhism to the Tibetan people. He is also said to have built many Buddhist temples, including the Jokhang in Lhasa, the city in which he is credited in one tradition with founding and establishing as his capital, and Tradruk Temple in Nêdong. During his reign, the translation of Buddhist texts from Sanskrit into Tibetan began.Songtsen Gampo is considered to be the first of the three Dharma Kings — Songtsen Gampo, Trisong Detsen, and Ralpacan — who established Buddhism in Tibet.
The inscription on the Skar cung Pillar reports that during Songtsen Gampo's reign, "shrines of the Three Jewels were established by building the temple of Ra-sa and so on." The first edict of Trisong Detsen mentions a community of monks at this vihara.
620s
Songtsen Gampo was adept at diplomacy as well as on the field of battle. The king's minister, Nyang Mangpoje Shangnang, with the aid of troops from Zhangzhung, defeated the Sumpa in northeastern Tibet circa 627.630s
Six years later, Myang Mang-po-rje Zhang-shang was accused of treason and executed. Minister Mgar-srong-rtsan succeeded him.The Jiu Tangshu records that the first ever embassy from Tibet arrived in China from Songtsen Gampo in the 8th Zhenguan year, or 634 CE. Tang dynasty chronicles describe this as a tribute mission, but it brought an ultimatum demanding a marriage alliance, not subservient rituals. After this demand was refused, Tibet launched victorious military attacks against Tang affiliates in 637 and 638.
The conquest of Zhang Zhung
There is some confusion as to whether Central Tibet conquered Zhangzhung during the reign of Songtsen Gampo or in the reign of Trisong Detsen. The Old Book of Tang do seems to place these events clearly in the reign of Songtsen Gampo, for they say that in 634, Yangtong and various Qiang peoples "altogether submitted to him." Following this, he united with the country of Yangtong to defeat the 'Azha, or Tuyuhun, and then conquered two more tribes of Qiang before threatening Songzhou with an army of more than 200,000 men. He then sent an envoy with gifts of gold and silk to the Chinese emperor to ask for a Chinese princess in marriage and, when refused, attacked Songzhou. According to the Tang annals, he finally retreated and apologised, and, later, the emperor granted his request, but the histories written in Tibet all say that the Tibetan army defeated the Chinese and that the Tang emperor delivered a bride under threat of force.Early Tibetan accounts say that the Tibetan king and the king of Zhangzhung had married each other's sisters in a political alliance. However, the Tibetan wife of the king of the Zhangzhung complained of poor treatment by the king's principal wife. War ensued, and, through the treachery of the Tibetan princess, "King Ligmikya of Zhangzhung, while on his way to Sum-ba was ambushed and killed by King Songtsen Gampo's soldiers. As a consequence, The Zhangzhung kingdom was annexed to Bod . Thereafter the new kingdom born of the unification of Zhangzhung and Bod was known as Bod rGyal-khab." R. A. Stein places the conquest of Zhangzhung in 645.