| History of Tibet |
Tibetan history can be traced from thousands of
years back. However, the written history only dates back to the
7th century when Songtsan Gampo, the 33rd Tibetan king, sent his
minister Sambhota to India to study Sanskrit who on his return
invented the present Tibetan script based on Sanskrit.
Tibet's history can be divided into four period:
1. The Tsanpo's Period
This period starts from Nyatri Tsanpo, the first of the Tsanpos,
in 127 B.C (historians differ in view of the date, but this date
is taken from the White Annales, a reliable book on Tibetan
history) and ends in 842 A.D. at the death of Lang Dharma, the
last of the Tsanpos, who was assassinated by a Buddhist monk
owing to Lang Dharma's ruthless persecution of Buddhism. During
this period some 42 Tsanpos had ruled over Tibet among which
Songtsan Gampo's rule was considered as the zenith. Songtsan
Gampo was an outstanding ruler, he unified Tibet, changed his
capital to Lhasa, sent Sambhota to India to study Sanskrit and
promulaged a script for the Tibetan on the latter's arrival to
Tibet, married Princess Wencheng of the tang Court and Princess
Bhrikuti Debi of Nepal, built the Potala and the temple of Jokhang
2. The period of Decentrailzation
This period began in 842 A.D. the year of Lang Dharma's
assassination, and ended in about 1260 A.D, when Pagpa, the
Abbot of Sakya monastery, became a vassal of Kublai Khan, the
first Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty. During this period a little
is known in history except that Tibet became decentralized into
a number of petty principalities.
3. The period of Sakya, Pagdu, and Karmapa's
Rule
This period began with Sakya's rule over Tibet, followed first
by Pagdu's rule in Lhaoka and then by Karmara's rule in the
Tsang region (Shigatse). The sakya period was the time when
tbiet officially became an inseparable part of China.
This period lasted from 1260 A.D to 1642 A.D during which
political powers centered in the three regions of Sakya, Pagdu,
and tsang successively ruled over Tibet.
4. The period of the Gandan Podrang's
Administration :
This period is the period in which the Dalai Lama ruled Tibet.
It started in 1642 A.D. when the 5th Dalai Lama overtook the
ruling power from the Tsang ruler. It basically ended in 1951
when Tibet was liberated and came to a complete end in 1959 when
rebellion led by the Dalai Lama was pacified and the People's
Government of the Tibet, Autonomous Region was set up. |
