Yarlung dynasty

The Yarlung dynasty (Tibetan: བོད་ཀྱི་གདོད་མའི་མངའ་མཛད།; Chinese: 雅礱王朝), or Pre-Imperial Tibet, was a proto-historical dynasty in Tibet before the rise of the historical Tibetan Empire in the 7th century.

Tibetan plaque, Yarlung dynasty, 600-800 (Collection Al Thani, Paris)

The early Yarlung dynasty rulers are more mythological than factual, and there is insufficient evidence of their definitive existence.

History

The Yarlung dynasty started presumably from 127 BC with Nyatri Tsenpo. It was situated on the south-east Tibetan Plateau which included the areas of Yarlung, Kongpo, Nyangpo, Powo. The early history of the dynasty comes largely from local folklore and mythology.

The debate is still on-going concerning who among the traditional forty-two kings attributed to the dynasty are real and who are mythical. According to folklore, Nyatri Tsenpo and his six immediate successors ascended to heaven by a "sky rope", so the location of their tombs are not to be found. The tomb of the eighth king Digum Tsenpo, however, has been found and is located in Kongpo, in U-Tsang.

The first mention of the dynasty outside Asia was in "Geography" by Claudius Ptolemy (87-165 AD). The country was named as "Batai" derived from the Tibetian word "Bod"

Tibet was traditionally fragmented into various local polities until Kings Tagri Nyensig and Namri Songtsen (570-620) unified the plateau after a series of wars and revolts. Namri Songtsen would later establish a capital in the Kyichu valley which would form into the Rasa settlement. Successive rulers would continue to expand the settlement and build a royal castle on mountain Marpori overlooking what would later be named the city of Lhasa, Tibet's traditional capital.

During the reign of Songtsen Gampo (605-650 CE), Tibet became for a period of 300 years one of the main powers in Central Asia. His reign saw multiple developments in Tibetan society such as the establishment of a structured system of land use, the formal creation of state funds, the division of the emergent empire into six provinces, and the reorganization of the military. He is also the patron of Tibet's writing system, giving Thonmi Sambhota the task of inventing and developing what would become the Tibetian script which he created after closely studying various Indian scripts. The script is believed to be based on both the Brahmi and the Gupta script. But Songtsen Gampo is best remembered because of his introduction of Buddhism in Tibet.

The integration of the Qiang, Sumpa, Asha and other Tibetian tribes in the north-eastern periphery began in 7th century. In 634, Tibet attacked Dangsyan. On 12 September 638, Tibet invaded a village in Xuizhou district which was inhabited by Dangsyan.

In December 640, the Tibetan dignitary Tontsen Yulsung brought five thousand liangs of silver and hundreds of gold objects to Chang'an.

Songtsen Gampo would eventually abdicate and rulership passed on to his son Gungsong Guntsen, but at age eighteen he would die, forcing Songtsen Gampo to once again take the throne. It is believed that an internal power struggle occurred at this time.

The northern territories of Burma (modern-day Myanmar) are believed to have been annexed by the Tibetan empire at this time as well as Nepal by 640. But the Empire of Tibet was not yet over. After Songtsen Gampo came two more powerful rulers that extended the empire of Tibet. The second great ruler was Trisong Detsen who had the Samye monastery built, that was completed in 780 CE (Schaik 2013:36). Relpachen was the third great monarch who embraced Buddhism and was therefore called "Dharma Raja". Relpachen was killed by Langdharma in 842 CE after which the Tibetan empire fragmentated.

In 663, Tibet defeated and occupied Tuguhun.

See also

• List of emperors of Tibet

References

Kapstein, M.T. (2006). The Tibetans. Blackwell Publishing. Schaik, S. van. (2013). Tibet a History. London, Yale University Press.