Songtsen Gampo ()Tsepon W D Shakabha, An Advanced Political History of Tibet. Boston: Brill, 2010. was the 33rd King (Tsenpo) 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, under the influence of his queen Bhrikuti, from the Licchavi kingdom of Nepal.Tenzin, Ahcarya Kirti Tulku Lobsang. "Early Relations between Tibbet and Nepal (7th to 8th Centuries)." Translated by K. Dhondup. The Tibet Journal, Vol. VII, Nos. 1 &2. Spring/Summer 1982, p. 84. He unified the Tibetan Plateau, conquered lands adjacent to Tibet, and moved the capital to the Potala Palace in Lhasa.
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.
According to traditional beliefs, his legendary minister Thonmi Sambhota was credited for creating the Tibetan script and Classical Tibetan, the first literary language of Tibet.Claude Arpi, Glimpse of Tibetan History, Dharamsala: Tibetan Museum However, it is difficult to verify the historical existence of Thönmi Sambhoṭa, and the legend of his invention of the Tibetan script which is in any case now usually seen as developing later.
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 (, Tibetan Annals ), which played an important part in the unification of Tibet. Her name is recorded variously but is identified as Driza Tökar ("the Bri Wife named White Skull Woman", , Tibetan Annals ).
Songtsen Gampo had six consort queens, of whom four were Tibetan and two were foreign born. The highest-ranking consort was Pogong Mongza Tricham (, also called Mongza, "the Mong clan wife", who is said to have been the mother of Gungsong Gungtsen. Other notable wives include a noble woman of the Western Xia known as Minyakza ("Western Xia wife", ), and a noble woman from Zhangzhung. Well-known even today are his two foreign wives: the Nepali princess Bhrikuti ("the great lady, the Nepalese wife", ) as well as the Chinese Princess Wencheng ("Chinese Wife", ). 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 Tsenmo (Princess Wencheng) of Songtsen while the Genealogy says it was Mangmoje Trikar ). It is unlikely that the mother was the Tsenmo because the Annals did not use the honorific kinship term yum (mother) for her.
Tibetan Empire-era documents found at Dunhuang say that Songtsen Gampo also had a sister Sad-mar-kar (or Sadmarkar) 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 Sadmarkar and bTzan-srong, who was then forced to settle in gNyal (southeast of the Yarlung River and across the Yartö Tra Pass, which borders on modern Bhutan, and Arunachal Pradesh in India).Ancient Tibet: Research materials from the Yeshe De Project. 1986. Dharma Publishing, California. , p. 216.Choephel, Gedun. The White Annals. Translated by Samten Norboo. (1978), p. 77. Library of Tibetan Works & Archives, Dharamsala, H.P., India.
When the prince Gungsong Gungtsen reached the age of thirteen (twelve by Western reckoning), 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 'Azha Mang-mo-rje when he was thirteen, and they had a son, Mangsong Mangtsen (r. 650–676 CE). Gungsong Gungtsen is said to have only ruled for these five years and died at eighteen. Songtsen Gampo, returned to the throne.Shakabpa, Tsepon W. D. (1967). Tibet: A Political History, p. 27. Yale University Press. New Haven and London. 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 (gNam-ri Srong-btsan).Ancient Tibet: Research materials from the Yeshe De Project. 1986. Dharma Publishing, California. , p. 215, 224-225.Stein, R. A. Tibetan Civilization 1962. Revised English edition, 1972, Faber & Faber, London. Reprint, 1972. Stanford University Press, p. 63. cloth; pbk.Gyaltsen, Sakyapa Sonam (1312-1375). The Clear Mirror: A Traditional Account of Tibet's Golden Age, p. 192. Translated by McComas Taylor and Lama Choedak Yuthob. (1996) Snow Lion Publications, Ithaca, New York. . 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.Bushell, S. W. "The Early History of Tibet. From Chinese Sources." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. XII, 1880, p. 443. He is said to have been born in an unspecified Ox year and was 13 years old (12 by Western reckoning) 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.Vitali, Roberto. 1990. Early Temples of Central Tibet. Serindia Publications, London, p. 70. 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."Snellgrove, David. 1987. Indo-Tibetan Buddhism: Indian Buddhists and Their Tibetan Successors. 2 Vols. Shambhala, Boston, Vol. II, p. 372.
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 TibetansSamten Chhosphel, Tonmi Sambhota, Treasury of Lives, September 2010 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 ("the place of goats") but the name was changed to Lhasa ("the place of gods") on the king's founding of the Jokhang Temple.Dorje (1999), p. 201. 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 649Beckwith (1987), p. 25, n. 71. and granted the Tibetan king's request for "silkworms' eggs, mortars and presses for making wine, and workmen to manufacture paper and ink."Bushell, S. W. "The Early History of Tibet. From Chinese Sources." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. XII, 1880, p. 446.
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.Sakyapa Sonam_Gyaltsen. (1328). Clear Mirror on Royal Genealogy. Translated by McComas Taylor and Lama Choedak Yuthok as: The Clear Mirror: A Traditional Account of Tibet's Golden Age, p. 106. (1996) Snow Lion Publications. Ithaca, New York. .
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,Anne-Marie Blondeau, Yonten Gyatso, 'Lhasa, Legend and History,' in Françoise Pommaret(ed.) Lhasa in the seventeenth century: the capital of the Dalai Lamas, Brill Tibetan Studies Library, 3, Brill 2003, pp.15-38, pp15ff.Amund Sinding-Larsen, The Lhasa atlas: : traditional Tibetan architecture and townscape, Serindia Publications, Inc., 2001 p.14 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 Ralpachen — who established Buddhism in Tibet.
The inscription on the Skar cung Pillar (erected by Sadnalegs, who ruled c. 800–815) reports that during Songtsen Gampo's reign, "shrines of the Three Jewels were established by building the temple of Ra-sa [Lhasa] and so on."Richardson, Hugh E. A Corpus of Early Tibetan Inscriptions (1981), p. 75. Royal Asiatic Society, London. . The first edict of Trisong Detsen mentions a community of monks at this vihara.Beckwith, C. I. "The Revolt of 755 in Tibet", p. 3 note 7. In: Weiner Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde. Nos. 10-11. [Ernst Steinkellner and Helmut Tauscher, eds. Proceedings of the Csoma de Kőrös Symposium Held at Velm-Vienna, Austria, 13–19 September 1981. Vols. 1-2.] Vienna, 1983.
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 (Tibetan Annals [OTA] l. 2).
630s Six years later (c. 632/633), Nyang Mangpoje Shangnang was accused of treason and executed (OTA l. 4–5, Richardson 1965). Minister Gar-Tongtsen succeeded him.